Absolute Evil
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Strong’s Hebrew #7451
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil: for thou art with me;
Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
And he said, This is wickedness. And he cast it into the midst of the ephah; and he cast the weight of lead upon the mouth thereof.
And I fell down before the Lord, as at the first, forty days and forty nights: I did neither eat bread, nor drink water, because of all your sins which ye sinned, in doing wickedly in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger.
And the Lord smelled a sweet savour; and the Lord said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake; for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done.
And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
And Esther said, The adversary and enemy is this wicked Haman. Then Haman was afraid before the king and the queen.
Ye that put far away the evil day,
And cause the seat of violence to come near;
An angry man stirreth up strife,
And a furious man aboundeth in transgression.
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
Absolute Evil: the next step downward from cultivating wrath or Anger in the Heart.
רַע raʿ, רָעָה rāʿāh: An adjective meaning bad, evil. The basic meaning of this word displays ten or more various shades of the meaning of evil according to its contextual usage. It means bad in a moral and ethical sense and is used to describe, along with good, the entire spectrum of good and evil; hence, it depicts evil in an absolute, negative sense, as when it describes the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen. 2:9; 3:5, 22). It was necessary for a wise king to be able to discern the evil or the good in the actions of his people (Eccl. 12:14); men and women are characterized as evil (1 Sam. 30:22; Esth. 7:6; Jer. 2:33). The human heart is evil all day long (Gen. 6:5) from childhood (Gen. 8:21); yet the people of God are to purge evil from among them (Deut. 17:7). The Lord is the final arbiter of whether something was good or evil; if something was evil in the eyes of the Lord, there is no further court of appeals (Deut. 9:18; 1 Kgs. 14:22). The day of the Lord’s judgment is called an evil day, a day of reckoning and condemnation (Amos 6:3). Jacob would have undergone grave evil (i.e. , pain, misery, and ultimate disaster) if he had lost Benjamin (Gen. 44:34). The word can refer to circumstances as evil, as when the Israelite foremen were placed in grave situation (Ex. 5:19; 2 Kgs. 14:10).
The word takes on the aspect of something disagreeable, unwholesome, or harmful.
Jacob evaluated his life as evil and destructive.
inherently wicked in order to clear himself (Ex. 32:22). Calamities, failures, and miseries are all connotations of this word when it is used as a noun.
(Gen. 47:9; Num. 20:5).
New Testament first mention is in Matthew 5.25.
4190. πονηρός ponērós; fem . ponērá, neut. ponērón, adj. from pónos (4192), labor, sorrow, pain. Evil in a moral or spiritual sense, wicked, malicious, mischievous.
(I) In an act. sense, evil which corrupts others, evil–disposed, malevolent, malignant, wicked.1
feminine. Now of persons:
(A) Of persons (Matt. 5:45; 7:11; 12:34, 35; 13:49; 18:32; Luke 6:35, 45; 11:13; Acts 17:5; 2 Thess. 3:2; Sept .: Esth. 7:6; Job 21:30). Pneúmata ponērá (pneúmata [4151], spirits), evil spirits, malignant demons (Matt. 12:45; Luke 7:21; 8:2; 11:26; Acts 19:12, 13, 15, 16; Sept.: 1 Sam. 16:14f.). With the def . art. ho ponērós, the evil one, Satan (Matt. 13:19, 38; Eph. 6:16; 1 John 2:13, 14; 3:12; 5:18). See also Matt. 5:37; 6:13; Luke 11:4; John 17:15; 1 John 5:19.
Of things that are evil:
(B) Of things, such as the eye, an evil eye referring to envy (Matt. 20:15; Mark 7:22); evil thoughts (1 Tim. 6:4; James 2:4). Particularly as causing pain or hurt, hurtful, with injurious words (Matt. 5:11; Acts 28:21; 3 John 1:10; Sept .: Ps. 64:6). Also painful, grievous (Rev. 16:2; Sept .: Deut. 28:35, 59). The neut . with the def . art. tó ponērón, evil, evil intent, malice, wickedness (Matt. 5:37, 39). Also evil as inflicted, calamity, affliction.
