Word study
Condemn
3 Hebrew and 4 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: condemned, condemn, condemning, condemns. English often uses one word where Hebrew or Greek has several, each with its own shade of meaning. Under each word are verses where it is translated this way; choose the word itself for its full study: every verse, how else it is translated, the forms it takes and what the dictionaries say.
At a glance
How often each original word is translated “condemn” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side Compare the Greek words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- רָשַׁע râshabe wicked, act wickedlytranslated this way 13 times of its 34 uses · Strong’s H7561Verb · Translated: condemn 7, acted wickedly 6, condemned 3, wickedly departed 2Full study and all 34 verses →
Deuteronomy 25:1 If there is a dispute between men, they are to go to court to be judged, so that the innocent may be acquitted and the guilty condemned.
1 Kings 8:32 then may You hear from heaven and act. May You judge Your servants, condemning the wicked man by bringing down on his own head what he has done, and justifying the righteous man by rewarding him according to his righteousness.
- אָשַׁם âshamoffend, be guiltytranslated this way 2 times of its 33 uses · Strong’s H816Verb · Translated: guilty 8, incur guilt 3, incurs guilt 2, guilt 2Full study and all 32 verses →
Psalm 34:21 Evil will slay the wicked, and the haters of the righteous will be condemned.
Psalm 34:22 The LORD redeems His servants, and none who take refuge in Him will be condemned.
- בֵּן bênsontranslated this way 2 times of its 4,587 uses · Strong’s H1121Noun · Translated: son 1,843, sons 892, Israelites 422, descendants 358Full study and all 3,473 verses →
Greek words (New Testament)
- κατακρίνω katakrínōI condemntranslated this way 17 times of its 18 uses · Strong’s G2632Verb · Translated: condemn 8, condemned 8, condemning 1, he 1Full study and all 18 verses →
Matthew 12:41 The men of Nineveh will stand at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now One greater than Jonah is here.
Mark 10:33 “Look, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes. They will condemn Him to death and will deliver Him over to the Gentiles,
- κρίνω krínōI judge, decide, think goodtranslated this way 8 times of its 114 uses · Strong’s G2919Verb · Translated: judge 43, judged 12, judges 7, decided 5Full study and all 98 verses →
John 3:17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.
Acts 13:27 The people of Jerusalem and their rulers did not recognize Jesus, yet in condemning Him they fulfilled the words of the prophets that are read every Sabbath.
- καταδικάζω katadikázōI condemntranslated this way 5 times of its 6 uses · Strong’s G2613Verb · Translated: condemned 4, condemn 1, judgment 1Full study and all 5 verses →
Matthew 12:7 If only you had known the meaning of ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent.
Luke 6:37 Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.
- καταγινώσκω kataginṓskōI condemn, blametranslated this way 3 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s G2607Verb · Translated: condemn 2, condemned 1Full study and all 3 verses →
Galatians 2:11 When Cephas came to Antioch, however, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned.
1 John 3:20 Even if our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our hearts, and He knows all things.
How to study a word well
- Start from the verse, not the dictionary. Find which Hebrew or Greek word stands in the verse you are studying. One English word often translates several different original words.
- Read every place the word is used. A word means what its writers used it to mean. The list of verses and the count by book show its range, and who uses it most.
- Look at how it is translated. A word rendered five different ways has a wider meaning than any one English word can carry.
- Notice the form. A command is not a statement, and a passive verb is something done to the subject. The form in your verse is part of the meaning.
- See what it keeps company with. The words that appear beside it again and again show how the Bible itself connects ideas.
- Then read the dictionaries. They give the considered view of scholars, with their evidence.
- Come back to the verse. Context decides. A word does not carry every one of its meanings into every verse, and where a word came from does not settle what it means in a sentence written centuries later.
Scripture text and translation counts: Berean Standard Bible. Full entry: Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906, public domain), in the digital edition Brown-Driver-Briggs Enhanced by unfoldingWord (Joel Ruark, J. de Joode), based on data by Eliran Wong and Stephen Ku; its additions are used under CC BY 4.0. Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary: Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible Project, CC BY 4.0. Hebrew-to-English verse numbering: original work of the Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible available at https://github.com/openscriptures/morphhb, CC BY 4.0. We reformatted the data, linked the references to this site’s Bible text and left out words in other scripts that the source holds only as images. These are historical reference works; an entry gives its authors’ view, and a word’s meaning in any verse depends on how it is used there.