What does ἐκδίκησις (ekdíkēsis) mean in the Bible?
ἐκδίκησις (ekdíkēsis): Vindication of the wronged through divine justice, not mere personal revenge or retaliation
Greek · G1557
ἐκδίκησις
Vindication, retribution
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ἐκδίκησις G1557
Pronunciation ekdíkēsis
What does ἐκδίκησις (ekdíkēsis) mean in the Bible?
ἐκδίκησις (ekdíkēsis): Vindication of the wronged through divine justice, not mere personal revenge or retaliation
Full entry for ἐκδίκησις (G1557) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G1557?
The BSB source-word alignment has 9 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include Vengeance [is] (2), avenged [him] (1), justice (1), justice for (1), of vengeance (1).
Where does ἐκδίκησις (ekdíkēsis) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Luke 18:7. Its strongest book concentrations include Luke (3), 1 Peter (1), 2 Corinthians (1), 2 Thessalonians (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 Vengeance [is] 2× Romans 12:19, Hebrews 10:30
avenged [him] 1× Acts 7:24
justice 1× Luke 18:8
justice for 1× Luke 18:7
of vengeance 1× Luke 21:22
punish 1× 1 Peter 2:14
vengeance 1× 2 Thessalonians 1:8
vindication 1× 2 Corinthians 7:11
Show sample aligned rows
Luke 18:7 ἐκδίκησιν to justice for Noun - Accusative Feminine Singular Luke 18:8 ἐκδίκησιν to justice Noun - Accusative Feminine Singular Luke 21:22 ἐκδικήσεως to of vengeance Noun - Genitive Feminine Singular Acts 7:24 ἐκδίκησιν to avenged [him] Noun - Accusative Feminine Singular Romans 12:19 ἐκδίκησις to Vengeance [is] Noun - Nominative Feminine Singular 2 Corinthians 7:11 ἐκδίκησιν to vindication Noun - Accusative Feminine Singular 2 Thessalonians 1:8 ἐκδίκησιν to vengeance Noun - Accusative Feminine Singular Hebrews 10:30 ἐκδίκησις to Vengeance [is] Noun - Nominative Feminine Singular 1 Peter 2:14 ἐκδίκησιν to punish Noun - Accusative Feminine Singular
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned row Luke 18:7
Aligned rows 9
Books represented 7
Luke 3 Acts 1 Romans 1 2 Corinthians 1 2 Thessalonians 1 Hebrews 1 1 Peter 1
Source forms
ἐκδίκησιν 6x ekdikēsin Luke 18:7, Luke 18:8, Acts 7:24, 2 Corinthians 7:11
ἐκδίκησις 2x ekdikēsis Romans 12:19, Hebrews 10:30
ἐκδικήσεως 1x ekdikēseōs Luke 21:22
Parsing patterns
Noun - Accusative Feminine Singular 6x Luke 18:7, Luke 18:8, Acts 7:24, 2 Corinthians 7:11
Noun - Nominative Feminine Singular 2x Romans 12:19, Hebrews 10:30
Noun - Genitive Feminine Singular 1x Luke 21:22
Evidence Summary
Greek word. Vindication of the wronged through divine justice, not mere personal revenge or retaliation
Strong's G1557
Lexical occurrences 9 verses Greek text appearances 9 times Word forms 3 forms 9 references Verse guides 0 guides
Source Gloss
vindication, retribution
Extended definition Source: STEPBible TBESG + Abbott-Smith
Vindication of the wronged through divine justice, not mere personal revenge or retaliation
(ἐκδικέω), [in LXX chiefly for נָקָם ;] vengeance, vindication: Luk.21:22, Rom.12:19 (see MM, Exp., xii), Heb.10:30 (LXX), 2Co.7:11; of the injured person, with genitive, Luk.18:7-8; with dative, Act.7:24; of the offender, with genitive obj., 1Pe.2:14; with dative, 2Th.1:8 (cf. Sir.12:6).
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
9 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
Luke 18:7 Noun Accusative Singular Feminine
ἐκδίκησιν ekdikhsin
a defense, vengeance, full punishment
Read verse Luke 18:8 Noun Accusative Singular Feminine
ἐκδίκησιν ekdikhsin
a defense, vengeance, full punishment
Read verse Luke 21:22 Noun Genitive Singular Feminine
ἐκδικήσεως ekdikhsewv
a defense, vengeance, full punishment
Read verse Acts 7:24 Noun Accusative Singular Feminine
ἐκδίκησιν ekdikhsin
a defense, vengeance, full punishment
Read verse Romans 12:19 Noun Nominative Singular Feminine
ἐκδίκησις, ekdikhsiv
a defense, vengeance, full punishment
Read verse 2 Corinthians 7:11 Noun Accusative Singular Feminine
ἐκδίκησιν. ekdikhsin
a defense, vengeance, full punishment
Read verse 2 Thessalonians 1:8 Noun Accusative Singular Feminine
ἐκδίκησιν ekdikhsin
a defense, vengeance, full punishment
Read verse Hebrews 10:30 Noun Nominative Singular Feminine
ἐκδίκησις, ekdikhsiv
a defense, vengeance, full punishment
Read verse 1 Peter 2:14 Noun Accusative Singular Feminine
ἐκδίκησιν ekdikhsin
a defense, vengeance, full punishment
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 this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
This word appears as a noun across 3 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.
Form patterns 3 Aligned forms 9 Case pattern Accusative (6) Number pattern Singular (9)
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Nominative · Singular · Feminine Rom 12:19 · Heb 10:30 2×
Genitive · Singular · Feminine Luke 21:22 1×
Accusative · Singular · Feminine Luke 18:7 · Luke 18:8 · Acts 7:24 · 2 Cor 7:11 · 2 Thess 1:8 · 1 Pet 2:14 6×
Selected Scripture Witness
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Witnesses
Luke 21:5–24 ἐκδικήσεως ekdíkēsis
Vengeance
Showing 1 selected witness from 9 lexical occurrence verses.
Word Origins
ἐκδίκησις is built from this root:
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