Word study
Evil
5 Hebrew and 7 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: evil, evils. 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 “evil” 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)
- רַע rabad, eviltranslated this way 275 times of its 651 uses · Strong’s H7451Adjective · Translated: evil 263, disaster 72, harm 38, wicked 31Full study and all 615 verses →
Genesis 2:9 Out of the ground the LORD God gave growth to every tree that is pleasing to the eye and good for food. And in the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Exodus 10:10 Then Pharaoh told them, “May the LORD be with you if I ever let you go with your little ones. Clearly you are bent on evil.
- רָעַע râabe evil, badtranslated this way 16 times of its 97 uses · Strong’s H7489Verb · Translated: wicked 9, harm 8, evil 8, evildoers 8Full study and all 97 verses →
Leviticus 5:4 Or if someone swears thoughtlessly with his lips to do anything good or evil— in whatever matter a man may rashly pronounce an oath— even if he is unaware of it, when he realizes it, he is guilty in the matter.
1 Samuel 12:25 But if you persist in doing evil, both you and your king will be swept away.”
- רֹעַ rôabadness, eviltranslated this way 7 times of its 19 uses · Strong’s H7455Noun · Translated: evil 7, bad 4, wickedness 3, and 2Full study and all 19 verses →
Psalm 28:4 Repay them according to their deeds and for their works of evil. Repay them for what their hands have done; bring back on them what they deserve.
Isaiah 1:16 Wash and cleanse yourselves. Remove your evil deeds from My sight. Stop doing evil!
- אָוֶן âventrouble, sorrow, wickednesstranslated this way 6 times of its 68 uses · Strong’s H205Noun · Translated: iniquity 27, evil 6, wicked 6, disaster 3Full study and all 68 verses →
Job 15:35 They conceive trouble and give birth to evil; their womb is pregnant with deceit.”
Psalm 7:14 Behold, the wicked man travails with evil; he conceives trouble and births falsehood.
- מְזִמָּה mezimmâhpurpose, discretion, devicetranslated this way 2 times of its 18 uses · Strong’s H4209Noun · Translated: schemes 4, discretion 4, plan 2, purposes 2Full study and all 18 verses →
Proverbs 12:2 The good man obtains favor from the LORD, but the LORD condemns a man who devises evil.
Jeremiah 11:15 What right has My beloved in My house, having carried out so many evil schemes? Can consecrated meat avert your doom? When you are wicked, then you rejoice.
Greek words (New Testament)
- πονηρός ponērósevil, bad, wickedtranslated this way 52 times of its 77 uses · Strong’s G4190Adjective · Translated: evil 49, wicked 11, bad 5, more wicked 2Full study and all 71 verses →
Matthew 5:11 Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me.
Mark 7:23 All these evils come from within, and these are what defile a man.”
- κακός kakósbad, eviltranslated this way 31 times of its 50 uses · Strong’s G2556Adjective · Translated: evil 29, wrong 6, harm 3, bad 3Full study and all 45 verses →
Matthew 27:23 “Why?” asked Pilate. “What evil has He done?” But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify Him!”
Mark 7:21 For from within the hearts of men come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery,
- κακοποιέω kakopoiéōI do harm, do wrongtranslated this way 4 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s G2554Verb · Translated: evil 3, doing evil 1Full study and all 4 verses →
Mark 3:4 And He asked them, “Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?” But they were silent.
Luke 6:9 Then Jesus said to them, “I ask you, which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?”
- πονηρία ponēríawickedness, iniquitiestranslated this way 3 times of its 7 uses · Strong’s G4189Noun · Translated: wickedness 3, evil 2, evil intent 1, wicked ways 1Full study and all 7 verses →
Matthew 22:18 But Jesus knew their evil intent and said, “You hypocrites, why are you testing Me?
Romans 1:29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed, and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, and malice. They are gossips,
- φαῦλος phaûlosworthless, wicked, basetranslated this way 3 times of its 6 uses · Strong’s G5337Adjective · Translated: evil 3, bad 3Full study and all 6 verses →
John 3:20 Everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come into the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.
James 3:16 For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every evil practice.
- κακία kakíaevil, wickedness, malicetranslated this way 3 times of its 11 uses · Strong’s G2549Noun · Translated: malice 5, evil 3, trouble 1, wickedness 1Full study and all 11 verses →
1 Corinthians 14:20 Brothers, stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be mature.
James 1:21 Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and every expression of evil, and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save your souls.
- ἐπιθυμία epithymíadesire, eagerness for, inordinate desire, lusttranslated this way 3 times of its 37 uses · Strong’s G1939Noun · Translated: desires 17, passions 6, desire 5, evil desires 3Full study and all 36 verses →
James 1:14 But each one is tempted when by his own evil desires he is lured away and enticed.
2 Peter 1:4 Through these He has given us His precious and magnificent promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, now that you have escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
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.
What the Bible says about evil: passages by topic →
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.