the Berasit Hebrew Dictionary

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=====sehit=====
שהית

'sehit' appears to refer to a state of ruin. However, its exact meaning is not entirely clear due to the way it is used in sometimes opposing ways. While most of the instances are usually interpreted as the verb "to destroy", occasionally it is interpreted instead as the adjective "corrupt". These may seem related but there are important differences. A good example of this occurs in Genesis chapter 6 where the word is used five times.

//And was **corrupt** the earth before God and was filled with the earth violence. So looked God - upon the earth and indeed it was **corrupt** for had **corrupted** all flesh their way on the earth. And said God to Noah the end of all flesh has come before Me for is filled the earth with violence through them now behold I will **destroy** them with the earth//((Genesis 6:11-13)) ... //And I behold am bringing - a flood of waters on the earth to **destroy** all flesh which the breath of life from under heaven everything that [is] on the earth shall die//((Genesis 6:17))

The bolded words here are all the same word; 'sehit'. In order to hold true to the original text, we need to find an English word that makes sense in all of these five instances. There are a few obvious logical problems with this. 

If we choose to interpret 'sehit' as "corrupt" then the narrative tells that the earth was corrupt, causing God to desire to do something to remedy the situation. However, the action he chooses is "to corrupt". This seems somewhat at odds with the assumed characteristics of the holy God. Beyond that though, if the problem was corruption, how will further corruption improve the situation? Additionally, if the existing state already applies, it does not make sense to speak of applying the same state. Perhaps this is a case of degrees. God sees a mess and decides to REALLY mess it up.

//And was **corrupt** the earth before God and was filled with the earth violence. So looked God - upon the earth and indeed it was **corrupt** for had **corrupted** all flesh their way on the earth. And said God to Noah the end of all flesh has come before Me for is filled the earth with violence through them now behold I will **corrupt** them with the earth// ... //And I behold am bringing - a flood of waters on the earth to **corrupt** all flesh which the breath of life from under heaven everything that [is] on the earth shall die//

This reading is not entirely nonsensical, though perhaps it might not be the best interpretation. However, "corrupt" is not really the standard meaning. What if we use the more consistent meaning of "destroy"? 


//And was **destroyed** the earth before God and was filled with the earth violence. So looked God - upon the earth and indeed it was **destroyed** for had **destroyed** all flesh their way on the earth. And said God to Noah the end of all flesh has come before Me for is filled the earth with violence through them now behold I will **destroy** them with the earth// ... //And I behold am bringing - a flood of waters on the earth to **destroy** all flesh which the breath of life from under heaven everything that [is] on the earth shall die//

This interpretation seems to fit better. It also fits pretty well with the 130 other instances of the word.

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LexID 7843