To mock
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G1702, empaízō, is a Greek verb for mocking, ridiculing, or treating someone as an object of sport. One use describes Herod's perception that the Magi had outwitted him, and one appears in Jesus' warning that an unfinished builder will be ridiculed.
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Full entry for ἐμπαίζω (G1702) · Open the biblical lexicon
G1702, empaízō, is a Greek verb for mocking, ridiculing, or treating someone as an object of sport. One use describes Herod's perception that the Magi had outwitted him, and one appears in Jesus' warning that an unfinished builder will be ridiculed.
The BSB source-word alignment has 13 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include mocked [Him] (2), they had mocked (2), [and] mocked (1), [who] will mock (1), began to mock (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 2:16. Its strongest book concentrations include Luke (5), Matthew (5), Mark (3).
G1702, empaízō, is a Greek verb for mocking, ridiculing, or treating someone as an object of sport. One use describes Herod's perception that the Magi had outwitted him, and one appears in Jesus' warning that an unfinished builder will be ridiculed. The remaining witnesses cluster around Jesus' predictions and passion: guards, Herod and his soldiers, Roman soldiers, and religious leaders mock Him with blows, dress, gestures, titles, sour wine, and verbal challenges. Mockery is not merely a joke in these scenes. It is a social performance that strips dignity and reinforces power while physical violence proceeds.
The passion narratives expose mockery's false verdict. A crown of thorns, royal robe, kneeling, and the title King of the Jews are staged to deny Jesus' kingship, yet the Gospel tells the truth through the mockers' parody. Their ridicule does not create His identity, and His refusal to descend from the cross is not inability. Jesus had already predicted mockery, death, and resurrection. Matthew also shows that Herod's rage at being outwitted leads to the killing of Bethlehem's boys, warning how wounded pride and loss of control can turn ridicule into retaliatory violence.
Pastoral application must oppose humiliation as entertainment, discipline, leadership culture, or online engagement. Teasing becomes abusive when power, repetition, threat, exposure, or a vulnerable target removes meaningful freedom. The passion must not be used to blame Jewish people collectively: the Gospel names specific rulers, soldiers, leaders, crowds, and crucified men within a wider human participation in rejection. Luke 14's unfinished-tower image uses anticipated ridicule to press honest cost-counting; it does not authorize a congregation to shame people whose projects fail. Christian speech should tell truth without converting another person's weakness or suffering into sport.
G1702 traces perceived outwitting, anticipated ridicule over unfinished work, Jesus' predictions of humiliation, and coordinated passion mockery that uses bodies, clothing, political titles, violence, and public speech to deny His kingship.
When Herod saw that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was filled with rage. Sending orders, he put to death all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, according to the time he had learned from the Magi.
The passive form describes Herod's perception of being deceived or made a fool. His wounded control becomes murderous retaliation; the Magi and children do not bear responsibility for his rage.
And will deliver Him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. And on the third day He will be raised to life.”
Jesus predicts mockery as one part of a sequence of degrading violence and death, followed by resurrection. Foreknowledge does not make the perpetrators righteous or the abuse less real.
And they twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on His head. They put a staff in His right hand, knelt down before Him, and mocked Him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!”
The soldiers construct a parody court around Jesus' body. The crown, staff, kneeling, and title turn political contempt into a coordinated ritual of humiliation.
After they had mocked Him, they removed the robe and put His own clothes back on Him. Then they led Him away to crucify Him.
Mockery transitions directly into crucifixion. Changing the costume does not restore dignity or interrupt the state's violent purpose.
In the same way, the chief priests, scribes, and elders mocked Him, saying,
Specific religious leaders join the derision with a challenge about saving Himself. The verse condemns these actors and does not authorize blame against Jewish people as a whole.
Who will mock Him and spit on Him and flog Him and kill Him. And after three days He will rise again.”
Mark places mockery beside spitting, flogging, and killing, showing its embodied violence. Resurrection overturns the mockers' verdict without making humiliation a virtue in itself.
In the same way, the chief priests and scribes mocked Him among themselves, saying, “He saved others, but He cannot save Himself!
The taunt misreads Jesus' refusal to self-rescue as incapacity. Within Mark's Gospel, His saving mission is expressed precisely through giving His life rather than performing for the mockers.
Otherwise, if he lays the foundation and is unable to finish the work, everyone who sees it will ridicule him,
Jesus invokes the predictable social ridicule of an unfinished tower to require honest cost-counting in discipleship. He describes the consequence; He does not command the crowd to humiliate failure.
The men who were holding Jesus began to mock Him and beat Him.
Custodial power, ridicule, and beating occur together before formal proceedings continue. The scene exposes abuse by those controlling a restrained person.
And even Herod and his soldiers ridiculed and mocked Him. Dressing Him in a fine robe, they sent Him back to Pilate.
Herod's court uses clothing and group ridicule to turn the accused into entertainment. Political authorities pass Jesus between them while avoiding a just response to the case.
The soldiers also mocked Him and came up to offer Him sour wine.
Soldiers continue the mockery at the cross, approaching the dying Jesus with sour wine and a kingship challenge. The victim remains the object of sport even during execution.
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. To mock with scorn or ridicule, often involving physical mockery or humiliation of the target.
To mock with scorn or ridicule, often involving physical mockery or humiliation of the target.
= Attic προσ-, καταπαίζω, to mock at, mock (Hdt.): with dative, Mat.27:29, 31, Mrk.15:20, Luk.14:29 22:63 23:36; pass., Mat.2:16, Luk.18:32; absol., Mat.20:19 27:41, Mrk.10:34 15:31, Luk.23:11.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
13 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
I mock
Read verseI mock
Read verseI mock
Read verseI mock
Read verseI mock
Read verseI mock
Read verseI mock
Read verseI mock
Read verseI mock
Read verseI mock
Read verseI mock
Read verseI mock
Read verseI mock
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 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.
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
How this verb appears across 13 occurrences in the NT discourse index (MACULA Greek SBLGNT).
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 passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 3 selected witnesses from 13 lexical occurrence verses.
ἐμπαίζω is built from these roots:
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
G1702 reveals mockery as an enacted verdict. Herod interprets the Magi's departure as being made a fool and answers with lethal rage. Jesus warns that an unfinished tower draws ridicule, then the passion narratives show ridicule operating as organized domination: guards beat a restrained prisoner, courts dress Him for sport, soldiers parody royal honor, and leaders turn His saving mission into a taunt.
The mockers say more truth than they know, because the one crowned in contempt is King, yet that irony never makes their conduct faithful. Resurrection reverses their judgment and vindicates the mocked Christ. Churches formed by this word reject hazing, humiliating discipline, cruel memes, ableist or racial jokes, and leader-centered banter that cannot be refused.
They practice humor with mutual freedom and tell hard truths without making another person's body, failure, accent, grief, or vulnerability into entertainment.
Matt.27.29
G1702 is a verb appearing in active and passive forms and can mean mock, ridicule, delude, or be outwitted. In the passion it often joins physical actions, clothing, speech, and group performance. The word identifies treatment as mockery but the narrative supplies its content, power relation, and moral judgment.
Israel's laments describe the righteous sufferer surrounded by mockers, and the prophets portray servants who bear contempt while awaiting God's verdict. The Gospels center those patterns in Jesus without turning every mocked person into a messianic figure. New Testament communities are called to bless rather than retaliate and to honor people whom dominant powers treat with contempt.