H5754 H5754
Distortion, ruin; twisted destruction, often triple-repeated for emphasis
This noun denotes distortion and ruin, something twisted out of its proper shape. The word appears famously in Ezekiel 21:27 in a striking triple repetition: 'A ruin, ruin, ruin I will make it.' The threefold hammering of the word creates an incantatory effect, emphasizing the totality of the coming destruction. The root verb means to twist or pervert, and the noun captures the result: something warped beyond recognition, utterly ruined. Ezekiel uses it to describe the coming overthrow of Jerusalem and its monarchy, a destruction so complete it requires three declarations to convey its finality.
Senses
1. sense 1 — All three occurrences are the same triple repetition in Ezekiel 21:27, an emphatic prophetic declaration of Jerusalem's coming ruin. The multilingual evidence shows translators handling this repetition in different ways—some preserving all three instances, others condensing. Spanish maintains the triple 'ruina,' capturing the Hebrew's rhetorical force. The textual reference to the Piel verb form of the root in Isaiah 24:1 shows the semantic connection: the verb 'to twist/pervert' produces the noun 'twisting/distortion,' hence 'ruin.' 3×
AR["خَرَابًا"]·ben["উল্টানো"]·DE["[עוה]"]·EN["ruin"]·FR["[עוה]"]·heb["עווה"]·HI["टेढ़ा"]·ID["keruntuhan"]·IT["[עוה]"]·jav["Karusakan,", "karusakan", "karusakan,"]·KO["황폐", "황폐로"]·PT["Ruína", "ruína"]·RU["руины"]·ES["Ruina", "ruina"]·SW["Maanguko", "maanguko"]·TR["yıkım"]·urd["بربادی"]
Related Senses
H4421 1. war, battle, armed conflict (319×)H0341 1. enemy, adversary, foe (284×)H3898a 1. Nifal: to fight, wage war (167×)H2026 1. kill, slay (active) (146×)H2451 1. wisdom, discernment (146×)H5483b 1. horse (the animal) (138×)H0006 1. to perish, be destroyed (105×)H7843 1. Hifil: destroy, annihilate (83×)H2491a 1. slain, fatally pierced (74×)H6862c 1. adversary, enemy, foe (69×)H8045 1. destroy, exterminate (69×)G0615 1. kill, put to death (60×)H6571b 1. horseman, cavalryman (52×)H8077a 1. desolation, waste (abstract state) (52×)G4678 1. of wisdom (51×)G4717 1. crucify, fasten to a cross (46×)H2763a 1. utterly destroy (Hifil active) (44×)G0622 1. perish, be destroyed (intransitive) (41×)H0006 2. to destroy, annihilate (Piel) (38×)H8074 1. be desolate, lie waste (36×)
BDB / Lexicon Reference
† I. עַוָּה n.f. distortion, ruin;—עַוָּה עַוָּה עַוָּה אֲשִׂימֶנָּה Ez 21:32 (cf. √ Pi. Is 24:1).