Topical Bible: Reviling

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Topical Encyclopedia

Definition and Meaning:
Reviling refers to the act of speaking abusively or insultingly about someone. It involves harsh, contemptuous, or slanderous language directed at an individual or group. In the biblical context, reviling is considered a serious sin, as it reflects a heart attitude that is contrary to the love and respect commanded by God.

Biblical References:
The Bible addresses the issue of reviling in several passages, emphasizing the importance of controlling one's speech and maintaining a spirit of gentleness and respect.

1. Old Testament:
· In the Old Testament, reviling is often associated with blasphemy and disrespect towards God and His anointed leaders. For example, in Exodus 22:28, the Israelites are commanded, "You must not blaspheme God or curse the ruler of your people."

2. New Testament:
· The New Testament provides further instruction on the dangers and consequences of reviling. In 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 , Paul lists revilers among those who "will not inherit the kingdom of God." This underscores the severity of reviling as a sin that can separate individuals from God's kingdom.
· Jesus Himself warned against reviling in the Sermon on the Mount. In Matthew 5:22 , He states, "But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, ‘Raca,’ will be subject to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be subject to the fire of hell."
· The Apostle Peter also addresses the issue in 1 Peter 3:9 , urging believers, "Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing."

Theological Implications:
Reviling is not merely a matter of speech but reflects the condition of the heart. It is often rooted in anger, pride, or a desire for vengeance. The Bible teaches that believers are to be characterized by love, humility, and forgiveness, which are antithetical to reviling.

· Transformation of Speech:
The transformation of speech is a key aspect of Christian sanctification. James 3:9-10 highlights the inconsistency of using the tongue for both blessing and cursing: "With the tongue we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, this should not be!"

· Christ as an Example:
Jesus Christ serves as the ultimate example of how to respond to reviling. In 1 Peter 2:23 , it is noted, "When they heaped abuse on Him, He did not retaliate; when He suffered, He made no threats, but entrusted Himself to Him who judges justly."

Practical Application:
Believers are called to avoid reviling and instead to cultivate speech that edifies and builds up others. This involves a conscious effort to control one's tongue and to respond to insults with grace and kindness. Ephesians 4:29 instructs, "Let no unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building up the one in need and bringing grace to those who listen."

In summary, reviling is a sin that is condemned throughout Scripture. It is a reflection of a heart that is not aligned with the teachings of Christ. Believers are encouraged to follow the example of Jesus, who responded to reviling with patience and love, entrusting Himself to God.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary

1. (p. pr. & vb. n.) of Revile.

2. (n.) Reproach; abuse; vilification.

3. (a.) Uttering reproaches; containing reproaches.

Greek

3680. oneidismos -- a reproach
... Part of Speech: Noun, Masculine Transliteration: oneidismos Phonetic Spelling:
(on-i-dis-mos') Short Definition: reproach, reviling Definition: reproach ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/3680.htm - 7k

1908. epereazo -- to revile
... 1908 (from 1909 , "upon" and , "threatening, reviling abuse") -- properly, to
intimidate by using threats and false accusations "tailor-made" to the situation ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/1908.htm - 7k

3059. loidoria -- abuse, railing
... abuse, railing. Part of Speech: Noun, Feminine Transliteration: loidoria Phonetic
Spelling: (loy-dor-ee'-ah) Short Definition: reviling, abuse Definition ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/3059.htm - 6k

987. blasphemeo -- to slander, hence to speak lightly or profanely ...
... 6), blasphemers (1), blasphemes (3), blaspheming (4), dishonored (1), hurling abuse
(3), malign (2), maligned (1), revile (3), reviling (1), slandered (1 ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/987.htm - 9k

3060. loidoros -- abusive, subst. railer
... abuser. Cognate: 3060 -- reproach (reviling); used of another's reputation
by denigrating, abusive insults (, 4:293). See 3058 (). ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/3060.htm - 6k

989. blasphemos -- slanderous, evil-speaking
... of a root of uncertain origin and pheme Definition slanderous, evil-speaking NASB
Word Usage blasphemer (1), blasphemous (1), revilers (1), reviling (1). ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/989.htm - 7k

Strong's Hebrew

1421. gidduph -- revilings, reviling words
... 1420, 1421. gidduph. 1422 . revilings, reviling words. Transliteration: gidduph
Phonetic Spelling: (ghid-doof') Short Definition: revilings. ... reproach, reviling ...
/hebrew/1421.htm - 6k

1422. geduphah -- a taunt
... a taunt. Transliteration: geduphah Phonetic Spelling: (ghed-oo-faw') Short Definition:
reviling. ... part. of gadaph Definition a taunt NASB Word Usage reviling (1). ...
/hebrew/1422.htm - 6k

