δίκη G1349
justice, penalty, retribution; the personified or enacted principle of moral order and its consequences
While δίκη originally meant 'custom' or 'way of doing things' in classical Greek, by the New Testament period it had specialized to mean justice as retribution or penalty. The word appears when divine justice manifests in judgment: the islanders see the viper on Paul's hand as 'Justice' personified catching up with a murderer (Acts 28:4), Paul speaks of those who will 'suffer the penalty of eternal destruction' (2 Thess 1:9), and Jude describes Sodom undergoing 'the punishment of eternal fire' (Jude 7). This is justice not as fairness but as the moral order's inevitable consequences.
Senses
1. sense 1 — In all three NT occurrences, δίκη refers to retributive justice or divine penalty. Acts 28:4 remarkably personifies Justice (with capital J in translations) as a pursuing deity—the barbarians interpret the snake bite as proof that 'Justice has not allowed him to live.' In 2 Thessalonians 1:9 and Jude 1:7, the word denotes the penalty itself: eternal destruction, eternal fire. The multilingual glosses (Spanish: Justicia, castigo; French: Justice, peine) capture both the personified force and the concrete punishment. The semantic development from 'custom' to 'retribution' reflects the Greek philosophical understanding that justice is the cosmos's natural order asserting itself. 3×
amh["ቅጣት"]·AR["عقاب", "عَدالَةُ", "عِقاباً"]·ben["ন্যায়", "শাস্তি"]·ces["trest"]·dan["straf"]·DE["Strafe", "Δίκη"]·ell["δίκην"]·EN["Justice", "penalty", "punishment"]·FR["Justice", "peine", "δίκην"]·guj["સજા"]·hat["pinisyon"]·hau["hukunci"]·heb["דִּיקֵה", "עֹנֶשׁ", "עונש"]·HI["दण्ड", "दन्द", "न्यायने"]·hun["büntetését"]·ID["Keadilan", "hukuman"]·IT["dikēn", "pena", "punizione"]·jav["Keadilan", "paukuman"]·JA["罰-を"]·KO["정의가", "형벌을"]·mar["दंड"]·mya["အပြစ်ဒဏ်"]·nld["straf"]·nor["straff"]·pnb["سزا"]·pol["karę"]·PT["Justiça", "castigo", "pena"]·ron["pedeapsă"]·RU["Справедливость", "наказание"]·ES["Justicia", "castigo"]·SW["Haki", "adhabu"]·swe["straff"]·tam["தண்டனையை"]·tel["శిక్ష"]·tgl["parusa"]·TH["โทษ"]·TR["ceza", "cezasını"]·ukr["кару"]·urd["انصاف", "سزا"]·VI["hình-phạt"]·yor["ìyà"]·yue["刑罰"]·ZH["刑罚"]
Related Senses
H2896a 1. good (quality or moral) (305×)H7563 1. wicked person (259×)H7451c 1. moral evil or wickedness (234×)H5771 1. iniquity, sin, wrongdoing (222×)H6662 1. righteous person (substantive) (195×)G0266 1. sin, failure, transgression (173×)H2403b 1. sin, transgression (170×)H2617a 1. Covenant faithfulness, steadfast love (167×)H2398 1. Qal: to sin, commit sin (165×)H6666 1. righteousness, moral uprightness (145×)G5485 1. grace, divine favor (141×)H7451a 1. morally evil, wicked (129×)H2403b 2. sin-offering, sacrifice for sin (120×)G2570 1. good, right, excellent (98×)H6588 1. transgression, offense against God (88×)G0018 1. good (moral quality) (85×)H2896b 1. good, what is good (85×)H7451b 1. evil, wickedness (moral) (83×)H7451a 2. evil, harm, calamity (80×)G1342 1. righteous, upright (of persons) (70×)
BDB / Lexicon Reference
δίκη [ῐ], ἡ, custom, usage, αὕτη δ. ἐστὶ βροτῶν this is the way of mortals, Refs 8th c.BC+; ἡ γὰρ δ., ὁππότε.. this is always the way, when.., Refs 2nd c.AD+; δίκαν ἐφέπειν τινός to imitate him, Refs 5th c.BC+; δ. ἐπέχειν τινός to be like.., Refs 1st c.AD+; normal course of nature, ἐκ τουτέων ὁ θάνατος οὐ γίνεται κατά γε δίκην, οὐδ᾽ ἢν γένηται Refs 5th c.BC+ __2 adverbial in accusative δίκην, in…