to blaspheme: to speak against God, his name, or sacred things in a way that assaults his honor
TranslatabilityApproximateCertaintySettled
This is the sense the word most often carries when its target is God himself, his name, his word, or anything set apart to him. It is not just rude talk about religion. It is speech, or a stance behind speech, that wrongs God's unique standing: cursing him, denying him the honor due only to him, or a creature claiming for itself what belongs to God alone.
The range inside this meaning is wide because the offense can be aimed at different sacred targets.
It can strike at God or Christ directly, as when the scribes hear Jesus forgive sins and conclude he is putting himself in God's place.
It can strike at the Holy Spirit, which Jesus singles out as a refusal so deep it forecloses forgiveness.
It can fall on God's name or message indirectly, when those who claim to belong to God live in a way that makes outsiders despise him.
What ties these together is the object: the honor of God. The Greek translators of the Hebrew Scriptures pulled this everyday word toward God by using it for human speech that spurned and reviled the living God, and the writers of the New Testament inherited that weight. Whether a given verse means this or the plainer sense of insulting a person is decided by who or what is being spoken against, not by the word itself.
Nuances
1ato speak against God or Christ, assaulting the honor or status that belongs to God alone
Mat 9:3Mat 26:65*Mrk 2:7Jhn 10:36Act 26:111Ti 1:20Rev 13:6
Mat 26:65
Whether Jesus' answer to the high priest actually constituted blasphemy under a first-century Jewish definition, and therefore whether the trial charge is historically intelligible.
majorityUnder the broader functional definition of blasphemy operative in the first century, Jesus' combined claim to sit at God's right hand and come on the clouds was the kind of creaturely arrogation of divine prerogative that Jewish leaders called blasphemy, so the charge is intelligible.; Darrell L. Bock, Blasphemy and Exaltation in Judaism and the Final Examination of Jesus (WUNT II/106; Mohr Siebeck, 1998), 21, 184-237; Adela Yarbro Collins, "The Charge of Blasphemy in Mark 14.64," JSNT 26.4 (2004): 379-401; Joel Marcus, Mark 8-16 (Anchor Yale Bible 27A; Yale University Press, 2009), 1003-1018; R. T. France, The Gospel of Mark (NIGTC; Eerdmans, 2002), 124-127
minorityIf the narrow rabbinic rule that blasphemy requires pronouncing the divine Name was operative in 30 CE, Jesus' saying cannot have been blasphemy in the strict legal sense, and the charge is best treated as a later Christian framing rather than a historical verdict.; Géza Vermes, Jesus the Jew (Collins, 1973); E. P. Sanders, Jesus and Judaism (SCM/Fortress, 1985), 61-76, 294-318
1bto blaspheme against the Holy Spirit: the refusal that, Jesus warns, cannot be forgiven
Mrk 3:28Mrk 3:29Luk 12:10*
Luk 12:10
Why blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is unforgivable while speaking against the Son of Man is forgivable, and what exactly the unforgivable blasphemy is.
majorityThe unforgivable blasphemy is not a single impious utterance but a settled refusal to recognize the Spirit's evident work, a self-induced inability to repent; the precise distinction between the Son of Man and the Spirit remains unresolved.; Joel Marcus, Mark 1-8 (Anchor Yale Bible 27; Yale University Press, 2000), 282-286; Joel B. Green, The Gospel of Luke (NICNT; Eerdmans, 1997), 484-487; W. D. Davies and Dale C. Allison, The Gospel According to Saint Matthew (ICC; T&T Clark, 1991), 2:344-349
1cto bring God's name, word, or way into disrepute, so that outsiders despise him because of his people
Rom 2:241Ti 6:1Tit 2:5Jas 2:7*1Pe 4:14*2Pe 2:2
1dto blaspheme God under judgment, cursing him instead of repenting
Rev 16:9Rev 16:11Rev 16:21
2
to revile: to slander, insult, or defame a person or their reputation
TranslatabilityApproximateCertaintySettled
This is the older, plainer sense the word carried in everyday Greek, where it simply meant to abuse, vilify, or speak injuriously of someone. Greek writers used it for the slander hurled between rivals in court and the street, and the New Testament keeps this human use alongside the heavier religious one.
Here the target is a person and their standing rather than God. It covers:
the mockers who jeer at a victim
opponents who tear down a teacher to discredit him
neighbors who curse those who will no longer join them
The injury is to reputation: the speaker tries to drag the other person down.
Reading correctly depends on noticing the object. When the one being reviled happens to be Jesus, the Gospel writers can use this human sense with pointed irony, letting the reader see that the real offenders are the ones doing the mocking. The word can also be aimed at honored heavenly beings, where it becomes irreverent abuse of figures who deserve respect.
Nuances
2ato mock, jeer at, or revile a person
Mat 27:39*Mrk 15:29*Luk 22:65Luk 23:391Pe 4:4
2bto slander or speak evil of someone, attacking their good name or conduct
Act 13:45Act 18:6Rom 3:8Rom 14:161Co 10:30Tit 3:2
2cto hurl irreverent abuse at honored heavenly beings
where the target is God, his name, or his word the same verb rises to the level of blasphemy, which plain "revile" does not conveyMrk 3:29Jas 2:7
Both
both name injurious speech aimed at tearing down a person's standingLuk 22:65Act 13:45
Only revile
English "revile" sounds merely like harsh personal abuse and misses the religious gravity the word can carry
“speak evil of”
Comparison data is not available for this English gloss yet.
