Definition

to draw apart, i.e. sever or dismember

Etymology

from G1223 (διά) and G4685 (σπάω);

Where the KJV renders it

• pluck asunder
• pull in pieces

Every distinct English word the King James Version uses to translate this Greek term. The variety shows what readers in English receive across many different surface words — the same underlying word, scattered across the English Bible under different names.

What the first audience heard

A deep-dive treatment of this word is in the works. The featured chapter above carries the long form of what this word meant to its first audience.