Greek word · G4468

ῥᾳδιουργία

radiourgia

trickery

Literally 'ease in working', from rhadios (easy) and ergon (work). It came to mean frivolity or laziness, and then the fluency of a man who does wrong without scruple: villainy, knavery, unscrupulousness, fraud (BDAG).

Appears once in the Greek New Testament. ·

What it means

ῥᾳδιουργία, -ας, ἡ

(see: ῥᾳδιούργημα),

1. ease in doing, facility (Xen.).

2. easiness, laziness (Xen.).

3. recklessness, wickedness (of lewdness, Xen.; fraud, Plut.; in π., of theft, MM, xxii): Acts 13:10.†

(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 Acts 13:10

Range of meaning

Literally 'ease in working', from rhadios (easy) and ergon (work). It came to mean frivolity or laziness, and then the fluency of a man who does wrong without scruple: villainy, knavery, unscrupulousness, fraud (BDAG). In documentary papyri it and related words are used of fraud and dishonest dealing.

Against the English

BSB 'trickery'; WEB 'cunning'; KJV 'mischief'; YLT 'profligacy'; ESV 'villainy'; NASB and NLT 'fraud'. The KJV's 'mischief' meant serious harm and wickedness in 1611, but today it suggests playful naughtiness. YLT's 'profligacy' (wastefulness, loose living) follows a side meaning that does not fit this context.

How it drifted

'Mischief' has softened in English since the 17th century, from 'harm, evil' to 'harmless pranks'.

Used elsewhere in the period

Used by Hellenistic writers such as Polybius and Plutarch for unscrupulous or reckless conduct, and in papyri for fraudulent acts (Moulton–Milligan). It appears nowhere else in the New Testament.

Similar words

Where it appears

Acts · 1

  1. Acts 13:10 ῥᾳδιουργίας, craft,

    and said, “O child of the devil and enemy of all righteousness, you are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery! Will you never stop perverting the straight ways of the Lord?

    Here: Literally 'easy-working'. It came to mean a slick, unscrupulous readiness to do wrong: fraud, knavery. This is the only time it appears in the New Testament. Paired with 'deceit', it pictures a practised con man.

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