“slander”
Comparison data is not available for this English gloss yet.
How blasphēmeō differs from similar Greek words
λοιδορέωto revile or heap verbal abuse on someone face to face; it is purely insult between people and never carries the religious charge of speech against God
Reaches all the way up to God: it is the word for speech that assaults God's honor, his name, or his Spirit, the offense English calls blasphemy. The other word never targets God this way.Rev 16:9Mrk 3:29
Used for the religious charge against Jesus: claiming to forgive sins or to be God's Son was treated as this kind of speech against God, a stakes the other word does not carry.Mrk 2:7Jhn 10:36Mat 26:65
Both
Both can mean to revile or verbally abuse another person, hurling words that injure someone's standing or reputation.Act 13:45Jhn 9:28
Both describe the abuse believers absorb for their faith, the insults Christians take from opponents.1Pe 4:141Co 4:12
Stays strictly on the human level, the trading of personal insults face to face, and never rises to an offense against God. In the one place Peter uses it of Jesus, the point is precisely that Jesus, when insulted, did not insult back.1Pe 2:23Act 23:4
κακολογέωto speak badly of or curse someone; it overlaps with the human-reviling sense but lacks the theological weight this word gained for offense against God
Reaches all the way to God himself: it is the standard word for assaulting God's honor or claiming for oneself what belongs to God alone. When the scribes hear Jesus forgive sins they call it this, because only God can do that.Mat 9:3Mrk 2:7
Targets God's name specifically: people under judgment, or the beast in Revelation, are said to do this against the very name of God. The other word is never used this way.Rev 16:9Rom 2:24Rev 13:6
Carries enough religious weight to count as the formal charge at Jesus' trial: the high priest tears his clothes and declares it the offense that demands death.Mat 26:65
Both
Both mean to speak evil of a person, slandering or running down someone's name and reputation. This is the overlap that makes them near-synonyms when the target is a human being.Tit 3:21Pe 4:4Mrk 9:39Act 19:9
Used for the formal cursing of one's own parents that the Law treats as a capital crime. Jesus quotes the commandment with this exact word: whoever curses father or mother must be put to death.Mat 15:4Mrk 7:10
Names plain bad-mouthing of a person or a movement among people, with no hint of religious offense: speaking evil of the Way before the crowd, or saying harmful things about Jesus as a man.Act 19:9Mrk 9:39
βλασφημίαthe noun for the same offense, the slander or blasphemy itself rather than the act of speaking it
βλάσφημοςthe adjective and noun for the person who does this, a slanderer or blasphemer, rather than the speaking
blasphēmeō in the other biblical languages
גָּדַףHebrew“to blaspheme”the Hebrew word for reviling or blaspheming God that the Greek translators often rendered with this verb, as in the taunts against the living God
The Greek word also covers purely human targets: it can mean slandering or defaming a person and their good name, with God nowhere in view.Act 13:45Tit 3:2
It stretches to mocking and jeering at a person, as the bystanders do who hurl abuse at Jesus on the cross to drag him down.Mat 27:39Luk 23:39
It can be aimed at honored heavenly beings short of God, as when false teachers heap irreverent abuse on angelic glories.Jud 1:82Pe 2:10
Both
Both name speech that directly assaults God's honor: reviling the living God, scorning his name, treating as common what belongs to him alone.2Ki 19:6Rev 13:6
The Greek word is the standard rendering the Greek Old Testament reached for to carry this Hebrew word's sense of cursing God, so the New Testament's heaviest use of speaking against God stands in a direct line from this Hebrew taunting of God.Isa 37:6Rev 16:9
The Hebrew word is narrow and severe: its object is always God himself or his name, and it pictures defiant, taunting contempt flung at the living God, as in the Assyrian messengers' jeering against the LORD.2Ki 19:22Isa 37:23
It marks the worst grade of defiance against God in the law: the high-handed sinner who openly reviles the LORD, set apart from ordinary unintentional sin.Num 15:30
נָאַץHebrew“to spurn”the Hebrew word for spurning or treating God with contempt; the Greek translators used this verb for it, which helped pull the Greek word toward offense against God
Centers on injurious speech: the abusive, defaming words themselves, whether hurled at Jesus on the cross or spoken against God.Mat 27:39Rev 16:9
Reaches beyond God to people: it covers slandering and speaking evil of others, so believers are told to defame no one and are warned that outsiders will malign them.Tit 3:21Pe 4:4
Both
Both describe treating what deserves honor with contempt, and the classic bridge is direct: Isaiah says God's name is spurned all day long, and Paul renders that very charge in Greek as God's name being blasphemed among the nations.Isa 52:5Rom 2:24
Both take God and His name as the target of the affront, whether the psalmist asks how long the enemy will revile the LORD or the plagued nations curse the God of heaven.Psa 74:10Rev 16:21
