1. malice, wickedness — Moral badness, malice, or wickedness as a character disposition or ethical quality -- the dominant NT sense of kakia. Appears in vice lists: Rom 1:29 'filled with malice,' Eph 4:31 'let all malice be put away,' Col 3:8 'put off malice,' Tit 3:3 'living in malice,' 1 Pet 2:1 'putting away all malice,' 1 Pet 2:16 'not using freedom as a cover for evil.' Also 1 Cor 5:8 'leaven of malice and wickedness,' 1 Cor 14:20 'in evil be infants,' Jas 1:21 'put away all wickedness,' Acts 8:22 'repent of this wickedness.' Cross-linguistically uniform: Arabic khubth/sharr, German Bosheit, Hebrew raah/roa, Hindi burai, Korean ak, Spanish malicia/maldad, French mechancete. All clusters describe the same abstract moral quality -- genitive, dative, accusative, nominative forms are purely inflectional variants, not distinct senses. 10×
AR["الخُبثَ","الشَّرِّ","خُبثٍ","شَرِّ","لِلخُبثِ"]·ben["দুর্নীতি","দুষ্টতা","দুষ্টতায়","দুষ্টতার","মন্দতা;","মন্দে,"]·DE["Bosheit"]·EN["evil","malice","of-malice","of-wickedness","wickedness"]·FR["méchanceté"]·heb["רָעָה","רֹעַ"]·HI["बुरऐ","बुराई","बुराई-का","बुराई-की"]·ID["keburukan;","kejahatan","kejahatan,","kejahatan.","kejahatanmu"]·IT["malizia"]·jav["-piawon","awon","awon;","piawon","piawon,","piawon.","piawonipun"]·KO["악","악에는","악을","악을,","악의","악의-에서","악의-의","악함-에서","악함과."]·PT["de-maldade","de-malícia","maldade","malícia","malícia,","malícia."]·RU["зла","злобе","злобой.","злобу","злобу,","злобы","злобы,","злу"]·ES["de-maldad","maldad","malicia"]·SW["ubaya","ubaya;","uovu","wa-ubaya","wote","ya-uovu"]·TR["fesatlıkla","kotulugu","kotulukle","kötülük","kötülüğü","kötülüğün","kötülüğünden","o-"]·urd["بدخواہی-سے","بدی","بدی-کے","بدی،","بدی٬","برائی","بُرائی-میں","بُرائی-کا،"]
Acts 8:22, Rom 1:29, 1 Cor 5:8, 1 Cor 14:20, Eph 4:31, Col 3:8, Titus 3:3, Jas 1:21, 1 Pet 2:1, 1 Pet 2:16
▼ 1 more sense below
Senses
2. trouble, hardship — Trouble, distress, or hardship as an experiential reality rather than a moral quality -- attested in Matt 6:34 where Jesus says 'sufficient for the day is its own trouble (kakia).' Here the word denotes not moral wickedness but the burdens, difficulties, and afflictions that each day brings. The Korean gloss gonan ('hardship/suffering') uniquely captures this non-moral nuance, distinguishing it from the ak ('evil') used elsewhere. Spanish mal ('ill/trouble') and Arabic sharruhu ('its evil/trouble') also permit this reading. This usage aligns with the classical Greek sense of kakia as 'misfortune, calamity' (LSJ A.III), distinct from the ethical sense. However, the cross-linguistic evidence is marginal -- most translations use their standard 'evil/wickedness' word even here, suggesting the boundary is contextual rather than lexical. 1×
AR["شَرُّهُ"]·ben["কষ্ট"]·DE["Bosheit"]·EN["trouble"]·FR["méchanceté"]·heb["רָעָה"]·HI["बुराई"]·ID["kesusahan"]·IT["kakia"]·jav["kasusahan"]·KO["고난"]·PT["mal"]·RU["зла"]·ES["mal"]·SW["taabu"]·TR["sıkıntısı"]·urd["بُرائی"]
BDB / Lexicon Reference
κᾰκία, ἡ, (κακός) badness in quality, opposed to ἀρετή (excellence), Refs 6th c.BC+; κακίᾳ ἡνιόχων by their incapacity, Refs defects, Refs 2nd c.AD+ __2 cowardice, faint-heartedness, Refs 5th c.BC+ __3 moral badness, vice, μετ᾽ ἀρετῆς ἀλλ᾽ οὐ μετὰ κακίας Refs 5th c.BC+; ἡ ἀρετή, ὡσαύτως δὲ.. καὶ ἡ κ. Refs 5th c.BC+; personified in the Fable of Prodicus, Refs 5th c.BC+ __4 Philos., Refs 3rd c.AD+ __II ill-repute, dishonour, κ. ἀντιλαβεῖν Refs 5th c.BC+ __II.2 hurt, damage done or suffered, LXX+NT