A dæmonic being; by extension a deity
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Daimonion means a demon or evil spirit, a personal created power opposed to God. Paul says pagan sacrifices participate with demons and warns of teachings associated with deceitful spirits and demons.
Reader summary
Full entry for δαιμόνιον (G1140) · Open the biblical lexicon
Daimonion means a demon or evil spirit, a personal created power opposed to God. Paul says pagan sacrifices participate with demons and warns of teachings associated with deceitful spirits and demons.
The BSB source-word alignment has 63 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include demons (34), demon (9), a demon (8), demon-possessed (2), of demons (2).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 7:22. Its strongest book concentrations include Luke (23), Mark (13), Matthew (11), John (6).
Daimonion means a demon or evil spirit, a personal created power opposed to God. Paul says pagan sacrifices participate with demons and warns of teachings associated with deceitful spirits and demons. James says demons possess correct monotheistic knowledge yet shudder, proving that bare assent is not saving faith. The Gospels portray demons oppressing people and submitting to Jesus' sovereign command, while opponents wrongly accuse Jesus of demonic influence.
The word should not become a label for mental illness, disability, trauma, cultural difference, or a difficult person. Scripture affirms real spiritual evil without authorizing speculative diagnosis. Christian response centers on Christ's victory, prayer, truth, holiness, compassionate care, medical help where appropriate, and accountable pastoral practice free from fear, spectacle, or coercion.
Daimonion names hostile spiritual beings. Its uses expose idolatrous fellowship, deceptive teaching, knowledge without allegiance, demonic oppression, and Jesus' uncontested authority over evil spirits.
No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God. And I do not want you to be participants with demons.
First Corinthians 10:20 says pagan sacrifices are offered to demons rather than God, warning believers against fellowship with demons through idolatrous worship.
Now the Spirit expressly states that in later times some will abandon the faith to follow deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons,
First Timothy 4:1 predicts some departing from faith by attending to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons. False ascetic commands receive a spiritual diagnosis through their departure from gospel truth.
You believe that God is one. Good for you! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.
James 2:19 says demons believe that God is one and shudder. Accurate monotheistic confession without obedient trust cannot establish living faith.
“What is your name?” Jesus asked. “Legion,” he replied, because many demons had gone into him.
Luke 8:30 records Jesus asking the oppressed man's name and receiving the answer Legion because many demons had entered him. Jesus delivers and restores him.
But others replied, “These are not the words of a man possessed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”
John 10:21 records some hearers rejecting the accusation that Jesus has a demon: a demon cannot open blind eyes. The occurrence warns that demonic labels can be false and slanderous.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Greek word. In NT, consistently denotes evil spirits that possess and afflict people, not neutral divine powers
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
16 of 60 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
an evil-spirit, demon
Read versean evil-spirit, demon
Read versean evil-spirit, demon
Read versean evil-spirit, demon
Read versean evil-spirit, demon
Read versean evil-spirit, demon
Read versean evil-spirit, demon
Read versean evil-spirit, demon
Read versean evil-spirit, demon
Read versean evil-spirit, demon
Read versean evil-spirit, demon
Read versean evil-spirit, demon
Read versean evil-spirit, demon
Read versean evil-spirit, demon
Read versean evil-spirit, demon
Read versean evil-spirit, demon
Read verseFull New Testament corpus: 260 chapters, 7,957 verses, 140,628 tokens. Data source: honza/textus-receptus (data only), with authority check against byztxt/greektext-textus-receptus.
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
This word appears as a noun across 7 case and number patterns. The form changes show how the word functions in a sentence; they do not change the basic lexical meaning by themselves.
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 2 selected witnesses from 63 lexical occurrence verses.
δαιμόνιον is built from this root:
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Daimonion belongs within the Bible's sober account of personal spiritual evil, not a theater of fear. Demons stand behind idolatrous fellowship, may be associated with truth-denying teaching, and can know facts about God without faithful allegiance. In the Gospels, their power is real but subordinate: Jesus commands, delivers, and restores. John also records that people can falsely attach a demonic label to Jesus, exposing the danger of spiritual accusation.
Churches should resist evil through the gospel, prayer, Scripture, holiness, and communal care while consulting qualified medical and mental-health professionals when symptoms warrant. No deliverance practice should involve violence, humiliation, isolation, medication interference, financial exploitation, or shielding leaders from review. Christ's authority produces freedom and truthful compassion, not panic.
Luke.8.30
Daimonion is a common New Testament term for a demon or evil spirit. It may be grammatically neuter while referring to a personal spiritual agent; grammar does not make the being impersonal.
The Old Testament condemns sacrifice to destructive spiritual powers and portrays the Lord's unrivaled authority. Biblical warfare consistently rejects magical manipulation.