The Hebrew פָּקַד, paqad occurs 303 times in the NASB Old Testament. Of those 303, 49 are rendered into the English punish, punished, and punishment. The goal of this word study is to discover if punishment administered by God is something that people experience as an ongoing thing for a period of time, or is it physical death, if it is nonexistence, or something else. I found three main categories: Experienced for a time, physical death, and unspecified punishment. In light of the discussion on annihilationism, we can see that punishment is most often experienced by people. This is relevant to annihilationism since they say that eternal punishment is not experienced. Instead, it is simple nonexistence. But, it appears from Scripture that when God administers punishment, people experience it which would stand in opposition to conditionalism.
Summary of the usages of paqad:
- Experienced for a time, 20 occurrences
- Psalm 89:32; Isaiah 24:22; 29:6; Jeremiah 5:9; 6:6; 6:15; 21:14; 25:12; 27:8; 44:13; 51:47; 51:52; Lam. 4:22; Hosea 2:13; 4:9; 8:13; Amos 3:14; Zeph. 1:8; 1:9; 1:12
- Physical death, 9 occurrences
- Exodus 32:34; 1 Samuel 15:2; Isaiah 26:14; 27:1; Jeremiah 11:22; 29:32; 44:29; 46:25; 50:31
- Unspecified punishment, 20 occurrences
- Isaiah 10:12; 13:11; 26:21; Jeremiah 5:29; 9:9; 9:25; 23:34; 30:20; 36:31; 49:8; 50:18; 51:44; Hosea 4:14; 9:9; 12:2; Amos 3:2; Zechariah 10:3
- Hebrew word: פָּקַד, paqad
Meaning: to punish, avenge - Strong’s #: H6485
- Frequency: 303 occurrences in Old Testament;
| TABLE OF ALL OLD TESTAMENT USAGES OF PAQAD, פָּקַד | ||
| Address | Verse | Meaning |
| Exod. 32:34 | “But go now, lead the people where I told you. Behold, My angel shall go before you; nevertheless in the day when I punish, I will punish them for their sin.” | Physical death |
| 1 Sam.15:2 | “Thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, how he set himself against him on the way while he was coming up from Egypt. | Physical death |
| Ps. 59:5 | You, O LORD God of hosts, the God of Israel, Awake to punish all the nations; Do not be gracious to any who are treacherous in iniquity. Selah. | Unspecified |
| Ps. 89:32 | Then I will punish their transgression with the rod And their iniquity with stripes. | Experienced for a time |
| Isa. 10:12 | So it will be that when the Lord has completed all His work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, He will say, “I will punish the fruit of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the pomp of his haughtiness.” | Unspecified |
| Isa. 13:11 | Thus I will punish the world for its evil And the wicked for their iniquity; I will also put an end to the arrogance of the proud And abase the haughtiness of the ruthless. | Unspecified |
| Isa. 24:21 | So it will happen in that day, That the LORD will punish the host of heaven on high, And the kings of the earth on earth. | Unspecified |
| Isa. 24:22 | They will be gathered together Like prisoners in the dungeon, And will be confined in prison; And after many days they will be punished. | Experienced for a time |
| Isa. 26:14 | The dead will not live, the departed spirits will not rise; Therefore You have punished and destroyed them, And You have wiped out all remembrance of them. | Physical death |
| Isa. 26:21 | For behold, the LORD is about to come out from His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity; And the earth will reveal her bloodshed And will no longer cover her slain. | Unspecified |
| Isa. 27:1 | In that day the LORD will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, With His fierce and great and mighty sword, Even Leviathan the twisted serpent; And He will kill the dragon who lives in the sea. | Physical death |
| Isa. 29:6 | From the LORD of hosts you will be punished with thunder and earthquake and loud noise, With whirlwind and tempest and the flame of a consuming fire. | Experienced for a time |
| Jer. 5:9 | “Shall I not punish these people,” declares the LORD, “And on a nation such as this shall I not avenge Myself? | Experienced for a time |
| Jer. 5:29 | ‘Shall I not punish these people?’ declares the LORD, ‘On a nation such as this Shall I not avenge Myself?’ | Unspecified |
