Greek word · G4778
συγκακουχέομαι
synkakoucheomai
to suffer with
To be mistreated, abused or harshly handled along with others. It joins syn ("together with") to kakoucheō ("to treat badly, torment"), a verb used of physical abuse, imprisonment and hardship.
Appears once in the Greek New Testament. ·
What it means
συν-κακουχέομαι (Rec. συγκ-), -οῦμαι, pass.
to endure adversity with: with dative of person(s), Hebrews 11:25. Not elsewhere.†
(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 Hebrews 11:25
- Range of meaning
To be mistreated, abused or harshly handled along with others. It joins syn ("together with") to kakoucheō ("to treat badly, torment"), a verb used of physical abuse, imprisonment and hardship.
- Against the English
KJV's "suffer affliction with" and BSB's "suffer oppression with" read well but can sound like general misfortune. WEB's "share ill treatment" and NIV's "mistreated along with" keep both parts of the word: what is done to the people by others, and Moses joining them in it.
- Used elsewhere in the period
This is the only New Testament use, and the compound is very rare in Greek before Christian writers (BDAG). It does not occur in the Septuagint, the Greek Old Testament. The simple verb appears twice more in Hebrews: 11:37, of the faithful who wandered "destitute, afflicted, mistreated (kakouchoumenoi)", and 13:3: "remember … those who are mistreated (tōn kakouchoumenōn), since you also are in the body."
Where it appears
Hebrews · 1
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Hebrews 11:25 συγκακουχεῖσθαι to suffer affliction with
He chose to suffer oppression with God’s people rather than to experience the fleeting enjoyment of sin.
Here: "To be ill-treated together with." The prefix syn- ("with") is the key: Moses does not just put up with hardship, he joins the abused people and shares what is done to them. The present tense pictures an ongoing condition.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.