Greek word · G765

ἀσεβής

asebēs

ungodly

Impious, irreverent, godless. It is the opposite of eusebēs (reverent, devout), meaning someone who fails to give the deity the honour and worship due. In the Septuagint it often translates Hebrew rasha', 'the wicked, the guilty party', especially in courtroom and wisdom texts.

Appears 9 times in 9 verses of the Greek New Testament. ·

What it means

ἀσεβής, -ές

(σέβω, to reverence), [in LXX chiefly for רָשַׁע ;]

un­godly, impious: Romans 4:5 5:6, 1 Timothy 1:9, 1 Peter 4:18, 2 Peter 2:5-6 3:7, Jude 1:4.†

(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 Romans 4:5

Range of meaning

Impious, irreverent, godless. It is the opposite of eusebēs (reverent, devout), meaning someone who fails to give the deity the honour and worship due. In the Septuagint it often translates Hebrew rasha', 'the wicked, the guilty party', especially in courtroom and wisdom texts.

Against the English

'Ungodly' is a fair rendering, but to modern ears it can sound like general nastiness ('an ungodly mess'). YLT's 'impious' keeps the core: wrong toward God, failure of worship and reverence. NLT's 'sinners' is broader and loses the echo of the Law's ban.

Used elsewhere in the period

Rom 1:18 (asebeia, impiety, the root of humanity's idolatry); Rom 5:6 ('Christ died for the ungodly'); Exod 23:7 and Isa 5:23 LXX (the ungodly whom judges must not acquit); used often of the wicked in Proverbs and Psalms LXX.

From the study of Jude 1:4

Range of meaning

Impious, irreverent. It describes someone who withholds the honour, reverence and duty owed to God (or, in pagan use, to the gods). Its opposite is eusebēs, 'devout'.

Against the English

'Ungodly' is a fair rendering, but some modern readers hear it as just 'very sinful'. The Greek stresses a broken relationship of reverence: treating God with contempt.

Used elsewhere in the period

It is common in the Greek Old Testament for the wicked who defy God (e.g. Ps 1:1, 'the counsel of the ungodly'). It dominates the Greek text of 1 Enoch 1:9, which Jude quotes in verse 15: 'to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness which they have ungodly committed… and of all the harsh things ungodly sinners have spoken'.

From the study of 2 Peter 2:6

Range of meaning

Impious, irreverent, failing in the reverence and duty owed to God (or, in pagan use, to the gods). It is the opposite of eusebēs, 'devout, godly' (2 Pet 1:3, 6–7; 2:9; 3:11). In Athens, asebeia ('impiety') was even a crime you could be tried for; Socrates was.

Against the English

'Ungodly' is the right equivalent. But in everyday modern English, 'ungodly' often just means outrageous ('an ungodly hour') or generally wicked. The Greek word is specifically about a person's stance toward God.

How it drifted

English 'ungodly' has weakened into a loose word for anything extreme or immoral.

Used elsewhere in the period

In the Greek Old Testament it is common for the wicked who disregard God (Ps 1:1, 5–6; Gen 18:23, 25, in Abraham's plea for Sodom: 'will you destroy the righteous with the ungodly?'). In 1 Enoch 1:9, quoted in Jude 14–15, God comes 'to convict all the ungodly'. It is a key word in Jude and 2 Peter (2 Pet 2:5; 3:7, 'the destruction of ungodly men').

Where it appears

Romans · 2

  1. Romans 4:5 ἀσεβῆ, ungodly,

    However, to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness.

    Here: 'Impious': someone who fails to give God the reverence owed to him. Paul uses the same word-family for humanity's basic failure in 1:18 and for those Christ died for in 5:6. This is the person a just judge must not acquit (Exod 23:7).

  2. Romans 5:6 ἀσεβῶν [the] ungodly

    For at just the right time, while we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.

    Here: People who fail to give God the reverence and honor he is due. It echoes Rom 4:5 (God 'justifies the ungodly') and Rom 1:18 (wrath against all 'ungodliness'). The word has no article, so it describes what kind of people they were: impious ones.

1 Timothy · 1

  1. 1 Timothy 1:9 ἀσεβέσιν for [the] ungodly

    We realize that law is not enacted for the righteous, but for the lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinful, for the unholy and profane, for killers of father or mother, for murderers,

    Here: Those who withhold the reverence owed to God. The word is about failed piety toward God, not general nastiness.

1 Peter · 1

  1. 1 Peter 4:18 ἀσεβὴς ungodly

    And, “If it is hard for the righteous to be saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?”

    Here: Someone who refuses God the reverence that is due to him. In context, it echoes "those who disobey the gospel of God" (v.17).

2 Peter · 3

  1. 2 Peter 2:5 ἀσεβῶν of [the] ungodly

    if He did not spare the ancient world when He brought the flood on its ungodly people, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, among the eight;

    Here: People who refuse God the reverence owed to him, and who live accordingly. It describes the whole pre-Flood society, and it is the word the letter uses for the false teachers' kind (2:6; 3:7).

  2. 2 Peter 2:6 ἀσεβέσιν ungodly

    if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction, reducing them to ashes as an example of what is coming on the ungodly;

    Here: 'For the ungodly': people who withhold the reverence owed to God. This is the label 2 Peter gives the flood generation (2:5) and the people facing the final day (3:7). Here it is aimed at the false teachers and their followers.

  3. 2 Peter 3:7 ἀσεβῶν of ungodly

    And by that same word, the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.

    Here: People who withhold the reverence owed to God, and show it in how they live. In context this means the scoffers of 3:3–4, who follow their own desires and deny that judgment is coming.

Jude · 2

  1. Jude 1:4 ἀσεβεῖς, ungodly [ones],

    For certain men have crept in among you unnoticed—ungodly ones who were designated long ago for condemnation. They turn the grace of our God into a license for immorality, and they deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

    Here: 'Impious people': people who refuse God the reverence and honour he is owed. This is Jude's headline word for them. It comes back four times in the Enoch quotation of verse 15.

  2. Jude 1:15 ἀσεβεῖς. ungodly.

    to execute judgment on everyone, and to convict all the ungodly of every ungodly act of wickedness and every harsh word spoken against Him by ungodly sinners.”

    Here: "Ungodly" sinners. The root appears for the final time, and it lands as the last word of the quotation, echoing Jude's own label for the intruders in v.4.

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