Greek word · G2849

κολάζω

kolazō

to punish

To punish or penalise. The word may originally have meant to 'check' or 'prune', and in some Greek writers it can mean to correct or discipline. In Jewish and Christian Greek of the period it usually means simply judicial punishment.

Appears 2 times in 2 verses of the Greek New Testament. · Updated October 31, 2026

What it means

κολάζω

(κόλος, docked), [in LXX: Daniel 6:12 (13) (no Heb.), I Est.8:24, Wisdom of Solomon 3:4 (and freq.), 1Ma.7:7, al. ;]

1. to curtail, dock, prune.

2. to check, restrain.

3. to chastise, correct, punish: pass., 2 Peter 2:9; mid., cause to be punished (3Ma.7:3): Acts 4:21.†

(AS)

From G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament (1922), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of 2 Peter 2:9

Range of meaning: To punish or penalise. The word may originally have meant to 'check' or 'prune', and in some Greek writers it can mean to correct or discipline. In Jewish and Christian Greek of the period it usually means simply judicial punishment.
Against the English: KJV: 'to be punished' (future-sounding, following the Latin Vulgate's cruciandos, 'to be tormented'). WEB, ESV, NASB: 'under punishment' (punishment now, while they are held). BSB, NIV 2011: 'for punishment on the day of judgment' (punishment kept for the day). These represent real differences of interpretation, not just wording.
Used elsewhere in the period: Aristotle (Rhetoric 1.10) contrasts kolasis, punishment for the sake of the one punished, with timōria, punishment that satisfies the one who inflicts it. Some appeal to this to argue that kolasis is corrective. But in later Greek the distinction is not kept: 2 Macc 4:38; 3 Macc 7:3; Josephus; and Matt 25:46 (kolasis aiōnios, 'eternal punishment') use it for penal judgment. The only other New Testament use of the verb is Acts 4:21, where it means punishing the apostles.

From the study of Acts 4:21

Range of meaning: Its root sense is "to cut short, check, prune". From there it came to mean "to restrain, correct, chastise, punish". In the Hellenistic period it is a common, general word for inflicting a penalty, whether judicial, parental or divine.
Against the English: "Punish" is a fair rendering here. The corrective sense the word sometimes carried (Aristotle, Rhetoric 1.10, contrasts kolasis, punishment for the sake of the offender, with timōria, vengeance for the one inflicting it) is not in view in this verse. The council is not trying to reform Peter and John. It wants to stop them.
Used elsewhere in the period: It appears only twice in the New Testament (here and 2 Pet 2:9), and the noun kolasis appears in Matt 25:46 and 1 John 4:18. In the Greek Old Testament (LXX) it is used of God disciplining Israel (2 Macc 6:14) and of punishing wrongdoers (3 Macc 7:3). Josephus and Philo use it widely for legal penalties.

Where it appears

Acts · 1

Acts 4:21 κολάσωνται they may punish

After further threats they let them go. They could not find a way to punish them, because all the people were glorifying God for what had happened.

Here: A judicial penalty, the kind of thing the council later carries out with a flogging (5:40). The middle voice suggests "punish them for our own purposes".

2 Peter · 1

2 Peter 2:9 κολαζομένους being punished

if all this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment.

Here: 'Being punished'. A present passive participle describing the unrighteous while they are kept. It probably means they are already under punishment while they wait for the final day, like the angels held in chains in v. 4. Some read it as future: 'to be punished' at the judgment.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.