Names an act of contempt shown by disposition and deed, not only by words: Israel spurns the LORD even after seeing His signs, and provokes Him by how they live.Num 14:11Deu 32:19
Fills the wisdom writings with the fool who scorns correction: to spurn a parent's instruction or reject reproof is to hold guidance in contempt.Pro 1:30Pro 15:5
Names the specific religious offense of blasphemy: speaking against God, or claiming for oneself what belongs to God alone, treated as a grave charge that could carry a death sentence.Mat 9:3Mat 26:65Jhn 10:36
Widens beyond God to ordinary slander, so it also covers defaming, insulting, or ruining the reputation of other people.Tit 3:21Pe 4:4Rom 3:8
Describes reviling God in open defiance under judgment, cursing him instead of repenting as the plagues fall.Rev 16:9Rev 16:11Rev 16:21
Both
Both name speech that insults God and treats his honor with contempt: the Hebrew word taunts the living God through his people, and the Greek word blasphemes God to his face.2Ki 19:22Rev 16:9
Both can also be aimed at people rather than God, so each covers the reviling and reproach that one human hurls at another.Psa 55:12Tit 3:2
Is above all a battlefield taunt: an enemy jeers at an army and dares it to fight, as when the Philistine champion defies the ranks of Israel.1Sa 17:101Sa 17:261Sa 17:45
Is the word for the mocking scorn heaped on a suffering worshiper by his enemies, a jeer that stings all day long.Psa 42:10Psa 69:9Psa 102:8
Reaches God indirectly through the way people are treated, so that whoever mocks the poor shows contempt for their Maker.Pro 14:31Pro 17:5
Its whole meaning is injurious speech: it is the standard Greek verb for slandering, reviling, and defaming, whether the target is God or a person.Act 18:6Tit 3:2
It reviles people, not only God, so the same verb names abuse aimed at a human reputation.1Pe 4:4Rom 14:16
Both
Both name the sin of speaking against God, and both bind that sin to God's own name.Lev 24:16Rev 16:9
Its offense against God is specifically pronouncing the divine Name in a curse; the sin lies in uttering the Name itself, not in reviling generally.Lev 24:11
Away from those two verses the word is not about speech at all: its ordinary senses are boring a hole through something and singling a person out by name.2Ki 12:9Hag 1:6Gen 30:28Isa 62:2
What scholars say about blasphēmeō
The standard lexica and theological dictionaries (Beyer in TDNT, Hofius in EDNT, Silva in NIDNTTE, BDAG, Spicq, Louw-Nida) agree that this verb has no single technical meaning in the New Testament. In ordinary Greek it meant to slander or revile a person, with speech against the gods only a peripheral use; the Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures concentrated its weight on offense against God by using it for Hebrew verbs of contempt for the living God, and the New Testament inherited and exploited both ranges. The object and context, not the word, fix the meaning. Within the religious sense, two areas draw sustained study: the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit that Jesus calls unforgivable, which the dominant reading takes as a settled refusal to recognize the Spirit's evident work rather than a single utterance, and the charge of blasphemy at Jesus' trial, whose historical force turns on which first-century Jewish definition of blasphemy was operative.
In-depth research
This is a research paper, so it may be hard to read without scholarly background. It is useful if you want to dig even deeper into this word.
Sources
Hermann Wolfgang Beyer, "βλασφημέω κτλ.," in Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, ed. G. Kittel (Eerdmans, 1964), 1:621-625theological-dictionary
Otto Hofius, "βλασφημία," in Exegetical Dictionary of the New Testament, ed. H. Balz and G. Schneider (Eerdmans, 1990), 1:219-221theological-dictionary
Moisés Silva, ed., New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology and Exegesis (Zondervan, 2014), s.v. βλασφημέωtheological-dictionary
BDAG: Frederick W. Danker, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed. (University of Chicago Press, 2000), s.v. βλασφημέωlexicon
Ceslas Spicq, Theological Lexicon of the New Testament, trans. J. D. Ernest (Hendrickson, 1994), 1:298-301lexicon
Darrell L. Bock, Blasphemy and Exaltation in Judaism and the Final Examination of Jesus (WUNT II/106; Mohr Siebeck, 1998)monograph
Raymond E. Brown, The Death of the Messiah (Anchor Bible Reference Library; Doubleday, 1994), 1:520-527monograph
Adela Yarbro Collins, "The Charge of Blasphemy in Mark 14.64," Journal for the Study of the New Testament 26.4 (2004): 379-401journal-article
Joel Marcus, Mark 1-8 (Anchor Yale Bible 27; Yale University Press, 2000), 282-286commentary
W. D. Davies and Dale C. Allison, The Gospel According to Saint Matthew (ICC; T&T Clark, 1991), 2:344-349commentary
Richard J. Bauckham, Jude, 2 Peter (WBC 50; Word, 1983), 56-62commentary
Dale C. Allison Jr., James (ICC; T&T Clark, 2013), 396-399commentary
David E. Aune, Revelation 6-16 (WBC 52B; Thomas Nelson, 1998), 733-740commentary