κακόω

βλάπτω bláptō · G984 · to harm, to hurt, to injure

Both verbs share the core sense of causing harm or injury. Any difference between them is one of frequency and minor nuance — a figurative extension of harm versus an emphasis on hindrance — rather than a difference of core meaning, so the two remain genuine near synonyms for harming or injuring.

עָנָה ʻânâh · H6031 · to answer, to respond, to speak up

עָנָה (ʻânâh, H6031) עָנָה encompasses a broader semantic range including affliction, humiliation, and oppression, while κακόω (kakóō, G2559) κακόω focuses more narrowly on injuring or treating badly, representing the Greek translation equivalent for the maltreatment/harm sense of the Hebrew term.

רָעַע râʻaʻ · H7489 · to act wickedly, to do wickedness, to do evil

רָעַע (râʻaʻ, H7489) denotes the broader semantic domain of doing harm or evil (including afflicting, breaking, displeasing), while κακόω (kakóō, G2559) specifically focuses on the action of injuring or treating badly, making it a more narrowly scoped Greek rendering of the Hebrew term's harmful-action sense.

רַע raʻ · H7451 · bad, evil, wicked

Greek κακόω denotes the active verbal action of injuring/harming (someone does evil to another), while Hebrew רַע denotes the nominal state or quality of evil/adversity itself; the cross-linguistic equivalence holds where Greek LXX translators rendered Hebrew contexts of 'doing evil/harm' (רַע (raʻ, H7451) in causative constructions or with active verbal force) with the Greek verb for 'to injure/harm' — a lexical-category shift (noun → verb) that preserves the core semantic domain of causing harm.

To harm, to hurt, to injure20.12

In Acts 7:19, Stephen recounts how a new king “shrewdly took advantage of our nation and mistreated our fathers in order that they would abandon their infants in the Nile,” using this word for the act of inflicting harm on someone.

To turn someone against, to cause to dislike88.200

In Acts 14:2, of the unbelieving Jews at Iconium it is written that they “stirred up the minds of the Gentiles and embittered them against the brothers,” using this word for the act of turning others against a person through hostile influence.

Words formed from the same root. They share a form, not always a meaning.

Meanings adapted from the UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament, © United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0 and the UBS Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew (from the Semantic Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew), © United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0; MACULA Greek Linguistic Datasets, available at https://github.com/Clear-Bible/macula-greek/, licensed CC BY 4.0; MACULA Hebrew Linguistic Datasets © 2022-2024 by Biblica, Inc., CC BY 4.0. Westminster Leningrad Codex (tanach.us). OpenScriptures Hebrew Bible morphology (hb.openscriptures.org), CC BY 4.0.