The Greek verb edaphizo means to dash to the ground, smash to the earth, or raze level with the ground. Derived from edaphos (ground, foundation), it conveys total destruction and leveling. It appears in Jesus' weeping lament over Jerusalem (Luke 19:44).
When Jesus weeps over Jerusalem (Luke 19:41–44), His lament includes a devastating prophecy: enemies will 'dash you to the ground (edaphiousin), you and the children within your walls.' This was fulfilled with horrifying precision in 70 AD when the Romans under Titus destroyed Jerusalem, leveling the temple and slaughtering or enslaving the population. Jesus' grief is not vindictive but deeply compassionate — He wept before He predicted. The destruction came not because God abandoned Jerusalem but because Jerusalem did not recognize 'the time of God's coming.' Edaphizo warns that rejecting the visitation of peace leads to ruin; receiving it leads to life.