To revile
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G3679, oneidízō, is a Greek verb whose contextual range includes reproaching, insulting, reviling, berating, denouncing, rebuking, or finding fault. Jesus blesses disciples when people falsely insult them because of Him; crucified men berate Jesus; Peter addresses insult for Christ's name; Paul says insults directed at God fell on Christ.
Reader summary
Full entry for ὀνειδίζω (G3679) · Open the biblical lexicon
G3679, oneidízō, is a Greek verb whose contextual range includes reproaching, insulting, reviling, berating, denouncing, rebuking, or finding fault. Jesus blesses disciples when people falsely insult them because of Him; crucified men berate Jesus; Peter addresses insult for Christ's name; Paul says insults directed at God fell on Christ.
The BSB source-word alignment has 9 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include berated (2), insult (2), [people] insult (1), finding fault (1), rebuked them (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 5:11. Its strongest book concentrations include Matthew (3), Mark (2), 1 Peter (1), James (1).
This entry includes 1 verse guide that explain exact original-language forms in context.
G3679, oneidízō, is a Greek verb whose contextual range includes reproaching, insulting, reviling, berating, denouncing, rebuking, or finding fault. Jesus blesses disciples when people falsely insult them because of Him; crucified men berate Jesus; Peter addresses insult for Christ's name; Paul says insults directed at God fell on Christ. Yet the same verb also describes Jesus denouncing unrepentant cities and rebuking the Eleven's unbelief, while James says God gives wisdom generously without finding fault. The word therefore does not make every severe statement abusive or every criticism righteous. Truth, cause, authority, purpose, and manner govern the moral judgment.
The Beatitudes are specific about the cause and falsity of reproach. Blessing belongs to people insulted, excluded, persecuted, and falsely accused because of allegiance to Jesus, not to anyone criticized for harmful conduct. First Peter likewise distinguishes suffering for Christ from suffering as a murderer, thief, wrongdoer, or meddler. The passion shows reproach directed at Jesus even from other crucified men, and Romans presents Christ bearing insults rather than pleasing Himself. These texts honor faithful endurance without making abusive speech safe or requiring targets to remain within its reach.
James supplies a pastoral contrast: God gives wisdom without humiliating the asker for lacking it. Correction in the church should resemble that generosity, not contemptuous fault-finding. Jesus' denunciation of unrepentant cities and rebuke of the Eleven show that love can name culpable refusal clearly, but His speech is tied to witnessed works, resurrection testimony, and a call to repentance. Pastoral use should distinguish evidence-based correction from reviling, protect people from slander and retaliatory speech, provide fair response and appeal, and never baptize insults as prophetic merely because the speaker claims courage.
G3679 moves from false insult and exclusion to passion berating, Christ-bearing reproach, generous divine giving without humiliation, and warranted denunciation or rebuke of persistent unbelief.
Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me.
Jesus names both false accusation and allegiance to Him as the cause. The blessing does not shield misconduct from truthful criticism or make every controversy persecution.
Then Jesus began to denounce the cities in which most of His miracles had been performed, because they did not repent.
Jesus' denunciation answers witnessed works and persistent refusal to repent. It is accountable moral speech with a stated basis, not casual contempt for a population.
In the same way, even the robbers who were crucified with Him berated Him.
People suffering the same Roman execution join the surrounding reproach. Shared vulnerability does not automatically produce solidarity or make their words true.
Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross, so that we may see and believe!” And even those who were crucified with Him berated Him.
The berating turns belief into a demand that Jesus perform self-rescue on the mockers' terms. Mark's Gospel reveals saving kingship through the cross rather than escape from it.
Later, as they were eating, Jesus appeared to the Eleven and rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen.
The rebuke has a defined issue and evidence: the Eleven refused credible resurrection witnesses. Correction is direct but oriented toward the mission Jesus immediately entrusts to them.
Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil because of the Son of Man.
Luke joins insult to exclusion and reputational rejection because of the Son of Man. The community should not manufacture such hostility or treat preventable exclusion as spiritually desirable.
For even Christ did not please Himself, but as it is written: “The insults of those who insult You have fallen on Me.”
Paul cites the psalm to ground Christlike concern for neighbors rather than self-pleasing. Bearing reproach serves love but does not require tolerating unbounded abuse or concealing harm.
Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.
God does not humiliate the asker for the acknowledged lack of wisdom. Divine generosity creates a model for teaching and counsel that welcomes honest need.
If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.
The cause matters: insult is borne for Christ's name, and the surrounding verses distinguish this from suffering for wrongdoing. The Spirit's presence counters social disgrace.
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.
Verse-level guides showing how this original-language form works in its specific context, including grammar, verse function, and guarded interpretation.
Greek word. To reproach someone with shame-laden speech; implies public disgrace and verbal attack on character.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
10 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
I reproach, revile, upbraid
Read verseI reproach, revile, upbraid
Read verseI reproach, revile, upbraid
Read verseI reproach, revile, upbraid
Read verseI reproach, revile, upbraid
Read verseI reproach, revile, upbraid
Read verseI reproach, revile, upbraid
Read verseI reproach, revile, upbraid
Read verseI reproach, revile, upbraid
Read verseI reproach, revile, upbraid
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.
How this verb appears across 9 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 4 selected witnesses from 10 lexical occurrence verses.
ὀνειδίζω 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.
G3679 requires moral discernment about severe speech. Jesus blesses disciples falsely insulted because of Him, and Peter says the Spirit rests on those reproached for Christ's name, but both contexts make cause decisive. Criticism for wrongdoing is not persecution. At the cross, reproach becomes a demand that Jesus prove Himself through self-rescue, while Romans presents Him bearing insults in self-giving love.
Yet Jesus also denounces cities that refuse to repent after witnessed works and rebukes the Eleven for rejecting resurrection testimony. James gives the governing pastoral tone: God welcomes the person who lacks wisdom and gives without humiliating fault-finding. Churches should investigate claims, speak specifically, invite response, distinguish danger from disagreement, protect targets from retaliation, and aim correction toward truth and repair.
No one earns prophetic authority by being insulting, and no leader gains immunity by calling accountability reviling.
Jas.1.5
G3679 is a verb represented by English insult, reproach, revile, berate, denounce, rebuke, and find fault. Active and passive forms describe both speech directed at a target and the experience of receiving it. The selected artifact count is one higher than the direct BSB boundary, so this study follows the nine governed word-table witnesses for quotations and range.
Israel's psalms and prophets distinguish reproach suffered by faithful servants from rebuke directed at covenant betrayal. Jesus receives the reproach of the righteous sufferer and also speaks prophetic denunciation. The church inherits both endurance and correction, governed by truth, humility, repentance, protection of the vulnerable, and the generous character of God.