Kill, Smite, or Wound in the Casualty Report?

There’s a huge difference between being killed or wounded. But that difference is not always clear in the language used in the Bible, particularly when the word “smite” is used.

We have that problem in today’s world also. When reading about a battle from the American Civil War, or about recent military clashes, the casualty reports can be confusing if not misleading to people like me. We hear that there were 120 casualties, but then we find out that actually means that there were 20 soldiers killed and 100 wounded.

The verb hikkah (used 500 times in the Hebrew Bible) is just as misleading as the English noun “casualty.” Hikkah can mean either “smite” or “kill” (it is usually translated by the Greek patassō or the Latin percussit), and often it is unclear and debatable as to which meaning we should prefer. And the difference is too important to simply leave it to our Bible translation. Did the Philistines die when they were smitten, or not? Was the particular attack fatal, or merely debilitating? Even if you have never studied Hebrew, a copy of Strong’s or Young’s concordance can tell you whether the word in question in the passage you are reading is hikkah or another word. Let’s take a look at some examples, many of which should be familiar.

When Jonathan “smote” the Philistine garrison at Geba (1 Samuel 13:3), it is better to translate “attacked” or “defeated” than to think that Jonathan killed them all; Genesis 32:9, Joshua 11:8 (“smote and chased”), and Judges 3:13 are all examples where “attacked” is the best way to translate. But 1 Samuel 17:50 makes it clear that David both “smote” Goliath and “put him to death,” two separate actions.  In 1 Samuel 17:35, David smites the lion or bear to rescue his sheep, and if the animal attacks him, he smites and kills it.  In Exodus 2:11, Moses sees an Egyptian boss “beating” a Hebrew slave but not killing him (same meaning in 2:14 and in 5:14), but in the very next verse, Moses “smote” the Egyptian and hid him in the sand (verse 15 confirms that this blow was fatal).

In 1 Kings 22:24, a false prophet “smote” the prophet Micaiah on the cheek, but he does not die. Likewise, the angel “smote” the men of Sodom with blindness, but they do not die (Genesis 19:13).  Job 2:7 states that Satan smites Job with bad sores, not with death. Psalm 121:6 promises, “The sun shall not smite you by day, nor the moon by night.” On disciplining a child, Proverbs 23:13 says, “If you beat him with a rod, he will not die.” (Ask Moses’ victim about that!)  Deuteronomy 25:2 is the only law that prescribes “beating” (not execution) as a punishment. But God “smites” the firstborn in Egypt (Exodus 12:29), and they die. Phineas smites the Israelite and his Midianite sex partner with a spear, and they both die (Numbers 25:14-15).

The difference becomes all the more important in historical and legal passages where the context does not make the meaning clear. Samson “smote” 1000 men with the jawbone of a donkey (Judges 15:15) – did they all die? Even Samson’s line “heaps upon heaps” does not rule out survivors in the pile. But there is no clue as to how many died when Shamgar “smote” 600 men with an ox goad (Judges 3:31). And what do the ladies mean in 1 Samuel 18:7 when they sing, “Saul has smitten his thousands”? When God smites 70 men who peeked inside the Ark of the Covenant in 1 Samuel 6:19, did they all die? In 1 Kings 20:29, Israel smites 100,000 in one day, but there is room for either meaning here, whereas in 2 Kings 19:35, when the Lord smites 185,000 Assyrians, we are told the results are all “dead corpses.”

Exodus 21:12, 21:20, and 22:1 all make the clear distinction “whoever smites and he dies.” Numbers 35 is careful to say it the same way. Exodus 21:19 states what to do if an aggressor “smites” but the victim lives. Exodus 21:26 prescribes the punishment if a slave owner “smites” the eye of their slave. But Exodus 21:15 decrees the death penalty if any child “smites” their father or mother – just for hitting them? Apparently so – the Law makes it clear when “smite” means “kill.” But in Leviticus 24:17, the Law uses the unusual phrase “whoever smites a life/soul,” a phrase also used three times in Numbers 35. To “smite a life/soul” apparently means to kill, since 24:18 speaks of paying “a life for a life” if someone smites the life of an animal. So in Leviticus 24:21, “smite” clearly means “kill”.

If there is any question whether the Hebrew Bible means kill, smite, or wound, go to a concordance and dig. One final passage where the difference comes through is the very first time “smite” is used, in Genesis 4:15. In the previous verse, Cain fears that anyone who finds him shall slay him (harag). But in 4:15, God puts a mark on Cain, lest anyone should “smite” (hikkah) him in any way, killing or otherwise.

Another verb that is sometimes but not always fatal is the verb chalal, which literally means “pierced,” and is virtually always rendered in Greek as traumatizō. Unlike hikkah, there are very few examples of this verb where the victim has not died. The Suffering Servant in Isaiah 53:5 was “wounded for our transgressions.” Our Bibles read in 1 Sam 17:52 that Philistines fell “wounded” while being chased after the fall of Goliath; why the translators choose “wounded” and not “dead” is not clear. The same is true in Judges 9:40; why “wounded” and not “dead”? Examples where chalal probably means “wounded” include Lamentations 2:12 (“as they faint like the wounded in the streets”), Ezekiel 26:15 (“when the wounded cry”), Ezekiel 30:24 (“the groaning of a wounded man”), Psalm 69:26 (“the pain of the wounded”), and Psalm 109:22 (“my heart is wounded within me”).

The Hebrew words harag (generic “kill”) and hemīth (causative form of “die”) are absolutely clear; they mean “kill” every time. If your concordance tells you that your verse uses one of these, you will know what it means. Also, there is ratzach, the verb in the commandment “Thou shalt not kill,” which is always fatal, and conveys the sense of “murder.” The only catch is that in Numbers 35, the whole chapter serves to explain the difference between accidental ratzach and first-degree murder. Unlike harag and hemīth, ratzach is never done to animals, only to humans.

All this brings new meaning to a classic passage like Isaiah 53:4, where we saw the messianic Suffering Servant as “smitten by God.” Were we to focus on his suffering, or his death? With a verb like “smite,” both could be in view.