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πονηρός

ponērós

G4190 substantive adjective

SILEX Entry

Definition

Characterized by active harmfulness or wickedness; causing trouble, pain, or suffering; morally depraved or malignant in intent or effect. In various contexts, can describe people, actions, conditions, or even spiritual beings as spirit or agent of moral evil.

Semantic Range

evil, wicked, morally corrupt, harmful, troublesome, malignant, morally depraved, the Evil One (personal agent), diseased, malicious, causing suffering or damage

Root / Etymology

Derived from πόνος (labor, toil, pain) with the adjectival suffix -ηρός, originally denoting something laborious or full of trouble; over time, the sense broadened to signify actively causing trouble, and then more generally 'evil' or 'malignant'.

Historical & Contextual Notes

In classical Greek, πονηρός primarily described things or persons associated with hardship, poverty, or worthlessness—those who are 'base' as opposed to 'virtuous' (ἀγαθός). In the Hellenistic and Koine periods, especially in the Septuagint and New Testament, its sense shifted decisively toward moral evil, wickedness, or actively causing harm, frequently describing both wicked people and malignant spiritual forces. In contrast to κακός (bad in nature or quality) and σαπρός (rotten, decayed), πονηρός accentuates the dimension of effect, activity, or influence—something or someone that brings trouble or harm. In the NT, the masculine singular ὁ πονηρός can designate a personal agent of evil ('the Evil One'), reflecting a development in Jewish demonological thought. Standard English translations like 'evil,' 'wicked,' 'bad,' and 'malignant' only partially capture the scope; it is less about essential badness (κακός) or degeneration (σαπρός), and more about active, harmful influence or intention. The neuter πονηρόν can refer to evil in an abstract sense ('evil thing'), while the plural can refer to evil people or evil deeds. The LXX often uses πονηρός to translate Hebrew רע (ra‘), encompassing both moral and practical harm.

Translation Consistency

primary "evil" 50 occurrences

“Evil” is the most natural and frequent English rendering of πονηρός in the SILEX data and covers the full typical semantic range — morally wicked, harmful, malignant, or trouble‑causing — whether describing persons, actions, conditions, or the personal agent (the Evil One). It is concise, widely understood, and will produce consistent, natural translations across all forms.

✓ All renderings match approved senses

Original Strong's Gloss (1890)

from a derivative of πόνος; hurtful, i.e. evil (properly, in effect or influence, and thus differing from κακός, which refers rather to essential character, as well as from σαπρός, which indicates degeneracy from original virtue); figuratively, calamitous; also (passively) ill, i.e. diseased; but especially (morally) culpable, i.e. derelict, vicious, facinorous; neuter (singular) mischief, malice, or (plural) guilt; masculine (singular) the devil, or (plural) sinners:--bad, evil, grievous, harm, lewd, malicious, wicked(-ness). See also πονηρότερος.

Root Family

πον- (diaponéō) — to toil, to labor, to be in pain

Root πον- toil, trouble, cause pain, inflict harm
Strong's Lemma SIBI-P1
G1278 διαπονέω having been deeply distressed
G4192 πόνος strenuous labor

Word Forms

11 distinct forms

SIDANCE Surface Transliteration Morphology Common SIBI-P1 SIBI-P2 Occurrences
G4190-08 πονηρὸν poneron ADJ.S ACC N SG evil harmful evil harmful evil 18
G4190-01 πονηρὰ ponera ADJ.S ACC N PL evil harmful evils evil 15
G4190-10 πονηροῦ ponerou ADJ.S GEN M SG evil of the harmful one of the evil one 12
G4190-09 πονηρὸς poneros ADJ.P NOM M SG evil malignant, harm-causing is evil 8
G4190-11 πονηροὺς ponerous ADJ.S ACC M PL evil harmful ones evil ones 7
G4190-06 πονηροὶ poneroi ADJ.P NOM M PL evil harm-causing ones evil ones 5
G4190-04 πονηρέ ponere ADJ.A VOC M SG wicked O harmful one O evil one 3
G4190-07 πονηροῖς ponerois ADJ.R DAT N PL evil to harmful things evil 3
G4190-02 πονηραί ponerai ADJ.P NOM F PL evil harmful ones evil ones 2
G4190-05 πονηρῷ ponero ADJ.S DAT M SG evil one to the malignant one evil one 2

