the Fourth Week of Advent
Click here to join the effort!
Bible Dictionaries
Devour
Vine's Expository Dictionary of NT Words
is a strengthened form of an old verb edo, from the root ed---, whence Lat., edo, Eng., "eat." The form ephagon, used as the 2nd aorist tense of this verb, is from the root phag---, "to eat up." It is translated "devour" in Hebrews 10:27; elsewhere, by the verb "to eat." See EAT.
kata, "down," intensive, and No. 1, signifies (a) "to consume by eating, to devour," said of birds, Matthew 13:4; Mark 4:4; Luke 8:5; of the Dragon, Revelation 12:4; of a prophet "eating" up a book, suggestive of spiritually "eating" and digesting its contents, Revelation 10:9 (cp. Ezekiel 2:8; 3:1-3; Jeremiah 15:16 ); (b) metaphorically, "to squander, to waste," Luke 15:30; "to consume" one's physical powers by emotion, John 2:17; "to devour" by forcible appropriation, as of widows' property, Matthew 23:14 (AV only); Mark 12:40; "to demand maintenance," as false apostles did to the church at Corinth, 2 Corinthians 11:20; "to exploit or prey on one another," Galatians 5:15 , where "bite ... devour ... consume" form a climax, the first two describing a process, the last the act of swallowing down; to "destroy" by fire, Revelation 11:5; 20:9 . See EAT.
from kata, "down," intensive, pino, "to drink," in 1 Peter 5:8 is translated "devour," of Satan's activities against believers. The meaning "to swallow" is found in Matthew 23:24; 1 Corinthians 15:54; 2 Corinthians 2:7; 5:4; Hebrews 11:29 , RV (for AV, "drowned"); Revelation 12:16 . See SWALLOW.
These files are public domain.
Vines, W. E., M. A. Entry for 'Devour'. Vine's Expository Dictionary of NT Words. https://www.studylight.org/​dictionaries/​eng/​ved/​d/devour.html. 1940.