Greek word · G92

ἀδίκημα

adikēma

crime

A specific wrong done, an injustice, an offense or crime, especially one that harms another person and could be brought before a court. It is the concrete-deed noun built on adikeō, "to wrong, do injustice."

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

What it means

ἀδίκημα, -τος, τό

(ἀδικέω), [in LXX for עָוֹן, פֶּשַׁע, etc. ;]

a wrong, injury, misdeed (MM, VGT, see word): Acts 18:14 24:20, Revelation 18:5.†

(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 Revelation 18:5

Range of meaning

A specific wrong done, an injustice, an offense or crime, especially one that harms another person and could be brought before a court. It is the concrete-deed noun built on adikeō, "to wrong, do injustice."

Against the English

BSB, KJV, WEB and ESV give "iniquities," YLT "unrighteousness," NIV "crimes," and NLT "evil deeds." "Crimes" or "injustices" keeps the legal, harm-to-others sense. "Iniquities" now sounds like a vague churchly word for sinfulness.

How it drifted

"Iniquity" (from Latin iniquitas, "unfairness, injustice") once meant injustice. Over centuries of church use it faded into a general religious synonym for "sin," losing the sense of wrong done to people.

Used elsewhere in the period

In the papyri and legal Greek it is a standard term for an offense or wrongful act (Moulton–Milligan). In the NT it occurs only here and in Acts: Gallio says he would hear the Jews' case if it were "a matter of adikēma or vicious crime" (Acts 18:14), and Paul challenges his accusers to name any adikēma found in him (Acts 24:20). Both are courtroom settings.

Where it appears

Acts · 2

  1. Acts 18:14 ἀδίκημά unrighteousness

    But just as Paul was about to speak, Gallio told the Jews, “If this matter involved a wrongdoing or vicious crime, O Jews, it would be reasonable for me to hear your complaint.

  2. Acts 24:20 ἀδίκημα unrighteousness

    Otherwise, let these men state for themselves any crime they found in me when I stood before the Sanhedrin,

Revelation · 1

  1. Revelation 18:5 ἀδικήματα iniquities

    For her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.

    Here: Concrete acts of injustice done to others, a word at home in courtrooms ("offenses, crimes"). In context these are Rome-Babylon's exploitation, violence and bloodshed (18:13, 18:24).

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