This verb describes being oppressed or crushed, often by those in power. In Acts 7:24, Stephen recounts Moses seeing an Egyptian mistreating an Israelite: he 'saw one of them being wronged (καταπονούμενον),' and intervened by striking down the Egyptian. Peter describes Lot as 'greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked,' a 'righteous man... tormented (καταπονούμενον) in his righteous soul' by what he saw and heard in Sodom (2 Peter 2:7-8). The term conveys grinding oppression, whether physical abuse (Acts) or moral anguish (2 Peter), the wearing down of the soul or body by injustice or wickedness.