Sodom and Gomorrha an Example of Hell Fire
"For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment."
"And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly" (2 Pet. 2:4, 6).
"And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire" (Jude 6, 7). [Sodom and Gomorrha are used as an example of what the great white throne judgment and the lake of fire will be like. Eternal fire reduced them to ashes.]
What the Fire Did to Sodom
"For we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the LORD; and the LORD hath sent us to destroy it. And Lot went out, and spake unto his sons in law, which married his daughters, and said, Up, get you out of this place; for the LORD will destroy this city."
"Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters, which are here; lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city."
"Escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed."
"Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven; And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground" (Gen. 19:13-15, 17, 24, 25).
The Wicked to Be Destroyed
"And whatsoever soul it be that doeth any work in that same day, the same soul will I destroy from among his people" (Lev. 23:30). [Many of these verses must be talking about the final reward of the wicked, for it is often true that the wicked prosper in this life. The book of Job, as well as certain Psalms, was written to teach that though the wicked may prosper now, they will receive their reward in the end.]
"Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations; and repayeth them that hate him to their face, to destroy them: he will not be slack to him that hateth him, he will repay him to his face" (Deut. 7:9, 10).
"Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing: the LORD will abhor the bloody and deceitful man" (Ps. 5:6).
"Thou hast rebuked the heathen, thou hast destroyed the wicked, thou hast put out their name for ever and ever" (Ps. 9:5).
"Thou shalt make them as a fiery oven in the time of thine anger: the LORD shall swallow them up in his wrath, and the fire shall devour them. Their fruit shalt thou destroy from the earth, and their seed from among the children of men" (Ps. 21:9, 10).
"Because they regard not the works of the LORD, nor the operation of his hands, he shall destroy them, and not build them up" (Ps. 28:5).
"But the transgressors shall be destroyed together: the end of the wicked shall be cut off" (Ps. 37:38)
"God shall likewise destroy thee for ever, he shall take thee away, and pluck thee out of thy dwelling place, and root thee out of the land of the living. Selah" (Ps. 52:5).
"For, lo, they that are far from thee shall perish: thou hast destroyed all them that go a whoring from thee" (Ps. 73:27).
"When the wicked spring as the grass, and when all the workers of iniquity do flourish; it is that they shall be destroyed for ever" (Ps. 92:7).
"All nations compassed me about: but in the name of the LORD will I destroy them. They compassed me about; yea, they compassed me about: but in the name of the LORD I will destroy them. They compassed me about like bees; they are quenched as the fire of thorns: for in the name of the LORD I will destroy them" (Ps. 118:10-12). [Verse 22 indicates to me that the one here speaking is Christ.]
"The LORD preserveth all them that love him: but all the wicked will he destroy" (Ps. 145:20).
"Whoso despiseth the word shall be destroyed: but he that feareth the commandment shall be rewarded" (Prov. 13:13).
"And the destruction of the transgressors and of the sinners shall be together, and they that forsake the LORD shall be consumed."
"And the strong shall be as tow, and the maker of it as a spark, and they shall both burn together, and none shall quench them" (Is. 1:28, 31).
"They are dead, they shall not live; they are deceased, they shall not rise: therefore hast thou visited and destroyed them, and made all their memory to perish" (Is. 26:14).
"For the indignation of the LORD is upon all nations, and his fury upon all their armies: he hath utterly destroyed them, he hath delivered them to the slaughter. Their slain also shall be cast out, and their stink shall come up out of their carcases, and the mountains shall be melted with their blood. And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll: and all their host shall fall down, as the leaf falleth off from the vine, and as a falling fig from the fig tree" (Is. 34:2-4).
"I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire" (Ezek. 28:16).
"Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat" (Mat. 7:13).
"And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell" (Mat. 10:28).
"There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy" (Jam. 4:12).
Texts which use similar words to refer to happenings in this life, though not included in the totals, do illustrate the meanings of the words in question. Therefore they appear in separate sections called Examples.
Examples:
"I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land whereunto ye go over Jordan to possess it; ye shall not prolong your days upon it, but shall utterly be destroyed" (Deut. 4:26).
"Moreover the LORD thy God will send the hornet among them, until they that are left, and hide themselves from thee, be destroyed."
"And he shall deliver their kings into thine hand, and thou shalt destroy their name from under heaven: there shall no man be able to stand before thee, until thou have destroyed them" (Deut. 7:20, 24).
"And what he did unto the army of Egypt, unto their horses, and to their chariots; how he made the water of the Red sea to overflow them as they pursued after you, and how the LORD hath destroyed them unto this day" (Deut. 11:4).
"And Joshua said, Alas, O Lord GOD, wherefore hast thou at all brought this people over Jordan, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us? would to God we had been content, and dwelt on the other side Jordan!" (Josh. 7:7).
"Now therefore call unto me all the prophets of Baal, all his servants, and all his priests; let none be wanting: for I have a great sacrifice to do to Baal; whosoever shall be wanting, he shall not live. But Jehu did it in subtilty, to the intent that he might destroy the worshippers of Baal" (2 Kings 10:19).
"If it please the king, let it be written that they may be destroyed: and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver to the hands of those that have the charge of the business, to bring it into the kings treasuries" (Est. 3:9).
"And in Shushan the palace the Jews slew and destroyed five hundred men."
"And the king said unto Esther the queen, The Jews have slain and destroyed five hundred men in Shushan the palace, and the ten sons of Haman; what have they done in the rest of the kings provinces? now what is thy petition? and it shall be granted thee: or what is thy request further? and it shall be done."
"Because Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, had devised against the Jews to destroy them, and had cast Pur, that is, the lot, to consume them, and to destroy them" (Est. 9:6, 12, 24).
"And I will pour out mine indignation upon thee, I will blow against thee in the fire of my wrath, and deliver thee into the hand of brutish men, and skilful to destroy. Thou shalt be for fuel to the fire; thy blood shall be in the midst of the land; thou shalt be no more remembered: for I the LORD have spoken it" (Ezek. 21:31, 32). [It seems that Ezekiel is borrowing language referring to the final reward of the wicked when speaking of the Ammonites.]
"Herod will seek the young child to destroy him" (Mat. 2:13).
"They say unto him, He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen" (Mat. 21:41).
"But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city" (Mat. 22:7).
"But the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitude that they should ask Barabbas, and destroy Jesus" (Mat. 27:20).
"And the Pharisees went forth, and straightway took counsel with the Herodians against him, how they might destroy him" (Mark 3:6).
"And ofttimes it hath cast him into the fire, and into the waters, to destroy him" (Mark 9:22).
"And the scribes and chief priests heard it, and sought how they might destroy him" (Mark 11:18).
"Is it lawful on the sabbath days to do good, or to do evil? to save life, or to destroy it?" (Luke 6:9).
"They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all."
"But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all" (Luke 17:27, 29).
"He shall come and destroy these husbandmen, and shall give the vineyard to others" (Luke 20:16).
"The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly" (John 10:10).
"Now Caiaphas was he, which gave counsel to the Jews, that it was expedient that one man should die for the people" (John 18:14). [The greek word for "die" is the usual one for "destroy."]
"Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents. Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer" (1 Cor. 10:9, 10).
"I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not" (Jude 1:5).