To harm
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Ἀδικέω (adikéō) means to wrong, harm, injure, or act unjustly toward someone or something. The vineyard owner denies wronging a worker because he pays the agreed wage, exposing envy rather than breached justice.
Reader summary
Full entry for ἀδικέω (G91) · Open the biblical lexicon
Ἀδικέω (adikéō) means to wrong, harm, injure, or act unjustly toward someone or something. The vineyard owner denies wronging a worker because he pays the agreed wage, exposing envy rather than breached justice.
The BSB source-word alignment has 28 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include to harm (4), are you mistreating (1), be wronged (1), being mistreated (1), continue to be unrighteous (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 20:13. Its strongest book concentrations include Revelation (11), Acts (5), 2 Corinthians (3), 1 Corinthians (2).
This entry includes 2 verse guides that explain exact original-language forms in context.
Ἀδικέω (adikéō) means to wrong, harm, injure, or act unjustly toward someone or something. The vineyard owner denies wronging a worker because he pays the agreed wage, exposing envy rather than breached justice. Paul says he accepts lawful punishment if he has done wrong, while refusing unjust surrender on unsupported charges. Colossians warns that the wrongdoer will receive back the wrong done because the Lord shows no favoritism.
Revelation restrains harm to earth, sea, and trees until God's servants are sealed, and its final warning speaks of the unjust continuing in injustice as judgment approaches. The verb may name interpersonal unfairness, criminal wrongdoing, exploitative treatment, physical damage, or a settled moral practice. The harmed party, violated standard, and narrative verdict establish the specific injustice.
Ἀδικέω names wrongdoing or harm. Its uses concern an alleged unfair wage, criminal liability and legal appeal, impartial recompense, restrained damage to creation, and injustice continuing toward final judgment.
But he answered one of them, ‘Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Did you not agree with me on one denarius?
The landowner denies wronging the grumbling worker because the agreed denarius has been paid, revealing that another person's generosity does not make a fair agreement unjust.
If, however, I am guilty of anything worthy of death, I do not refuse to die. But if there is no truth to their accusations against me, no one has the right to hand me over to them. I appeal to Caesar!”
Paul distinguishes genuine capital wrongdoing from false accusation and appeals to Caesar rather than consenting to an unlawful transfer into his enemies' hands.
Whoever does wrong will be repaid for his wrong, and there is no favoritism.
Colossians assures workers and masters that the person doing wrong will receive the wrong back from the impartial Lord, removing social rank as protection from judgment.
“Do not harm the land or sea or trees until we have placed a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.”
The angels are commanded not to harm land, sea, or trees until God's servants are sealed, placing destructive action under divine timing and restraint.
Let the unrighteous continue to be unrighteous, and the vile continue to be vile; let the righteous continue to practice righteousness, and the holy continue to be holy.”
The closing declaration portrays the unjust continuing in injustice as the book reaches its final summons, intensifying accountability rather than granting moral permission.
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 wrong someone or act unjustly; often implies legal/relational harm rather than mere physical injury.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
16 of 27 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
I act unjustly towards
Read verseI act unjustly towards
Read verseI act unjustly towards
Read verseI act unjustly towards
Read verseI act unjustly towards
Read verseI act unjustly towards
Read verseI act unjustly towards
Read verseI act unjustly towards
Read verseI act unjustly towards
Read verseI act unjustly towards
Read verseI act unjustly towards
Read verseI act unjustly towards
Read verseI act unjustly towards
Read verseI act unjustly towards
Read verseI act unjustly towards
Read verseI act unjustly towards
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 27 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 2 selected witnesses from 28 lexical occurrence verses.
ἀδικέω 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.
Scripture refuses both invented grievance and concealed injustice. The vineyard worker receives exactly what was agreed, so the owner's generosity to another does not wrong him; envy has recast grace as unfairness. Paul shows the other side. He does not evade accountability for actual crime, yet he refuses delivery to accusers whose case is untrue and uses a lawful appeal.
Colossians places every social relationship before the impartial Lord, who repays wrongdoing without favoring the powerful. Revelation even portrays harm to creation as restrained by divine command, and its final chapter warns that practiced injustice is moving toward disclosure. Churches should investigate truthfully, honor agreements, protect the vulnerable, allow legitimate appeal, and trust God's judgment.
Ἀδικέω does not let subjective offense define justice, nor does it let authority rename real harm as obedience.
Matt.20.13
Ἀδικέω is built from the language of injustice and can be transitive, to harm someone, or intransitive, to do wrong. Objects and legal or physical context clarify whether the focus is injury, unfair treatment, or unrighteous conduct.
The law forbids partiality and exploitation, prophets indict those who harm the weak, and wisdom promises that wrongdoing returns upon the wicked. The Lord judges masters and servants impartially.