CORRUPTION, the organic dissolution of the body of man and various parts of the physical cosmos is mentioned in both OT and NT. The common Heb. term is the verb שָׁחַת, H8845, “to spoil,” “ruin” (Gen 6:17). The substantive is formed from this term and its participial form also appears, both meaning the dissolution and decay of death (2 Kings 23:13; Ps 16:10, et al.). The term is used in the total Hebraic world view and although it presupposes a premechanistic cosmology there is no inclusion of folkloristic elements in the contexts where the word appears. The term is given theistic and ethical connotation on the basis of the Bible’s insistence that death and corruption are ultimately the result of the Adamic fall into iniquity. In some instances the term also may be tr. “pit,” as “pit of corruption” (Isa 38:17; Ps 30:9), but the roots of the two terms are semantically related. A similar situation occurs with the Akkad. terms. In the NT two Gr. terms are found. The one is simply a composite of the other plus a prepositional prefix, φθορά, G5785, “ruin,” “destruction,” “depravity” and by extension to several acts of destruction, “abortion,” “seduction” and the like. The prefixed form, διαφθορα, which means destruction of the body exclusively as in Acts 2:27 and other passages in Acts only, however the verbal form is found in a number of NT books. LXX uses these two Gr. terms for Heb. equivalents. As in the OT usage, the NT adds to the concept of natural, physiological dissolution and decay, and the notion of moral and spiritual liability due to the Fall and the presence of sin.