Note 1199 — Chapter XXVIII
Reading edition
חסיל from חסל, used in the O.T. only in Deut. xxviii. 38, to devour; but in post-biblical Hebrew to utterly destroy, bring to an end. Talmud Jerus.: Taanith III. 66d, “Why is the locust called חסיל? Because it brings everything to an end.”