Library

Whether Reviling Consists in Words?
... OF REVILING (FOUR ARTICLES) Whether reviling consists in words? Objection
1: It would seem that reviling does not consist in words. ...
/.../aquinas/summa theologica/whether reviling consists in words.htm

Whether Reviling Arises from Anger?
... OF REVILING (FOUR ARTICLES) Whether reviling arises from anger? Objection
1: It would seem that reviling does not arise from anger. ...
/.../aquinas/summa theologica/whether reviling arises from anger.htm

Of Reviling (Four Articles)
... OF REVILING (FOUR ARTICLES). We ... extrajudicially. We shall consider (1) reviling,
(2) backbiting, (3) tale bearing, (4) derision, (5) cursing. ...
/...//christianbookshelf.org/aquinas/summa theologica/of reviling four articles .htm

Whether Reviling or Railing is a Mortal Sin?
... OF REVILING (FOUR ARTICLES) Whether reviling or railing is a mortal sin? Objection
1: It would seem that reviling or railing is not a mortal sin. ...
/.../aquinas/summa theologica/whether reviling or railing is.htm

Whether Backbiting is the Gravest of all Sins Committed against ...
... Objection 2: Further, backbiting is apparently a graver sin than reviling, because
a man can withstand reviling, but not a secret backbiting. ...
/.../aquinas/summa theologica/whether backbiting is the gravest.htm

Whether Derision Can be a Mortal Sin?
... Objection 3: Further, reviling and backbiting seem to be graver sins than derision,
because it is more to do a thing seriously than in jest. ...
//christianbookshelf.org/aquinas/summa theologica/whether derision can be a.htm

Whether Derision is a Special Sin Distinct from those Already ...
... same as derision. But laughing to scorn pertains to reviling. Therefore derision
would seem not to differ from reviling. Objection 2 ...
/.../aquinas/summa theologica/whether derision is a special.htm

Whether Backbiting is Suitably Defined as the Blackening of ...
... secretly, as by theft, or by a crafty blow, so again one man injures another by
words in two ways"-in one way, openly, and this is done by reviling him, as ...
/.../aquinas/summa theologica/whether backbiting is suitably defined.htm

Whether one Ought to Suffer Oneself to be Reviled?
... OF REVILING (FOUR ARTICLES) Whether one ought to suffer oneself to be reviled? ...
Consequently the same applies to the reviling words that are said against us. ...
/.../christianbookshelf.org/aquinas/summa theologica/whether one ought to suffer.htm

Who are These Men who are Wont to Dispute at Such Great Length in ...
... Who is this who considers that he has a necessity laid on him of reviling Origen,
as the Gospel which he must preach among all nations and tongues? ...
/.../22 who are these men.htm

Thesaurus

Reviling (47 Occurrences)
... Multi-Version Concordance Reviling (47 Occurrences). Mark 7:22 covetousness, wickedness,
deceit, licentiousness, envy, reviling, pride, reckless folly: (WEY). ...
/r/reviling.htm - 21k

Revile (28 Occurrences)
... Noah Webster's Dictionary 1. (v.) To heap abuse and contemptuous language upon;
to reproach. 2. (n.) Reproach; reviling. Int. Standard Bible Encyclopedia. ...
/r/revile.htm - 14k

Insult (25 Occurrences)
... 1 Peter 3:9 not rendering evil for evil, or reviling for reviling; but instead blessing;
knowing that to this were you called, that you may inherit a blessing. ...
/i/insult.htm - 13k

Rendering (10 Occurrences)
... 1 Peter 3:9 not rendering evil for evil, or reviling for reviling; but instead blessing;
knowing that to this were you called, that you may inherit a blessing. ...
/r/rendering.htm - 10k

Revilement (1 Occurrence)
... Noah Webster's Dictionary (n.) The act of reviling; also, contemptuous language;
reproach; abuse. Multi-Version Concordance Revilement (1 Occurrence). ...
/r/revilement.htm - 6k

Inherit (98 Occurrences)
... 1 Peter 3:9 not rendering evil for evil, or reviling for reviling; but instead blessing;
knowing that to this were you called, that you may inherit a blessing. ...
/i/inherit.htm - 38k

Obtain (63 Occurrences)
... 1 Peter 3:9 not rendering evil for evil, or reviling for reviling; but instead blessing;
knowing that to this were you called, that you may inherit a blessing. ...
/o/obtain.htm - 24k

Envy (56 Occurrences)
... (WEB KJV ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV). Mark 7:22 covetousness, wickedness, deceit,
licentiousness, envy, reviling, pride, reckless folly: (WEY NAS RSV NIV). ...
/e/envy.htm - 28k

Bless (174 Occurrences)
... 1 Peter 3:9 not rendering evil for evil, or reviling for reviling; but instead blessing;
knowing that to this were you called, that you may inherit a blessing. ...
/b/bless.htm - 46k

