ῥᾳδιουργία (rhadiourgia)
rhadiourgia
trickery
Quick Reference
- Language
- Koine Greek
- Testament
- New Testament
- Occurrences
- 1 verses
- Root
- —
Word Overview
The noun rhadiourgia describes a specific kind of moral failure rooted in ease or laziness. Its root suggests doing things without care, effort, or seriousness. In Scripture, this lack of diligence manifests as recklessness or villainy. It is not merely a mistake, but a character flaw where one engages in deceitful or wicked acts with casual indifference.
This word appears only once in the New Testament, in Acts 13:10. Paul uses it to describe Barnabas’s opponent, Elymas the sorcerer. He calls him a "son of devilry" and accuses him of full of rhadiourgia. Here, the term captures the cunning and malicious intent behind his attempts to turn the proconsul away from the faith.
Translators often render it as "trickery," "wickedness," or "craftiness." This reflects its dual nature: it begins with a lazy disregard for truth and ends in active deception. The word highlights how spiritual opposition often relies on casual malice rather than open confrontation, using ease to spread confusion.
Based on public-domain lexicons (Strong's, Thayer, Gesenius, Brown-Driver-Briggs and others).
What This Word Means for Your Faith
The word rhadiourgia appears only once in the New Testament, found in Acts 13:10 where Paul confronts Elymas the sorcerer. It describes a specific kind of moral failure rooted in ease or laziness. This lack of diligence manifests as recklessness or villainy, not merely a mistake but a character flaw where one engages in deceitful acts with casual indifference.
For your faith, this word highlights how spiritual opposition often relies on casual malice rather than open confrontation. It reminds us that deception frequently begins with a disregard for truth and ends in active trickery. Recognizing this pattern helps us stay grounded in righteousness when facing confusion or manipulation.
How it's translated
How this word is rendered word-by-word in the 1 verses where it appears, by frequency.
- craft,1×
Forms in the text
The inflected forms of this word as they appear in Scripture, by frequency.
- ῥᾳδιουργίας,1×
Key Verses
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Acts 13:10
and said, “You son of the devil, full of all deceit and all cunning, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord?
Paul uses this rare term to expose Elymas's casual cunning as he attempts to turn the proconsul away from the faith.