Occurrences in Scripture

76 occurrences

SIDANCE Reference Word Transliteration Morphology Common SIBI-P1 SIBI-P2
G4190-08 Matthew 5:11 πονηρὸν poneron ADJ.S ACC N SG evil harmful evil harmful evil
G4190-10 Matthew 5:37 πονηροῦ ponerou ADJ.S GEN M SG evil of the harmful one of the evil one
G4190-05 Matthew 5:39 πονηρῷ ponero ADJ.S DAT M SG evil to the malignant one to the evil one
G4190-11 Matthew 5:45 πονηροὺς ponerous ADJ.S ACC M PL evil harmful ones evil ones
G4190-10 Matthew 6:13 πονηροῦ ponerou ADJ.S GEN N SG evil of the harmful one of the evil one
G4190-09 Matthew 6:23 πονηρὸς poneros ADJ.P NOM M SG evil malignant, harm-causing is evil
G4190-06 Matthew 7:11 πονηροὶ poneroi ADJ.P NOM M PL evil harm-causing ones evil ones
G4190-11 Matthew 7:17 πονηροὺς ponerous ADJ.A ACC M PL bad harmful ones evil ones
G4190-11 Matthew 7:18 πονηροὺς ponerous ADJ.A ACC M PL evil harmful ones evil ones
G4190-01 Matthew 9:4 πονηρὰ ponera ADJ.S ACC N PL evil harmful evils harmful evils
G4190-06 Matthew 12:34 πονηροὶ poneroi ADJ.P NOM M PL evil harm-causing ones evil ones
G4190-09 Matthew 12:35 πονηρὸς poneros ADJ.A NOM M SG evil malignant, harm-causing is evil
G4190-10 Matthew 12:35 πονηροῦ ponerou ADJ.A GEN M SG evil of the harmful one of the evil one
G4190-01 Matthew 12:35 πονηρά ponera ADJ.S ACC N PL evil things harmful evils harmful evils
G4190-01 Matthew 12:39 πονηρὰ ponera ADJ.A NOM F SG evil harmful evils evil
G4190-01 Matthew 12:45 πονηρᾷ ponera ADJ.R DAT F SG evil harmful evils evil
G4190-09 Matthew 13:19 πονηρὸς poneros ADJ.S NOM M SG evil malignant, harm-causing the evil one
G4190-10 Matthew 13:38 πονηροῦ ponerou ADJ.S GEN M SG evil of the harmful one of the evil one
G4190-11 Matthew 13:49 πονηροὺς ponerous ADJ.S ACC M PL wicked harmful ones evil ones
G4190-06 Matthew 15:19 πονηροί poneroi ADJ.A NOM M PL evil harm-causing ones evil ones
G4190-01 Matthew 16:4 πονηρὰ ponera ADJ.A NOM F SG evil harmful evils evil
G4190-04 Matthew 18:32 πονηρέ ponere ADJ.A VOC M SG wicked O harmful one O evil one
G4190-09 Matthew 20:15 πονηρός poneros ADJ.P NOM M SG evil malignant, harm-causing is evil
G4190-11 Matthew 22:10 πονηρούς ponerous ADJ.S ACC M PL bad harmful ones evil ones
G4190-04 Matthew 25:26 πονηρὲ ponere ADJ.A VOC M SG wicked O harmful one O evil one
G4190-09 Mark 7:22 πονηρός poneros ADJ.S NOM M SG an evil eye malignant, harm-causing is evil
G4190-01 Mark 7:23 πονηρὰ ponera ADJ.S NOM N PL evil harmful evils harmful evils
G4190-08 Luke 3:19 πονηρῶν poneron ADJ.S GEN N PL evils harmful evil harmful evil
G4190-08 Luke 6:22 πονηρὸν poneron ADJ.S ACC N SG evil harmful evil harmful evil
G4190-11 Luke 6:35 πονηρούς ponerous ADJ.S ACC M PL evil harmful ones evil ones
G4190-09 Luke 6:45 πονηρὸς poneros ADJ.S NOM M SG evil malignant, harm-causing is evil
G4190-10 Luke 6:45 πονηροῦ ponerou ADJ.S GEN M SG evil of the harmful one evil
G4190-08 Luke 6:45 πονηρόν poneron ADJ.S ACC N SG evil harmful evil harmful evil
G4190-08 Luke 7:21 πονηρῶν poneron ADJ.A GEN N PL evil harmful evil harmful evil
G4190-08 Luke 8:2 πονηρῶν poneron ADJ.A GEN N PL evil harmful evil harmful evil
G4190-06 Luke 11:13 πονηροὶ poneroi ADJ.P NOM M PL evil harm-causing ones evil ones
G4190-01 Luke 11:29 πονηρά ponera ADJ.A NOM F SG evil harmful evils evil
G4190-09 Luke 11:34 πονηρὸς poneros ADJ.P NOM M SG bad malignant, harm-causing is evil
G4190-04 Luke 19:22 πονηρὲ ponere ADJ.A VOC M SG wicked O harmful one O evil one
G4190-01 John 3:19 πονηρὰ ponera ADJ.P NOM N PL evil harmful evils harmful evils
G4190-01 John 7:7 πονηρά ponera ADJ.P NOM N PL evil harmful evils evil
G4190-10 John 17:15 πονηροῦ ponerou ADJ.S GEN M SG evil one of the harmful one of the evil one
G4190-11 Acts 17:5 πονηροὺς ponerous ADJ.A ACC M PL wicked harmful ones evil ones
G4190-08 Acts 18:14 πονηρόν poneron ADJ.A NOM N SG evil harmful evil harmful evil
G4190-01 Acts 19:12 πονηρὰ ponera ADJ.R ACC N PL evil harmful evils evil
G4190-01 Acts 19:13 πονηρὰ ponera ADJ.R ACC N PL evil harmful evils evil
G4190-08 Acts 19:15 πονηρὸν poneron ADJ.R NOM N SG evil harmful evil harmful evil
G4190-08 Acts 19:16 πονηρὸν poneron ADJ.R NOM N SG evil harmful evil harmful evil
G4190-08 Acts 25:18 πονηρῶν poneron ADJ.S GEN N PL evil harmful evil harmful evil
G4190-08 Acts 28:21 πονηρόν poneron ADJ.S ACC N SG evil harmful evil harmful evil
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