To dishonor
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G2617 means to shame, dishonor, disappoint, or put someone to shame. In Paul, it can name the disgrace that will not fall on those who trust Christ and the humiliation of worldly pride before God's saving wisdom.
Reader summary
Full entry for καταισχύνω (G2617) · Open the biblical lexicon
G2617 means to shame, dishonor, disappoint, or put someone to shame. In Paul, it can name the disgrace that will not fall on those who trust Christ and the humiliation of worldly pride before God's saving wisdom.
The BSB source-word alignment has 13 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include dishonors (2), shame (2), will never be put to shame (2), be put to shame (1), does not disappoint [us] (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Luke 13:17. Its strongest book concentrations include 1 Corinthians (5), Romans (3), 1 Peter (2), 2 Corinthians (2).
G2617 means to shame, dishonor, disappoint, or put someone to shame. In Paul, it can name the disgrace that will not fall on those who trust Christ and the humiliation of worldly pride before God's saving wisdom. Romans 5 says hope does not shame believers because God's love has been poured out by the Spirit. Romans 10 says the believer in Christ will not be put to shame.
First Corinthians 1 shows God shaming the proud standards of the world by choosing the weak and foolish. The word helps teachers distinguish cruel shaming from the gospel's overthrow of false honor. God does not humiliate His people for trusting Christ, but He does expose pride that resists the cross.
G2617 names shame, dishonor, or disappointed confidence. Paul's use moves between assurance for believers and the overthrow of worldly honor before God.
And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us.
Hope does not put believers to shame because God's love has been poured out through the Holy Spirit. The word is tied to hope grounded in God's action.
It is just as the Scripture says: “Anyone who believes in Him will never be put to shame.”
Paul cites Scripture to say that everyone who believes in Him will not be put to shame. The word supports confidence in Christ, not confidence in the self.
But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.
God chooses what is foolish and weak to shame the wise and strong. The word exposes overturned status systems under the cross.
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. Shame rooted in public disgrace or exposure of failure; often involves unfulfilled hopes.
Shame rooted in public disgrace or exposure of failure; often involves unfulfilled hopes.
to disgrace, dishonour, put to shame: with accusative of thing(s), 1Co.11:4-5; with accusative of person(s), 1Co.1:27 11:22; pass., to be ashamed: Luk.13:17, 2Co.7:14 9:4, 1Pe.3:16; as in LXX (Psa.22:6 25:2-3, al.), of unfulfilled hopes: Rom.5:5; pass., Rom.9:33 10:11, 1Pe.2:6" (LXX) .
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek 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 shame, disgrace, put to utter confusion
Read verseI shame, disgrace, put to utter confusion
Read verseI shame, disgrace, put to utter confusion
Read verseI shame, disgrace, put to utter confusion
Read verseI shame, disgrace, put to utter confusion
Read verseI shame, disgrace, put to utter confusion
Read verseI shame, disgrace, put to utter confusion
Read verseI shame, disgrace, put to utter confusion
Read verseI shame, disgrace, put to utter confusion
Read verseI shame, disgrace, put to utter confusion
Read verseI shame, disgrace, put to utter confusion
Read verseI shame, disgrace, put to utter confusion
Read verseI shame, disgrace, put to utter confusion
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 5 selected witnesses from 13 lexical occurrence verses.
καταισχύνω 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.
G2617 is pastorally important because shame language can be mishandled. Paul does not use the word to license cruel humiliation or spiritual manipulation. In Romans, it strengthens hope and faith: those who trust Christ will not be put to shame. In First Corinthians, the word turns against the world's proud measures of wisdom, strength, and status. God shames what boasts against Him, but He does not shame those who rest on Christ.
Teachers should therefore let the word comfort the ashamed believer and confront the proud heart at the same time. The cross does not leave worldly honor untouched, but it gives safe confidence to everyone who believes.
Rom.10.11
To put to shame or dishonor is the reviewed display gloss for G2617. In this Pauline-focused companion, local STEP TAGNT evidence shows about 10 Pauline use(s), with common forms including V-PAI-3S 3, V-FPI-3S 2, V-PAS-3S 2, V-API-1S 1, V-APS-1P 1, V-PAI-2P 1. Treat these form signals as support for reading the passage, not as a replacement for context.
The Pauline trajectory moves from hope that will not shame believers to God's shaming of proud worldly standards. Both claims are governed by trust in Christ.
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