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G4500 · Greek · New Testament
ῥοιζηδόν
rhoizedon
Adverb
With a rushing/roaring sound/with great noise

Definition

The Greek adverb rhoizedon means with a rushing, roaring, or whizzing sound — the sound of something passing rapidly through the air. It appears only once in the New Testament and is onomatopoetic (the word sounds like what it describes).

Usage & Theological Significance

Rhoizedon appears in one of the most dramatic passages in the New Testament — 2 Peter 3:10: 'The day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar (rhoizedon); the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.' This is the vocabulary of cosmic dissolution — not quiet fading but thunderous, irreversible transformation. The rhoizedon of the passing heavens is the final bell tolling on the old creation, making way for 'a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells' (2 Peter 3:13). The eschatological urgency is the passage's point: since everything will be dissolved with such finality, 'what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives.'

Key Bible Verses

2 Peter 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.
2 Peter 3:12 As you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat.
2 Peter 3:13 But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.
Isaiah 34:4 All the stars in the sky will be dissolved and the heavens rolled up like a scroll; all the starry host will fall like withered leaves from the vine, like shriveled figs from the fig tree.
Revelation 21:1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.'

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