κερδαίνω

: (future κερδήσω, Jas 4:13 Rec.bez elz L T Tr WH; see also below); 1 aorist ἐκέρδησα (an Ionic form from κερδάω, which later writers use for the earlier ἐκερδανα, see Lob. ad Phryn., p. 740; Alexander Buttmann (1873) Ausf. Sprchl. ii., p. 215; Winers Grammar, 87 (83); (Veitch, under the word)), once 1 aorist subjunctive κερδάνω (1 Cor 9:21 L T Tr (but WH (cf. also Griesbach note) read the future κερδάνω, cf. Buttmann, 60 (53); § 139, 38)); 1 future passive κερδηθήσομαι (the subjunctive κερδηθήσωνται, 1 Pet 3:1 R G is a clerical error (cf. references under the word καίω, at the beginning), for which L T Tr WH have restored κερδηθήσονται (cf. Buttmann, § 139, 38)); (from Hesiod down); (from κέρδος); to gain, acquire; (Vulg. passimlucrifacio (alsolucro, etc.));
a. properly: τόν κόσμον, Mt 16:26; Mk 8:36; Lk 9:25; money, Mt 25:16 (L T WH),17,20,22; absolutely, to get gain, Jas 4:13.
b. metaphorically, α. with nouns signifying loss, damage, injury, it is used of the gain arising from shunning or escaping from the evil (where we say to spare oneself, be spared): τήν ὕβριν ταύτην καί ζημίαν, Acts 27:21; τό γέ μιανθῆναι τάς χεῖρας κερδαίνειν, to avoid the crime of fratricide, Josephus, Antiquities 2, 3, 2; ζημίαν, to escape a loss, Euripides, Cycl. 312; other examples in Kypke, Observations, ii., p. 139f β. τινα, to gain anyone i. e. to win him over to the kingdom of God, which none but the placable enter, Mt 18:15; to gain one to faith in Christ, 1 Pet 3:1; 1 Cor 9:19-22; Χριστόν, to gain Christ's favor and fellowship, Phm 3:8. Not found in the O. T.