Greek word · G4350

προσκόπτω

proskoptō

to strike

To strike or knock against; to stub the foot; to stumble. In a figurative sense, to take offence or come to grief.

Appears 8 times in 8 verses of the Greek New Testament. · Updated October 30, 2026

What it means

προσ-κόπτω

[in LXX for נָגַף, כָּשַׁל ni., etc. ;]

1. trans., to strike (e.g. hand or foot) against: with accusative before πρός, figuratively, Matthew 4:6, Luke 4:11, (LXX)

2. Intrans., to stumble: absol. (Tobit 11:9, Proverbs 3:23), John 11:9-10; of wind, to rush against, beat upon: with dative, Matthew 7:27. Metaphorical, in late writers,

(a) to offend (Polyb.);

(b) to take offence at, stumble at: before ἐν, Romans 14:21; with dative, τ. λόγῳ, 1 Peter 2:8; τ. λίθῳ τ. προσκόμματος, Romans 9:32.†

(AS)

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

Range of meaning: To strike or knock against; to stub the foot; to stumble. In a figurative sense, to take offence or come to grief.
Against the English: KJV's 'dash thy foot' sounds violent. The picture is closer to stubbing a toe on a rock on a mountain path.
Used elsewhere in the period: LXX Ps 90:12; Prov 3:23 ('your foot will not stumble'); Jer 13:16. The Vulgate renders it 'offendas', the root of English 'offend' in its old sense of 'strike against, cause to stumble'.

Range of meaning: To strike or knock against something (wind beating on a house, Matt 7:27). Used of the foot hitting an obstacle, so 'stumble, trip'. Figuratively it means to take offense, or to come to grief or fall into sin (Rom 9:32; 14:21). BDAG gives both the literal 'strike against' and the figurative 'take offense / stumble'.
Against the English: 'Stumble' is a fair rendering. English 'stumble' can sound like a harmless misstep, though. The Greek picture is a foot slamming into a stone on an unlit path, which can lead to a real fall.
Used elsewhere in the period: In the Greek Old Testament (the Septuagint), Ps 91:12 (90:12 LXX) has 'lest you strike your foot against a stone' (quoted in Matt 4:6). Prov 3:23 says the one who keeps wisdom walks securely and 'your foot will not stumble'. Jer 13:16 warns: 'before your feet stumble on the darkening mountains' while you wait for light. Isa 59:9–10 pictures people groping like the blind and stumbling at noon as if at twilight. Light, walking and stumbling were already a set picture in Jewish scripture.

Range of meaning: To strike against something (usually the foot against a stone), to stumble. Figuratively, to take a fall: to be led into wrongdoing or loss of faith. Also, more weakly, to take offence. BDAG lists both the physical and the figurative senses.
Against the English: Most versions have 'stumble'. NIV has 'fall', which comes closer to the result Paul fears. In ordinary English 'stumble' can mean a small misstep you recover from. Paul has a real fall in view.
How it drifted: English 'stumble' has weakened to mean a trivial slip. In church usage 'causing someone to stumble' has also come to mean 'doing something they disapprove of'.
Used elsewhere in the period: Psalm 91:12 in the Greek Old Testament reads 'lest you strike (proskopsēs) your foot against a stone'. Isaiah 8:14 has the 'stone of stumbling' (lithos proskommatos), which Paul cites in Rom 9:32–33. In the same chapter Paul warns against putting a proskomma (stumbling-stone) or skandalon (snare) in a brother's way (14:13), and calls it evil to eat 'through a stumbling' (14:20).

Matthew · 2

Matthew 4:6 προσκόψῃς You may strike

“If You are the Son of God,” he said, “throw Yourself down. For it is written: ‘He will command His angels concerning You, and they will lift You up in their hands, so that You will not strike Your foot against a stone.’”

Here: To knock or stub against something, to trip. In the psalm this is the small, everyday hazard of a stony path, not a fatal fall.
Matthew 7:27 προσέκοψαν beat

The rain fell, the torrents raged, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell—and great was its collapse!”

Here: 'They struck against' or 'battered'. The subject is plural, so rain, rivers and winds all hit together. In v. 25 the storm 'fell upon' (prosepesan) the house on the rock. Here Matthew chooses a verb of hard impact, the same verb used for striking a foot on a stone (4:6).

Luke · 1

Luke 4:11 προσκόψῃς You may strike

and they will lift You up in their hands, so that You will not strike Your foot against a stone.’”

John · 2

John 11:9 προσκόπτει, he stumbles,

Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? If anyone walks in the daytime, he will not stumble, because he sees by the light of this world.

Here: To catch one's foot on a stone and trip, a real risk on rough paths in the dark. The present tense states what is generally true. It is also a stock picture for coming to harm or failing.
John 11:10 προσκόπτει, he stumbles,

But if anyone walks at night, he will stumble, because he has no light.”

Here: Literally to knock your foot against something, such as a stone on a dark path. The present tense states a general fact: that is what happens. It pictures a real fall and injury, not just a misstep.

Romans · 2

Romans 9:32 προσέκοψαν They stumbled

Why not? Because their pursuit was not by faith, but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone,

Here: 'They struck their foot against': a runner hitting an obstacle on the track. The aorist tense (a simple past) presents it as one event, Israel's response to what God had laid in their path.
Romans 14:21 προσκόπτει stumbles

It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything to cause your brother to stumble.

Here: Literally to strike your foot on an obstacle and go down. In this chapter it means being drawn into doing what your own conscience condemns, which Paul treats as sin (14:23) and as ruin (14:15, 20). It does not mean being irritated or disapproving.

1 Peter · 1

1 Peter 2:8 προσκόπτουσιν stumble at

and, “A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.” They stumble because they disobey the word—and to this they were appointed.

Here: Present tense: they 'keep stumbling', or 'are stumbling'. This is the verb that goes with proskomma, so the picture of the stone the foot hits carries straight from the quotation into Peter's comment.

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