TO PERISH, and in the causative, TO DESTROY — distinct from the two other destruction-words this project has already tracked in this book: cherem (Deuteronomy 7, to devote something to destruction as sacred) and the verb behind Deuteronomy 7:4's 'destroy quickly'. Abad is the plain verb of loss, a thing ceasing to be, and Deuteronomy 8:19-20 (already on these pages) doubles it four times in two verses — 'perishing you shall perish' (an infinitive absolute), then 'Jehovah is DESTROYING [the nations]…so shall you PERISH' — turning the very fate Deuteronomy 7 assigned to the seven nations of Canaan back onto Israel itself, on the single condition of forgetting. The same infinitive-absolute construction, ki avod tovedun, already closed Deuteronomy 4:26 (already on these pages) nearly verbatim, and returns once more at 30:18 (not yet on these pages). → first discussed at Deut 8:19