Instead (139 Occurrences)
... 1 Peter 3:9 not rendering evil for evil, or reviling for reviling; but instead blessing;
knowing that to this were you called, that you may inherit a blessing. ...
/i/instead.htm - 36k

Resources

What is a reviler in the Bible? | GotQuestions.org

Why did Jesus say “Father, forgive them” on the cross? | GotQuestions.org

Reviling: Dictionary and Thesaurus | Clyx.com

Bible Concordance • Bible Dictionary • Bible Encyclopedia • Topical Bible • Bible Thesuarus

Concordance

Reviling (47 Occurrences)

Mark 7:22
covetousness, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, reviling, pride, reckless folly:
(WEY)

Luke 22:65
And many other things spake they against him, reviling him.
(ASV RSV)

1 Timothy 5:14
I desire therefore that the younger widows marry, bear children, rule the household, and give no occasion to the adversary for reviling.
(WEB ASV YLT)

1 Timothy 6:4
he is conceited, knowing nothing, but obsessed with arguments, disputes, and word battles, from which come envy, strife, reviling, evil suspicions,
(WEB WEY)

1 Peter 2:23
When He was reviled, He did not answer with reviling; when He suffered He uttered no threats, but left His wrongs in the hands of the righteous Judge.
(WEY YLT)

1 Peter 3:9
not rendering evil for evil, or reviling for reviling; but instead blessing; knowing that to this were you called, that you may inherit a blessing.
(WEB ASV RSV)

2 Peter 2:11
whereas angels, though greater in might and power, don't bring a railing judgment against them before the Lord.
(See NAS RSV)

2 Peter 2:12
But these, as unreasoning creatures, born natural animals to be taken and destroyed, speaking evil in matters about which they are ignorant, will in their destroying surely be destroyed,
(See NAS RSV)

Jude 1:9
But Michael, the archangel, when contending with the devil and arguing about the body of Moses, dared not bring against him an abusive condemnation, but said, "May the Lord rebuke you!"
(See RSV)

Exodus 21:17
And he who is reviling his father or his mother is certainly put to death.
(YLT)

Numbers 15:30
And the person who doth 'aught' with a high hand -- of the native or of the sojourner -- Jehovah he is reviling, and that person hath been cut off from the midst of his people;
(YLT)

Deuteronomy 11:26
See, I am setting before you to-day a blessing and a reviling:
(YLT)

Deuteronomy 11:28
and the reviling, if ye do not hearken unto the commands of Jehovah your God, and have turned aside out of the way which I am commanding you to-day, to go after other gods which ye have not known.
(YLT)

Deuteronomy 11:29
And it hath been, when Jehovah thy God doth bring thee in unto the land whither thou art going in to possess it, that thou hast given the blessing on mount Gerizim, and the reviling on mount Ebal;
(YLT)

Deuteronomy 23:5
and Jehovah thy God hath not been willing to hearken unto Balaam, and Jehovah thy God doth turn for thee the reviling to a blessing, because Jehovah thy God hath loved thee;
(YLT)

Deuteronomy 27:13
And these do stand, for the reviling, on mount Ebal: Reuben, Gad, and Asher, and Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali.
(YLT)

Deuteronomy 29:27
and the anger of Jehovah burneth against that land, to bring in on it all the reviling that is written in this book,
(YLT)

Deuteronomy 30:1
And it hath been, when all these things come upon thee, the blessing and the reviling, which I have set before thee, and thou hast brought 'them' back unto thy heart, among all the nations whither Jehovah thy God hath driven thee away,
(YLT)

Deuteronomy 30:19
I have caused to testify against you to-day the heavens and the earth; life and death I have set before thee, the blessing and the reviling; and thou hast fixed on life, so that thou dost live, thou and thy seed,
(YLT)

Joshua 8:34
And afterwards he hath proclaimed all the words of the law, the blessing and the reviling, according to all that is written in the book of the law;
(YLT)

2 Samuel 16:5
And king David hath come in unto Bahurim, and lo, thence a man is coming out, of the family of the house of Saul, and his name 'is' Shimei, son of Gera, he cometh out, coming out and reviling;
(YLT)

2 Samuel 16:7
And thus said Shimei in his reviling, 'Go out, go out, O man of blood, and man of worthlessness!
(YLT)

2 Samuel 16:12
it may be Jehovah doth look on mine affliction, and Jehovah hath turned back to me good for his reviling this day.'
(YLT)

1 Kings 2:8
And lo, with thee 'is' Shimei son of Gera, the Benjamite of Bahurim, and he reviled me -- a grievous reviling -- in the day of my going to Mahanaim; and he hath come down to meet me at the Jordan, and I swear to him by Jehovah, saying, I do not put thee to death by the sword;
(YLT)

2 Kings 19:3
And they said to him, Thus says Hezekiah: This day is a day of trouble and of rebuke and of reviling; for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth.
(DBY)