| Jer. 6:6 | For thus says the LORD of hosts, “Cut down her trees and cast up a siege against Jerusalem. This is the city to be punished, in whose midst there is only oppression. | Experienced for a time |
| Jer. 6:15 | “Were they ashamed because of the abomination they have done? They were not even ashamed at all; They did not even know how to blush. Therefore they shall fall among those who fall; At the time that I punish them, They shall be cast down,” says the LORD. | Experienced for a time |
| Jer. 9:9 | “Shall I not punish them for these things?” declares the LORD. “On a nation such as this Shall I not avenge Myself? | Unspecified |
| Jer. 9:25 | “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the LORD, “that I will punish all who are circumcised and yet uncircumcised— | Unspecified |
| Jer. 11:22 | therefore, thus says the LORD of hosts, “Behold, I am about to punish them! The young men will die by the sword, their sons and daughters will die by famine; | Physical death |
| Jer. 21:14 | “But I will punish you according to the results of your deeds,” declares the LORD, “And I will kindle a fire in its forest That it may devour all its environs.” ’ ” | Experienced for a time |
| Jer. 23:34 | “Then as for the prophet or the priest or the people who say, ‘The oracle of the LORD,’ I will bring punishment upon that man and his household. | Unspecified |
| Jer. 25:12 | ‘Then it will be when seventy years are completed I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation,’ declares the LORD, ‘for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans; and I will make it an everlasting desolation. | Experienced for a time |
| Jer. 27:8 | “It will be, that the nation or the kingdom which will not serve him, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and which will not put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, I will punish that nation with the sword, with famine and with pestilence,” declares the LORD, “until I have destroyed it by his hand. | Experienced for a time |
| Jer. 29:32 | therefore thus says the LORD, “Behold, I am about to punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his descendants; he will not have anyone living among this people, and he will not see the good that I am about to do to My people,” declares the LORD, “because he has preached rebellion against the LORD.” ’ ” | Physical death |
| Jer. 30:20 | ‘Their children also will be as formerly, And their congregation shall be established before Me; And I will punish all their oppressors. | Unspecified |
| Jer. 36:31 | “I will also punish him and his descendants and his servants for their iniquity, and I will bring on them and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the men of Judah all the calamity that I have declared to them—but they did not listen.” ’ ” | Unspecified |
| Jer. 44:13 | ‘And I will punish those who live in the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem, with the sword, with famine and with pestilence. | Experienced for a time |
| Jer. 44:29 | ‘This will be the sign to you,’ declares the LORD, ‘that I am going to punish you in this place, so that you may know that My words will surely stand against you for harm.’ | Physical death |
| Jer. 46:25 | The LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, says, “Behold, I am going to punish Amon of Thebes, and Pharaoh, and Egypt along with her gods and her kings, even Pharaoh and those who trust in him. | Physical death |
| Jer. 49:8 | “Flee away, turn back, dwell in the depths, O inhabitants of Dedan, for I will bring the disaster of Esau upon him at the time I punish him. | Unspecified |
| Jer. 50:18 | “Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘Behold, I am going to punish the king of Babylon and his land, just as I punished the king of Assyria. | Unspecified |
| Jer. 50:31 | “Behold, I am against you, O arrogant one,” Declares the Lord GOD of hosts, “For your day has come, the time when I will punish you. | Physical death |
| Jer. 51:44 | “I will punish Bel in Babylon, and I will make what he has swallowed come out of his mouth; and the nations will no longer stream to him. Even the wall of Babylon has fallen down! | Unspecified |
