Greek word · G929

βασανισμός

basanismos

torment

Torment, torture, severe suffering. It comes from basanos, which first meant a touchstone, a dark stone used to test gold by rubbing it. From there it came to mean testing a person, then the judicial torture of slaves and prisoners to get the truth out of them, and finally any intense pain.

Appears 6 times in 5 verses of the Greek New Testament. ·

What it means

βασανισμός, -οῦ, ὁ

(βασανίζω), [in LXX: 4Ma.9:6 11:2 * ;]

torture, torment: Revelation 9:5 14:11 18:7, 10, 15.†

(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 14:11

Range of meaning

Torment, torture, severe suffering. It comes from basanos, which first meant a touchstone, a dark stone used to test gold by rubbing it. From there it came to mean testing a person, then the judicial torture of slaves and prisoners to get the truth out of them, and finally any intense pain.

Against the English

'Torment' (BSB, KJV, WEB, YLT and nearly every modern version) is accurate. The English word tends to suggest inner, emotional anguish. The Greek leans toward pain inflicted from outside, as punishment.

Used elsewhere in the period

In Revelation the noun is used for the pain of the locusts' scorpion-like sting (9:5) and for Babylon's torment (18:7, 10, 15). The verb is used for a woman in labor (12:2), for the two witnesses tormenting the earth's people (11:10), for the beast's followers (14:10), and for the devil, beast and false prophet 'tormented day and night forever and ever' (20:10). In 4 Maccabees the word family is used throughout for the tortures of the Jewish martyrs, and the tyrant is warned of 'eternal torment by fire' from divine justice (4 Macc 9:9; 12:12). Luke 16:23, 28 uses basanos for the rich man's place of torment.

From the study of Revelation 18:10

Range of meaning

"Tormenting, torment," either the act of inflicting severe pain or the pain suffered. It comes from basanos, originally a touchstone for testing gold, which later came to mean interrogation under torture (for example of slaves giving evidence) and then torment in general.

Against the English

"Torment" is a fair rendering. Some modern readers, though, hear it as endless or purely psychological suffering. Here it is the destructive punishment visibly happening to the city: the smoke of her burning (v. 9).

How it drifted

Later debates about hell have shaped how readers hear "torment" in Revelation. In this verse the word is tied to a city that is burning and gone "in one hour."

Used elsewhere in the period

In the New Testament it appears only in Revelation: 9:5 (twice, the locusts' sting), 14:11 ("the smoke of their torment"), and 18:7, 10 and 15. The related verb basanizō is used in 4 Maccabees for the tortures of the martyrs.

From the study of Revelation 18:7

Range of meaning

Torment, torture, severe suffering inflicted as punishment. From βάσανος, a touchstone for testing gold, which came to mean the testing of slaves' testimony under torture and then torture in general.

Against the English

'Torment' is a fair rendering. Some readers hear it as a fixed term for eternal punishment after death, but here it is a judgment on a city in history, measured to fit her deeds.

Used elsewhere in the period

In the New Testament it occurs only in Revelation: the locust plague (9:5), the smoke of the beast-worshippers' torment (14:11), and here and in 18:10, 15, where the kings and merchants stand far off 'for fear of her torment'. The related βασανίζω and βάσανος are common in 4 Maccabees for the torture of the martyrs and in Wisdom 2:19.

Similar words

Where it appears

Revelation · 6

  1. Revelation 9:5 βασανισμὸς βασανισμὸς torment

    The locusts were not given power to kill them, but only to torment them for five months, and their torment was like the stinging of a scorpion.

    Here: The noun of the same root as 'tormented': the agony itself. The word is rare in the New Testament and found only in Revelation.

  2. Revelation 14:11 βασανισμοῦ torment

    And the smoke of their torment rises forever and ever. Day and night there is no rest for those who worship the beast and its image, or for anyone who receives the mark of its name.”

    Here: The suffering caused by the fire of v. 10. The smoke comes from it. The word family is the one used for judicial torture and severe pain.

  3. Revelation 18:7 βασανισμὸν torment

    As much as she has glorified herself and lived in luxury, give her the same measure of torment and grief. In her heart she says, ‘I sit as queen; I am not a widow and will never see grief.’

    Here: Severe pain inflicted as punishment. It comes from the word for a touchstone used to test gold, and later for interrogation by torture.

  4. Revelation 18:10 βασανισμοῦ torment

    In fear of her torment, they will stand at a distance and cry out: “Woe, woe to the great city, the mighty city of Babylon! For in a single hour your judgment has come.”

    Here: The painful punishment being carried out on her. It points back to 18:7, "give her as much torment and grief" as she gave herself glory and luxury. Here it is pictured as the burning city in v. 9.

  5. Revelation 18:15 βασανισμοῦ torment

    The merchants who sold these things and gained their wealth from her will stand at a distance, in fear of her torment. They will weep and mourn,

    Here: The suffering the city is going through: plague, mourning, famine and fire (18:8). It is the "torment" God ordered to match her self-glorifying luxury (18:7). They fear that torment, meaning they fear sharing it.

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