What does διαστρέφω (diastréphō) mean in the Bible?
διαστρέφω (diastréphō): To twist or distort, especially morally or doctrinally; describing those who corrupt truth or teaching.
Greek · G1294
διαστρέφω
To pervert
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διαστρέφω G1294
Pronunciation diastréphō
What does διαστρέφω (diastréphō) mean in the Bible?
διαστρέφω (diastréphō): To twist or distort, especially morally or doctrinally; describing those who corrupt truth or teaching.
Full entry for διαστρέφω (G1294) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G1294?
The BSB source-word alignment has 7 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include perverse (3), [and] distort (1), perverting (1), subverting (1), to turn (1).
Where does διαστρέφω (diastréphō) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 17:17. Its strongest book concentrations include Acts (3), Luke (2), Matthew (1), Philippians (1).
Source Word Evidence
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders It perverse 3× Matthew 17:17, Luke 9:41, Philippians 2:15
[and] distort 1× Acts 20:30
perverting 1× Acts 13:10
subverting 1× Luke 23:2
to turn 1× Acts 13:8
Show sample aligned rows
Matthew 17:17 διεστραμμένη to perverse Verb - Perfect Participle Middle or Passive - Vocative Feminine Singular Luke 9:41 διεστραμμένη to perverse Verb - Perfect Participle Middle or Passive - Vocative Feminine Singular Luke 23:2 διαστρέφοντα to subverting Verb - Present Participle Active - Accusative Masculine Singular Acts 13:8 διαστρέψαι to to turn Verb - Aorist Infinitive Active Acts 13:10 διαστρέφων to perverting Verb - Present Participle Active - Nominative Masculine Singular Acts 20:30 διεστραμμένα to [and] distort Verb - Perfect Participle Middle or Passive - Accusative Neuter Plural Philippians 2:15 διεστραμμένης to perverse Verb - Perfect Participle Middle or Passive - Genitive Feminine Singular
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned row Matthew 17:17
Aligned rows 7
Books represented 4
Matthew 1 Luke 2 Acts 3 Philippians 1
Source forms
διεστραμμένη 2x diestrammenē Matthew 17:17, Luke 9:41
διαστρέφοντα 1x diastrephonta Luke 23:2
διαστρέφων 1x diastrephōn Acts 13:10
διαστρέψαι 1x diastrepsai Acts 13:8
διεστραμμένα 1x diestrammena Acts 20:30
διεστραμμένης 1x diestrammenēs Philippians 2:15
Parsing patterns
Verb - Perfect Participle Middle or Passive - Vocative Feminine Singular 2x Matthew 17:17, Luke 9:41
Verb - Aorist Infinitive Active 1x Acts 13:8
Verb - Perfect Participle Middle or Passive - Accusative Neuter Plural 1x Acts 20:30
Verb - Perfect Participle Middle or Passive - Genitive Feminine Singular 1x Philippians 2:15
Verb - Present Participle Active - Accusative Masculine Singular 1x Luke 23:2
Verb - Present Participle Active - Nominative Masculine Singular 1x Acts 13:10
Evidence Summary
Greek word. To twist or distort, especially morally or doctrinally; describing those who corrupt truth or teaching.
Strong's G1294
Lexical occurrences 7 verses Greek text appearances 7 times Word forms 2 forms 7 references Verse guides 0 guides
Source Gloss
to pervert
Extended definition Source: STEPBible TBESG + Abbott-Smith
To twist or distort, especially morally or doctrinally; describing those who corrupt truth or teaching.
to distort, twist; metaphorically, to distort, pervert: Luk.23:2, Act.13:8, 10; διεστραμμένος, perverse: Mat.17:17, Luk.9:41, Act.20:30, Php.2:15.
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
7 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
Matthew 17:17 Verb Perfect Passive Participle Nominative Singular Feminine
διεστραμμένη, diestrammenh
I pervert, corrupt, oppose
Read verse Luke 9:41 Verb Perfect Passive Participle Nominative Singular Feminine
διεστραμμένη, diestrammenh
I pervert, corrupt, oppose
Read verse Luke 23:2 Verb Present Active Participle Accusative Singular Masculine
διαστρέφοντα diastrefonta
I pervert, corrupt, oppose
Read verse Acts 13:8 Verb Aorist Active Infinitive
διαστρέψαι diastreyai
I pervert, corrupt, oppose
Read verse Acts 13:10 Verb Present Active Participle Nominative Singular Masculine
διαστρέφων diastrefwn
I pervert, corrupt, oppose
Read verse Acts 20:30 Verb Perfect Passive Participle Accusative Plural Neuter
διεστραμμένα, diestrammena
I pervert, corrupt, oppose
Read verse Philippians 2:15 Verb Perfect Passive Participle Genitive Singular Feminine
διεστραμμένης, diestrammenhv
I pervert, corrupt, oppose
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.
Grammatical Forms
How mood, tense, and voice shift the force of this verb in context.
This verb appears through different tense, voice, mood, or stem patterns. Those forms help readers see how the action is presented in context.
Form groups 2 Aligned forms 7 Tenses Perfect, Present, Aorist Voices Passive, Active
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Tenses
Voices
Participle verbal adjective — the action as a modifying quality 6×
Perfect Passive Matt 17:17 · Luke 9:41 · Acts 20:30 · Phil 2:15 4×
Present Active Luke 23:2 · Acts 13:10 2×
Infinitive verbal noun — the action in abstract 1×
Aorist Active Acts 13:8 1×
Discourse Aspect
How this verb appears across 7 occurrences in the NT discourse index (MACULA Greek SBLGNT).
Aspect
Tense
perfect 4 present 2 aorist 1
Voice
passive 4 active 3
Mood
participle 6 infinitive 1
NT Occurrences
Matthew 17:17 διεστραμμένη perfect passive participle participle Luke 9:41 διεστραμμένη perfect passive participle participle Luke 23:2 διαστρέφοντα present active participle participle Acts 13:10 διαστρέφων present active participle participle Acts 13:8 διαστρέψαι aorist active infinitive infinitive Acts 20:30 διεστραμμένα perfect passive participle participle Philippians 2:15 διεστραμμένης perfect passive participle participle
Aspect reflects grammatical form — not authorial emphasis. Participles and infinitives are verbal adjectives and nouns respectively.
Clause data: MACULA Greek (Clear Bible, CC BY 4.0) · SBLGNT (Logos/SBL, CC BY 4.0)
Selected Scripture Witnesses
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Witnesses
Luke 23:1–5 διαστρέφοντα diastréphō
Misleading, perverting
Luke 9:37–43a διεστραμμένη diastréphō
Perverse, twisted
Showing 2 selected witnesses from 7 lexical occurrence verses.
Word Origins
διαστρέφω is built from these roots:
Part of These Phrases
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Sources
MorphGNT Strong's Dictionary XML — CC0 1.0 Public Domain
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible (morphhb/OSHB) — CC BY 4.0
Open Scriptures Hebrew Lexicon — CC BY 4.0
Berean Standard Bible (BSB) source-word alignment - CC0 Public Domain