| Jer. 51:47 | Therefore behold, days are coming when I will punish the idols of Babylon; And her whole land will be put to shame And all her slain will fall in her midst. | Experienced for a time |
| Jer. 51:52 | “Therefore behold, the days are coming,” declares the LORD, “When I will punish her idols, And the mortally wounded will groan throughout her land. | Experienced for a time |
| Lam. 4:22 | The punishment of your iniquity has been completed, O daughter of Zion; He will exile you no longer. But He will punish your iniquity, O daughter of Edom; He will expose your sins! | Experienced for a time |
| Hosea 1:4 | And the LORD said to him, “Name him Jezreel; for yet a little while, and I will punish the house of Jehu for the bloodshed of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. | Unspecified |
| Hosea 2:13 | “I will punish her for the days of the Baals When she used to offer sacrifices to them and adorn herself with her earrings and jewelry, and follow her lovers, so that she forgot Me,” declares the LORD. | Experienced for a time |
| Hosea 4:9 | And it will be, like people, like priest; So I will punish them for their ways and repay them for their deeds. | Experienced for a time |
| Hos. 4:14 | I will not punish your daughters when they play the harlot or your brides when they commit adultery, For the men themselves go apart with harlots and offer sacrifices with temple prostitutes. So the people without understanding are ruined. | Unspecified |
| Hos. 8:13 | As for My sacrificial gifts, They sacrifice the flesh and eat it, But the LORD has taken no delight in them. Now He will remember their iniquity, and punish them for their sins; They will return to Egypt. | Experienced for a time |
| Hos. 9:9 | They have gone deep in depravity as in the days of Gibeah; He will remember their iniquity, He will punish their sins. | Unspecified |
| Hos. 12:2 | The LORD also has a dispute with Judah, and will punish Jacob according to his ways; He will repay him according to his deeds. | Unspecified |
| Amos 3:2 | “You only have I chosen among all the families of the earth; Therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.” | Unspecified |
| Amos 3:14 | “For on the day that I punish Israel’s transgressions, I will also punish the altars of Bethel; The horns of the altar will be cut off And they will fall to the ground. | Experienced for a time |
| Zeph. 1:8 | “Then it will come about on the day of the LORD’S sacrifice That I will punish the princes, the king’s sons And all who clothe themselves with foreign garments. | Experienced for a time |
| Zeph. 1:9 | “And I will punish on that day all who leap on the temple threshold, Who fill the house of their lord with violence and deceit. | Experienced for a time |
| Zeph. 1:12 | “It will come about at that time That I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and I will punish the men who are stagnant in spirit, who say in their hearts, ‘The LORD will not do good or evil!’ | Experienced for a time |
| Zech. 10:3 | “My anger is kindled against the shepherds, And I will punish the male goats; For the LORD of hosts has visited His flock, the house of Judah, And will make them like His majestic horse in battle. | Unspecified |
- “1 to attend to, muster, number, reckon, visit, punish, appoint, look after, care for. 1A (Qal). 1A1 to pay attention to, observe. 1A2 to attend to. 1A3 to seek, look about for. 1A4 to seek in vain, need, miss, lack. 1A5 to visit. 1A6 to visit upon, punish. 1A7 to pass in review, muster, number. 1A8 to appoint, assign, lay upon as a charge, deposit. 1B (Niphal). 1B1 to be sought, be needed, be missed, be lacking. 1B2 to be visited. 1B3 to be visited upon. 1B4 to be appointed. 1B5 to be watched over. 1C (Piel) to muster, call up. 1D (Pual) to be passed in review, be caused to miss, be called, be called to account. 1E (Hiphil). 1E1 to set over, make overseer, appoint an overseer. 1E2 to commit, entrust, commit for care, deposit. 1F (Hophal). 1F1 to be visited. 1F2 to be deposited. 1F3 to be made overseer, be entrusted. 1G (Hithpael) numbered. 1H (Hothpael) numbered. 2 musterings, expenses.”
- Strong, James. Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon. Woodside Bible Fellowship, 1995.
