Bible Dictionary
DECAY
Decay means deterioration, weakening, or gradual destruction. In biblical translations it may describe physical wasting, the decline of a structure, or the passing away of an earlier covenant order.
Definition
Decay means deterioration, decline, weakening, putrefaction, or gradual failure. It may describe physical wasting, structural decline, or the passing away of an established order.
Biblical Usage
The word has been used for feebleness, wasting, and the condition of a body emitting a smell. In Hebrews, older “decay” language concerns the passing away of the former covenant order.
Historical Background
Later revisions replace “decay” in several passages with more precise terms such as feeble, wasteth, or emits a smell.
Historical Bible Dictionaries
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>de-ka': Although this word is still in good use in both its literal sense, of the putrefaction of either animal or vegetable matter, and its derived sense, denoting any deterioration, decline or gradual failure, the Revised Version (British and American) has replaced it by other expressions in Le 25:35; Ec 10:18; Isa 44:26; Heb 8:13; in some of these cases with a gain in accuracy of translation. In Ne 4:10 (kashal, "to be feeble," "stumble") the Revised Version (British and American) retains "is decayed"; in Job 14:11 (charebh, "to be dried up") the American Standard Revised Version substitutes "wasteth," and in Joh 11:39 the American Standard Revised Version has "the body decayeth" instead of the more literal translation offensive to modern ears (ozei, "emits a smell").</p><p>F. K. Farr</p>