Greek word · G3059

λοιδορία

loidoria

reviling

Verbal abuse, reviling, insult, railing. It is a public and shaming kind of speech.

Appears 3 times in 2 verses of the Greek New Testament.

What it means

λοιδορία, -ας, ἡ

(λοιδορέω), [in LXX chiefly for רִיב, מְרִיבָה ;]

abuse, railing: 1 Timothy 5:14, 1 Peter 3:9.†

(AS)

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

Range of meaning: Verbal abuse, reviling, insult, railing. It is a public and shaming kind of speech.
Against the English: BSB/NIV/ESV "slander" suggests false statements. Loidoria is abuse and insult, which could be well founded if the conduct really was scandalous. KJV "speak reproachfully," NASB "reproach" and WEB "insulting" are closer.
Used elsewhere in the period: 1 Pet 3:9 ("not returning reviling for reviling"); Acts 23:4; the abusive person (loidoros) is listed among vices in 1 Cor 5:11; 6:10. In LXX Exod 17:7 the related loidorēsis renders Meribah, "quarrel/contention."

Range of meaning: Abusive speech: insult, verbal abuse, slander, mockery, reviling. The related verb loidoreō means "to abuse verbally." In Greek usage it ranged from ugly quarrelling to formal defamation; Athenian law treated certain forbidden insults as grounds for a lawsuit. It is always about words, and words aimed at shaming someone.
Against the English: KJV and YLT "railing" was accurate in 1611 ("to rail" = to scold abusively) but is now obscure. BSB, WEB, NIV and NASB "insult" is clear but can sound like a single rude remark. "Reviling" (ESV) is closer to the sustained, public abuse in view, though old-fashioned.
How it drifted: "Railing" fell out of everyday English, so modern readers may not know what the KJV is forbidding.
Used elsewhere in the period: BDAG: "speech that is highly insulting, abuse, reproach, reviling." In the LXX it appears for quarrelling and contentious speech (e.g. Exod 17:7; Prov 10:18; 20:3 "strife"). In the NT, 1 Tim 5:14. The verb is used of Christ in 1 Pet 2:23 (loidoroumenos ouk anteloidorei, "being reviled he did not revile back") and by Paul in 1 Cor 4:12 ("when reviled, we bless"), the same pairing as here.

1 Timothy · 1

1 Timothy 5:14 λοιδορίας of reproach

So I advise the younger widows to marry, have children, and manage their households, denying the adversary occasion for slander.

Here: Insult and abusive talk. This is the public slander the community wants to avoid giving grounds for.

1 Peter · 2

1 Peter 3:9 λοιδορίαν λοιδορίας, insult, insult,

Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.

Here: Abusive, insulting speech: name-calling, public slander, verbal attack meant to shame. This is the kind of hostility the readers actually faced (2:12; 4:4, 14).

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