Word study
Mistreat
3 Hebrew and 5 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: mistreated, mistreat, mistreating. 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 “mistreat” 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)
- עָנָה ânâhbe occupied, busied withtranslated this way 4 times of its 80 uses · Strong’s H6031Verb · Translated: afflicted 15, humble 12, oppress 5, afflict 4Full study and all 78 verses →
Genesis 15:13 Then the LORD said to Abram, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years.
Exodus 22:22 You must not mistreat any widow or orphan.
- רָעַע râabe evil, badtranslated this way 3 times of its 97 uses · Strong’s H7489Verb · Translated: wicked 9, harm 8, evil 8, evildoers 8Full study and all 97 verses →
Numbers 16:15 Then Moses became very angry and said to the LORD, “Do not regard their offering. I have not taken one donkey from them or mistreated a single one of them.”
Deuteronomy 26:6 But the Egyptians mistreated us and afflicted us, putting us to hard labor.
- הָכַר hâkarinjuretranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s H1970Verb · Translated: mistreat 1Full study and its 1 verse →
Job 19:3 Ten times now you have reproached me; you shamelessly mistreat me.
Greek words (New Testament)
- ὑβρίζω hybrízōI insulttranslated this way 2 times of its 5 uses · Strong’s G5195Verb · Translated: mistreated 1, insult 1, insulted 1, mistreat 1Full study and all 5 verses →
Matthew 22:6 The rest seized his servants, mistreated them, and killed them.
Acts 14:5 But when the Gentiles and Jews, together with their rulers, set out to mistreat and stone them,
- ἀδικέω adikéōI act unjustly towardstranslated this way 2 times of its 28 uses · Strong’s G91Verb · Translated: harm 7, wrong 4, wronged 3, harmed 2Full study and all 24 verses →
Acts 7:24 And when he saw one of them being mistreated, Moses went to his defense and avenged him by striking down the Egyptian who was oppressing him.
Acts 7:26 The next day he came upon two Israelites who were fighting, and he tried to reconcile them, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers. Why are you mistreating each other?’
- κακουχέω kakouchéōI treat evillytranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s G2558Verb · Translated: mistreated 2Full study and all 2 verses →
Hebrews 11:37 They were stoned, they were sawed in two, they were put to death by the sword. They went around in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, oppressed, and mistreated.
Hebrews 13:3 Remember those in prison as if you were bound with them, and those who are mistreated as if you were suffering with them.
- κακόω kakóōI treat badlytranslated this way 1 time of its 5 uses · Strong’s G2559Verb · Translated: harm 2, mistreated 1, oppressed 1, poisoned 1Full study and all 5 verses →
Acts 7:6 God told him that his descendants would be foreigners in a strange land, and that they would be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years.
- ἐπηρεάζω epēreázōI insult, treat wrongfully, molesttranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s G1908Verb · Translated: mistreat 1Full study and its 1 verse →
Luke 6:28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.
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.