Bible Encyclopedias
Deadly

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

ded´li : In the Old Testament two words are used in the sense of a "mortal (Hebrew nephesh , "hateful," "foul") enemy" (Psalm 17:9 ), and in the sense of "fatal disease," the destructiveness of which causes a general panic (Hebrew māweth , "death," 1 Samuel 5:11 ).

In the New Testament we have in Revelation 13:3 , Revelation 13:12 the expression "deadly wound" (Greek thánatos ), better "death-stroke," as in the Revised Version (British and American), and the phrases "deadly thing," i.e. poison (θανασιμον τι , thanásimón ti , Mark 16:18 ), and "full of deadly poison" (mestḗ ioú thanatēphórou , James 3:8 ), said of an unruly tongue. Both Greek words convey the idea of "causing or bringing death" and occur in classical literature in a variety of uses in combination with the bite of venomous reptiles, deadly potions, mortal wounds and fatal contagion.