ponēros · evil, wicked

What it means

ponēros (πονηρός) is a Greek word of the Bible that means “evil, wicked”.

Bad, wicked. "The evil one": the devil.

How to say it

Approximate pronunciation. Vowels sound as in Spanish (a as in father, e as in bed, i as in machine, o as in note, u as in rule); the syllable in bold is stressed. The voice is your device's.

Its senses in the Bible

1. One who does or desires evil, opposed to God and the good.
2. A name given to the devil, God's enemy.
3. Harmful or worthless.

From Abbott-Smith (1922) · Thayer (1889)

Word study

Bad, evil: what is harmful or wicked; with the article, “the evil one”, the devil. It comes from πόνος, “labor, pain”. Thayer: full of labors; from there bad, useless, harmful; in a moral sense, wicked; ὁ πονηρός, the devil.

• “Rescue us from the evil one” Matthew 6:13Matthew 5:37
• “The whole world lies in the evil one” 1 John 5:19Ephesians 6:16
• Evil people: “being evil” Matthew 7:11Luke 11:13
• “An evil and adulterous generation” Matthew 12:39
• “Not to resist the evil person”; “Wicked… slave” Matthew 5:39Matthew 25:26

How we translate it

“Evil” 67 times, “wicked” 6, “bad” 4. “The evil one” when the text refers to the devil (Matthew 13:19; 1 John 5:19); “the evil person” for a bad man (Matthew 5:39). In Matthew 6:13, “rescue us from the evil one”, as in Matthew 5:37.

How it is translated

The words this translation uses for it, most frequent first.

• evil ×67
• wicked ×6
• bad ×4
• painful ×1

Related words

Words of the same family, by Strong’s numbering.

Where it appears

• Matthew×26
• Mark×2
• Luke×13
• John×3
• Acts×8
• Romans×1
• 1 Corinthians×1
• Galatians×1
• Ephesians×3
• Colossians×1
• 1 Thessalonians×1
• 2 Thessalonians×2
• 1 Timothy×1
• 2 Timothy×2
• Hebrews×2
• James×2
• 1 John×6
• 2 John×1
• 3 John×1
• Revelation×1

• Matthew 5:11

  Happy are you when they insult you and persecute you and say every kind of evil against you falsely because of me.

• Matthew 5:37

  But let your word be ‘Yes, yes,’ ‘No, no’; and what is more than these is from the evil one.

• Matthew 5:39

  But I tell you not to resist the evil person; but whoever slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.

• Matthew 5:45

  so that you may become sons of your Father who is in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

• Matthew 6:13

  and do not bring us into temptation, but rescue us from the evil one.’

• Matthew 6:23

  but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. So if the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

• Matthew 7:11

  If then you, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

• Matthew 7:17

  So every good tree produces good fruit, but the rotten tree produces bad fruit.

• Matthew 7:18

  A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a rotten tree produce good fruit.

• Matthew 9:4

  And Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, “Why are you thinking evil things in your hearts?

• Matthew 12:34

  Offspring of vipers, how can you speak good things when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.

• Matthew 12:35

  The good person brings out good things from his good treasure, and the evil person brings out evil things from his evil treasure.

• Matthew 12:39

  But he answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah the prophet.

• Matthew 12:45

  Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they go in and live there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first. So it will be also with this evil generation.”

• Matthew 13:19

  When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart; this is the one sown along the path.

• Matthew 13:38

  and the field is the world; and the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom; and the darnel are the sons of the evil one;

• Matthew 13:49

  So it will be at the end of the age: the angels will go out and separate the evil from among the righteous

• Matthew 15:19

  For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, sexual immoralities, thefts, false testimonies, blasphemies.

• Matthew 16:4

  A wicked and adulterous generation seeks a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.” And leaving them, he went away.

• Matthew 18:32

  Then his master summoned him and says to him, ‘Wicked slave! All that debt I forgave you, because you begged me.

• Matthew 20:15

  Is it not lawful for me to do what I want with what is mine? Or is your eye evil because I am good?’

• Matthew 22:10

  And those slaves went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both evil and good; and the wedding feast was filled with guests.

• Matthew 25:26

  But his master answered him, ‘Wicked and lazy slave! You knew that I reap where I did not sow and gather where I did not scatter?

• Mark 7:22

  adulteries, greed, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, an evil eye, blasphemy, arrogance, foolishness.

• Mark 7:23

  All these evil things come out from within and defile the person.”

• Luke 3:19

  But Herod the tetrarch, being reproved by him about Herodias, his brother’s wife, and about all the evil things that Herod had done,

• Luke 6:22

  Happy are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil on account of the Son of Man.

• Luke 6:35

  Rather, love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and evil.

• Luke 6:45

  The good person out of the good treasure of his heart brings out what is good, and the evil person out of the evil treasure brings out what is evil; for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.

• Luke 7:21

  In that hour he healed many of diseases and afflictions and evil spirits, and to many blind people he granted sight.

• Luke 8:2

  and some women who had been healed of evil spirits and illnesses: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out,

• Luke 11:13

  So if you, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father who is from heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

• Luke 11:26

  Then it goes and takes along seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they go in and live there; and the last state of that person becomes worse than the first.”

• Luke 11:29

  And as the crowds were gathering, he began to say, “This generation is an evil generation; it seeks a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.

• Luke 11:34

  The lamp of the body is your eye. When your eye is healthy, your whole body also is full of light; but when it is bad, your body also is full of darkness.

• Luke 19:22

  He says to him, ‘Out of your own mouth I will judge you, wicked slave! You knew that I am a harsh man, taking what I did not put down and reaping what I did not sow?

• John 3:19

  And this is the judgment: that the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light, for their works were evil.

• John 7:7

  The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil.

• John 17:15

  I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.

• Acts 17:5

  But the Jews, becoming jealous and taking along some wicked men from the marketplace idlers, and forming a mob, were stirring up the city; and attacking the house of Jason, they were seeking to bring them out to the people.

And 38 more times.