To torture
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G928 means to torment, distress, or subject to severe pain or testing, and can describe a boat straining against waves. 6, a centurion reports that his servant lies paralyzed at home in terrible agony.
Reader summary
Full entry for βασανίζω (G928) · Open the biblical lexicon
G928 means to torment, distress, or subject to severe pain or testing, and can describe a boat straining against waves. 6, a centurion reports that his servant lies paralyzed at home in terrible agony.
The BSB source-word alignment has 12 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include to torture (3), agony (2), buffeted (1), had tormented (1), he will be tormented (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 8:6. Its strongest book concentrations include Revelation (5), Matthew (3), Mark (2), 2 Peter (1).
G928 means to torment, distress, or subject to severe pain or testing, and can describe a boat straining against waves. In Matt. 8. 6, a centurion reports that his servant lies paralyzed at home in terrible agony. In Mark. 6. 48, the disciples strain at the oars because the wind opposes them. In 2Pet. 2. 8, Lot's righteous soul is tormented by lawless deeds he sees and hears.
G928 opens teaching on embodied pain, exhausting resistance, moral distress, Jesus' compassionate authority, and final judgment of evil. It does not excuse torture, portray mental anguish as moral superiority, or let leaders intensify suffering to produce obedience. The surrounding actor, object, and outcome determine whether the pressure is inflicted, endured, or judged.
G928 describes physical agony, demonic fear of judgment, a boat battered or rowers strained, labor pain, moral distress, apocalyptic torment, and the devil's final punishment. Subject and cause distinguish suffering endured from judgment imposed.
“Lord, my servant lies at home, paralyzed and in terrible agony.”
The centurion brings his servant's paralysis and terrible agony to Jesus, who responds with healing authority.
He could see that the disciples were straining to row, because the wind was against them. About the fourth watch of the night, Jesus went out to them, walking on the sea. He intended to pass by them,
Jesus sees the disciples straining at the oars against the wind before coming to them on the sea.
(For that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)—
Lot is described as experiencing ongoing moral distress from the lawless deeds around him.
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 torture
(βάσανος), [in LXX: 1Ki.5:3, Sir.4:17, and frequently in Wi, II, 4Mac ;]
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
12 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
I torment, torture, buffet
Read verseI torment, torture, buffet
Read verseI torment, torture, buffet
Read verseI torment, torture, buffet
Read verseI torment, torture, buffet
Read verseI torment, torture, buffet
Read verseI torment, torture, buffet
Read verseI torment, torture, buffet
Read verseI torment, torture, buffet
Read verseI torment, torture, buffet
Read verseI torment, torture, buffet
Read verseI torment, torture, buffet
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 12 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 1 selected witness from 12 lexical occurrence verses.
βασανίζω 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.
G928 names severe distress without flattening its causes. A servant lies in bodily agony, and his superior uses access to seek Jesus' help. The disciples strain against a contrary wind, and Jesus sees them before they recognize Him. These scenes encourage attentive advocacy and compassionate action, not claims that suffering is imaginary or deserved. Second Peter describes moral torment from witnessing lawlessness, but that language must not become a badge of superiority or a substitute for examining one's own conduct.
Revelation applies torment imagery to bounded judgments and the final defeat of the devil. Those texts entrust punishment to God; they do not train the church to torture. Faithful application believes reports of pain, seeks medical and practical aid, relieves avoidable strain, and supports people exposed to repeated wrongdoing. It teaches judgment soberly, never using fear or inflicted distress as a tool of pastoral control.
Matt.8.6
G928 is a Greek verb rooted in testing and extended to torture, torment, severe distress, and being battered or strained. The same verb's force is carried by different subjects, including persons, a boat, conscience, and judged powers.
Biblical laments bring bodily and moral anguish to God, the Gospels show Jesus responding to sufferers, and Revelation reserves final torment for evil powers under divine judgment. Jesus meets distressed bodies with mercy, while apostolic hope refuses both denial of suffering and cruel fascination with punishment.