Morally of persons:
(A) Morally, of persons, meaning wicked, corrupt, an evildoer (1 Cor. 5:13; 2 Tim. 3:13); an evil generation (Matt. 12:39, 45; 16:4; Luke 11:29); evil age (Gal. 1:4; Sept .: Deut. 21:21; Is. 1:4; 9:16); of a servant, remiss, slothful (Matt. 25:26; Luke 19:22); of things, wicked, corrupt, as of works (John 3:19; 7:7; Col. 1:21; 2 Tim. 4:18; 1 John 3:12; 2 John 1:11); criminality (rhadioúrgēma [4467]; Acts 18:14; 1 Thess. 5:22, “from every form of evil” [a.t.]; Heb. 3:12; 10:22; James 4:16; Sept.: Deut. 17:7; 2 Kgs. 17:13); of times, particularly as full of sorrow and affliction, evil.
calamitous (Eph. 5:16; 6:13; Sept.: Gen. 47:9; Ps. 94:13). In the neut . with the def . art., tó ponērón, evil, wickedness, guilt (Luke 6:45; Rom. 12:9; 1 John 5:19). In the pl . tá ponērá, evil things, wicked deeds (Mark 7:23; Sept .: Deut. 17:2; Judg. 2:11; Eccl. 8:12); without the art. (Sept .: Ps. 97:10; Hos. 7:15).
4189. πονηρία ponēría; gen . ponērías, fem. noun from ponērós (4190) evil, malicious. Evil nature, badness. In a physical sense (Sept.: Jer. 24:2, 3, 8). In the NT, only in a moral sense, evil disposition, wickedness, malice (Matt. 22:18; Luke 11:39; Rom. 1:29; 1 Cor. 5:8; Eph. 6:12, “the spirits of malice” [a.t.] means the evil spirits). In the pl. hai ponēríai, wicked counsels (Mark 7:22; Acts 3:26, “iniquities,” wicked deeds; Sept.: Ex. 32:12; Ps. 28:5; pl . Jer. 32:32; 33:5). Ponēría means maliciousness and it is to be distinguished from kakía (2549) which is simply the evil habit of mind, depravity, not necessarily being expressed and affecting others. Both words are contrasted, however, with kakoḗtheia (2550), a vicious ill will, active malevolence toward others.
Syn.: anomía (458), lawlessness; hamartía (266), sin, missing the mark; adikía (93), unrighteousness; adíkēma (92), injustice, misdeed; paranomía (3892), law–breaking; parábasis (3847), an overstepping, transgression; kakía (2549), evil, badness.
One more step down:
2549. κακία kakía; gen . kakías, fem. noun from kakós (2556), bad. Wickedness as an evil habit of the mind, while ponēría (4189) is the active outcome of the same. Ponēría is malevolence, not only doing evil, but being evil.
(I) Evil in a moral sense meaning wickedness of heart, life, and character (Acts 8:22; 1 Cor. 14:20 [cf . Matt. 18:3; James 1:21; 1 Pet. 2:16; Sept .: Ex. 32:12; Is. 29:20]).
2557. κακοῦργος kakoúrgos; gen . kakoúrgou, masc. noun from kakós (2556), bad, and érgō (n.f.), to work, which is the obsolete root of érgon (2041), work. An evildoer, malefactor (Luke 23:32, 33, 39 [cf. Matt. 27:38, lēstḗs {3027}, robber]; 2 Tim. 2:9; Sept.: Prov. 21:15). In the Gr. writers, the word is joined with thieves as also in Luke 23:32. There are some who suggest the deriv. of the word from kakós, bad, and orgḗ (3709), anger, in which case the accent is placed on the ultima making it not kakoúrgos but kakourgós, the opposite of agathoergós (n.f.) or euergós.
113. ἄθεσμος áthesmos; gen . athésmou, masc.–fem., neut. áthesmon, adj. from the priv. a (1), without, and thesmós (n.f.), a law, custom, which is from títhēmi (5087), to set, place. Lawless, unprincipled, not in conformity to acceptable custom. The noun thesmós, used in the pl. in Class. Gr., did not refer to a law enacted by a body of lawmakers but that which became prevalent by custom and was expected to be observed as if it were a law. Akin to éthos (1485), a custom, and éthō (1486), to use by habit, to be accustomed.
The homosexuals of Sodom and Gomorrah are called áthesmoi in 2 Pet. 2:7, which is rendered in the kjv as “wicked.” In the niv it is rendered “lawless men.” It occurs also in 2 Pet. 3:17. In both instances it refers to those who deviate from conduct that is accepted as good and adopted as a law or rule of custom, i.e., thesmós.
A better translation of the word would be nefarious, that which is contrary to what is right, i.e., illegal.