StrongerBible

kataischunō

καταισχύνω

GreekG2617“put to shame, disgrace, ...”

Appears 13 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Luk 13:17Rom 5:5Rom 9:33Rom 10:111Co 1:27 (2×)1Co 11:41Co 11:51Co 11:222Co 7:142Co 9:41Pe 2:61Pe 3:16
Compound of
kataκατάaccording to484G2596
aischunōαἰσχύνωbe ashamed5G153
Word studyResearch-gradeka-tahee-SKHOO-noverb

What kataischunō means

to put to shame publicly: to disgrace someone before a watching community, or to be exposed and humiliated that way

TranslatabilityPartialCertaintySettled

This is the ordinary Greek verb for bringing a person, family, or claim into open disgrace, sharpened by a prefix that means "utterly." It is not about a private feeling of embarrassment. In the world of the New Testament, shame is a public verdict: it is the loss of standing in front of others, what one writer calls a kind of social death. So when this word is used, someone's worth is being lowered, or vindicated, in the eyes of an audience that matters.

The word does the same basic thing everywhere it appears, but the audience delivering the verdict shifts. Sometimes the courtroom is human society:

  • God openly discredits the proud
  • the wealthy humiliate the poor at the common meal
  • slanderers are exposed
  • Jesus' opponents lose a public argument

Sometimes a person stakes his own reputation on a boast or a hope, and the question is whether the outcome will leave him disgraced or proven right.

Its most striking use carries a further horizon. Drawing on a long tradition of Israel's prayers and prophets, the New Testament promises that anyone who trusts God will "not be put to shame." Here the audience is God's own final judgment. To trust God and not be shamed means your confidence will never be exposed as misplaced: God will publicly prove it well-founded. Scholars increasingly see these as one reality viewed from two angles, since God's verdict is itself the ultimate public reckoning of who was right to trust and who was not.

Nuances

1ato openly disgrace or humiliate someone, lowering their standing before others
Luk 13:171Co 1:27 (2×)1Co 11:41Co 11:51Co 11:221Pe 3:16
1bto be put to shame when a staked claim fails: to have a boast or confidence publicly exposed as empty
2Co 7:142Co 9:4
1cto be put to shame at God's judgment: to have one's trust in God exposed as misplaced, so that not being shamed means being vindicated
Rom 5:5Rom 9:33Rom 10:111Pe 2:6

What scholars say about kataischunō

The verb is built on the αἰσχ- group (αἶσχος "disgrace," αἰσχρός "shameful") with a perfective-intensive κατα- prefix; Bultmann (TDNT 1.189) treats αἰσχύνω, ἐπαισχύνω, and καταισχύνω as largely interchangeable in the active sense, the prefixed forms adding an "utterly" coloring. Spicq, following Trench, locates it with αἰσχύνη (public disgrace once found out) rather than αἰδώς (the inward shame that prevents the act). BDAG separates an active sense "humiliate, disgrace, put to shame" from a passive "be disappointed," with the Septuagintal nuance of suffering disgrace because one's hopes go unfulfilled; Louw-Nida split it across domains 25 and 88. The decisive development is the Septuagint, where the verb renders chiefly בּוֹשׁ, חפר, and כלם, concentrated in the Psalter, Isaiah, and Jeremiah, framing shame as the public collapse of misplaced trust (Seebass in TDOT; Klopfenstein; Stiebert). The interpretive rendering of Isaiah 28:16 (Hebrew "will not be in haste" becoming "will by no means be put to shame," with added "in him") underwrites Paul's argument in Romans 9-10 and 1 Peter 2:6 (Wagner; Koch; Wilk). Major commentators on the hope-passages (Cranfield, Moo, Dunn, Schreiner, Fitzmyer, Wright; Achtemeier, Michaels, Jobes, Elliott) read these forensically and eschatologically, while the Context Group (Malina, Neyrey, Elliott, deSilva) and Jewett press the social honor-shame dimension; the current consensus is integrative, treating God's final verdict as the ultimate public court of reputation.

Where scholars disagree about kataischunō

In the hope-passages (Romans 5:5; 9:33; 10:11; 1 Peter 2:6), whether the verb means primarily forensic and eschatological non-disappointment (your trust will be publicly vindicated at the final judgment) or primarily social honor-shame (you will not suffer public loss of face).

  • majorityPrimarily forensic and eschatological: the believer's hope will be shown well-founded at God's final judgment, drawing on the Septuagint's trust-and-vindication language.; C. E. B. Cranfield, Romans (ICC), 1:262; Douglas J. Moo, The Epistle to the Romans (NICNT, 1996), 304-305; Paul J. Achtemeier, 1 Peter (Hermeneia, 1996)
  • minorityPrimarily social honor-language: the verb belongs to a Mediterranean honor-shame economy, with God's verdict functioning as the ultimate public reputation-claim.; Robert Jewett, Romans (Hermeneia, 2007), 354-356; John H. Elliott, "Disgraced yet Graced," BTB 25 (1995): 166-178
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

  • BDAG, s.v. καταισχύνωlexicon
  • LSJ, s.v. καταισχύνωlexicon
  • Rudolf Bultmann, "αἰσχύνω κτλ.," TDNT 1:189-191dictionary
  • Ceslas Spicq, Theological Lexicon of the New Testament, s.v. αἰσχύνη, αἰσχύνομαιlexicon
  • Horst Seebass, "בּוֹשׁ," TDOT 2:50-60dictionary
  • J. Ross Wagner, Heralds of the Good News (NovTSup 101, 2002), 154-169monograph
  • Douglas J. Moo, The Epistle to the Romans (NICNT, 1996), 304-305commentary
  • C. E. B. Cranfield, Romans (ICC), 1:262commentary
  • Anthony C. Thiselton, The First Epistle to the Corinthians (NIGTC, 2000)commentary
  • Karen H. Jobes, 1 Peter (BECNT, 2005)commentary
  • John H. Elliott, "Disgraced yet Graced," BTB 25 (1995): 166-178article
  • Robert Jewett, Romans (Hermeneia, 2007), 354-356commentary

AI-generated word study · claude-opus-4-8

All attested forms of καταισχύνω

present active indicative 3s

καταισχύνει

Rom 5:5, 1Co 11:4, 1Co 11:5

future passive indicative 3s

καταισχυνθήσεται

Rom 9:33, Rom 10:11

present active subjunctive 3s

καταισχύνῃ

1Co 1:27, 1Co 1:27

aorist passive indicative 1s

κατῃσχύνθην

2Co 7:14

aorist passive subjunctive 1p

καταισχυνθῶμεν

2Co 9:4

aorist passive subjunctive 3p

καταισχυνθῶσιν

1Pe 3:16

aorist passive subjunctive 3s

καταισχυνθῇ

1Pe 2:6

imperfect passive indicative 3p

κατῃσχύνοντο

Luk 13:17

present active indicative 2p

καταισχύνετε

1Co 11:22