2 Kings 22:19
because thy heart 'is' tender, and thou art humbled because of Jehovah, in thy hearing that which I have spoken against this place, and against its inhabitants, to be for a desolation, and for a reviling, and dost rend thy garments, and weep before Me -- I also have heard -- the affirmation of Jehovah --
(YLT)

Nehemiah 13:2
because they have not come before the sons of Israel with bread and with water, and hire against them Balaam to revile them, and our God turneth the reviling into a blessing.
(YLT)

Psalms 109:17
And he loveth reviling, and it meeteth him, And he hath not delighted in blessing, And it is far from him.
(YLT)

Psalms 109:18
And he putteth on reviling as his robe, And it cometh in as water into his midst, And as oil into his bones.
(YLT)

Proverbs 9:7
He that correcteth a scoffer getteth to himself reviling; And he that reproveth a wicked man 'getteth' himself a blot.
(ASV)

Proverbs 26:2
As a bird by wandering, as a swallow by flying, So reviling without cause doth not come.
(YLT)

Ecclesiastes 7:21
Also to all the words that they speak give not thy heart, that thou hear not thy servant reviling thee.
(YLT)

Isaiah 37:3
And they said to him, Thus says Hezekiah: This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of reviling; for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth.
(DBY)

Isaiah 43:28
Therefore I will profane the princes of the sanctuary; and I will make Jacob a curse, and Israel a reviling."
(WEB JPS ASV YLT RSV)

Isaiah 51:7
Hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law; fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their revilings.
(Root in KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV)

Jeremiah 15:10
Wo to me, my mother, For thou hast borne me a man of strife, And a man of contention to all the land, I have not lent on usury, Nor have they lent on usury to me -- All of them are reviling me.
(YLT)

Jeremiah 24:9
And I have given them for a trembling, For evil -- to all kingdoms of the earth, For a reproach, and for a simile, For a byword, and for a reviling, In all the places whither I drive them.
(YLT)

Jeremiah 25:18
Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, And its kings, its heads, To give them to waste, to astonishment, To hissing, and to reviling, as 'at' this day.
(YLT)

Jeremiah 26:6
Then I have given up this house as Shiloh, and this city I give up for a reviling to all nations of the earth.'
(YLT)

Jeremiah 29:22
And taken from them hath been a reviling by all the removed of Judah that 'are' in Babylon, saying, Jehovah doth set thee as Zedekiah, and as Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted with fire;
(YLT)

Jeremiah 42:18
for thus said Jehovah of Hosts, God of Israel: As poured out hath been Mine anger and My fury on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so poured out is My fury upon you in your entering Egypt, and ye have been for an execration, and for an astonishment, and for a reviling, and for a reproach, and ye do not see any more this place.
(YLT)

Jeremiah 44:8
by provoking Me to anger by the works of your hands, by making perfume to other gods in the land of Egypt, whither ye are going in to sojourn, so as to cut yourselves off, and so as to your being for a reviling and for a reproach among all nations of the earth?
(YLT)

Jeremiah 44:12
and I have taken the remnant of Judah, who have set their faces to enter the land of Egypt to sojourn there, and they have all been consumed in the land of Egypt; they fall by sword, by famine they are consumed, from the least even unto the greatest, by sword and by famine they die, and they have been for an execration, for an astonishment, and for a reviling, and for a reproach.
(YLT)

Jeremiah 44:22
And Jehovah is not able any more to accept 'you', because of the evil of your doings, because of the abominations that ye have done, and your land is for a waste, and for an astonishment, and for a reviling, without inhabitant, as 'at' this day.
(YLT)

Jeremiah 49:13
For, by Myself, I have sworn, An affirmation of Jehovah, That for a desolation, for a reproach, For a waste, and for a reviling -- is Bozrah, And all her cities are for wastes age-during.
(YLT)

Ezekiel 5:15
And it hath been a reproach and a reviling, An instruction and an astonishment, To nations that 'are' round about thee, In My doing in thee judgments, In anger and fury, and in furious reproofs, I, Jehovah, have spoken.
(YLT NAS)

Zechariah 8:13
And it hath come to pass, As ye have been a reviling among nations, O house of Judah, and house of Israel, So I save you, and ye have been a blessing, Do not fear, let your hands be strong.
(YLT)

Subtopics

Reviling

Reviling and Reproaching of Christ, Predicted

Reviling and Reproaching of Rulers Specially Forbidden

Reviling and Reproaching: Athenian Philosophers

Reviling and Reproaching: Blessedness of Enduring, for Christ's Sake

Reviling and Reproaching: Excludes from Heaven

Reviling and Reproaching: Forbidden

Reviling and Reproaching: Goliath

Reviling and Reproaching: Happiness of Enduring, for Christ's Sake

Reviling and Reproaching: Jews

Reviling and Reproaching: Joseph's Brethren