G4624 — σκανδαλίζω (skandalízō)¶

Core Data¶

Strong's: G4624
Original: σκανδαλίζω
Transliteration: skandalízō
Pronunciation: skan-dal-id'-zo
Part of Speech: Verb
Root: Denominative from σκάνδαλον (G4625) — trap-stick, bait-stick of a snare
Occurrences: 28 unique verses (35 tokens) in 7 NT books
First Occurrence: Matt 5:29 — "And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out"
Hapax Legomenon: No

Lexicon Definition¶

From σκάνδαλον (the trigger-stick of a trap); literally, to cause someone to stumble over a snare-stick. Figuratively: to entrap, to trip up, to set a stumbling-block in the way; in the passive, to be caught, to take offense, to be caused to fall (morally, from faith, or into sin). Unique to Hellenistic Jewish and Christian Greek — absent from classical Greek, coined in the LXX tradition.

Louw-Nida Semantic Domain¶

Primary Domain: 88 — Moral and Ethical Qualities and Related Behavior
Subdomain: 88.305 — within 25.016 "Offend, Be Offended"
Also classified under: 31.8 — Change an Opinion Concerning Truth (i.e., cause apostasy)
Other words in 25.016 (Offend, Be Offended): πρόσκομμα (G4348), προσκοπή (G4349), προσκόπτω (G4350), σκάνδαλον (G4625), ἀπρόσκοπος (G0677), ἐγκόπτω (G1465)

UBS Semantic Domains¶

Code	Domain Label	Notes
031	Hold a View, Believe, Trust	`search_relationships.py` includes skandalizō here for the apostasy/falling-away dimension of being caused to stumble.
088	Moral and Ethical Qualities and Related Behavior	The verb also sits in the ethical field where one person's action becomes another person's fall.
025	Attitudes and Emotions	The passive uses ("be offended") retain an affective dimension of taking offense or being jarred.

Translation Distribution (KJV)¶

Translation	Verses	%
offend / to offend / shall offend / should offend / make to offend	17	~61%
be offended / is offended / shall be offended / were offended / are offended	10	~36%
cause to stumble (Rom 14:21 "stumbleth")	1	~4%

KJV uniformly chooses "offend" / "be offended" — a translation choice that obscures the underlying image of a trap or stumbling-block. Every KJV verse can be read as "cause to stumble / be caused to stumble."

Distribution by Book¶

Book	Abbrev	Count	Book Vv	Per 100
Matthew	Mat	13	1071	1.2
Mark	Mar	8	678	1.2
2 Corinthians	2Co	1	257	0.4
John	Jhn	2	879	0.2
Luke	Luk	2	1151	0.2
Romans	Rom	1	433	0.2
1 Corinthians	1Co	1	437	0.2

Overwhelmingly a Synoptic verb — 21 of 28 uses in Matthew/Mark. Luke uses the cognate noun σκάνδαλον (G4625) more than the verb. Paul uses it only twice (Rom 14:21; 1 Cor 8:13), both on the same ethical theme of not tripping up a weaker brother. Absent from Acts, Hebrews, the Pastorals, and the Catholic Epistles.

Semantic Categories¶

1. Causing a Member of One's Own Body to "Offend" — the Self-Amputation Sayings¶

Six uses govern one's own body parts (eye, hand, foot) as the subject that "offends" — the hyperbolic call to radical self-denial.

Matt 5:29 — "if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out"
Matt 5:30 — "if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off"
Matt 18:8 — "if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off"
Mark 9:43, 45, 47 — parallel foot/eye/hand sayings

2. Causing "Little Ones" Who Believe to Stumble¶

The most severe warnings in the NT attach to this verb: a millstone-drowning is better than the alternative.

Matt 18:6 — "whoso shall offend one of these little ones... it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck"
Mark 9:42 — parallel
Luke 17:2 — parallel

3. Taking Offense at Jesus' Person or Teaching¶

People "are offended" by Jesus — his origin, his claims, his hard sayings. This is the passive-voice usage: to be tripped up by him.

Matt 11:6 / Luke 7:23 — "blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me"
Matt 13:57 / Mark 6:3 — "they were offended in him" (Nazareth)
Matt 15:12 — "the Pharisees were offended, after they heard this saying"
John 6:61 — "Doth this offend you?" (hard bread-of-life discourse)

4. Falling Away Under Pressure (Apostasy)¶

The passive takes on an eschatological edge: to be "offended" is to fall from faith under tribulation or persecution.

Matt 13:21 / Mark 4:17 — parable of the sower: "when tribulation or persecution ariseth... he is offended"
Matt 24:10 — "then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another"
Matt 26:31, 33 / Mark 14:27, 29 — "All ye shall be offended because of me this night"
John 16:1 — "These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended"

5. Giving Occasion of Scandal Through Use of Liberty (Paul)¶

Paul's two uses are distinct: not receiving offense, but causing a weaker brother to stumble through one's own eating/liberty.

Rom 14:21 — "[it is] good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor [any thing] whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak"
1 Cor 8:13 — "if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth"

6. Empathetic Suffering (2 Corinthians)¶

One distinctive use: Paul identifies with those who are "offended."

2 Cor 11:29 — "who is offended, and I burn not?"

7. Avoiding Offense by Accommodation¶

One use concerns avoiding needless offense — paying the temple tax.

Matt 17:27 — "lest we should offend them, go thou to the sea, and cast an hook..."

Common Collocations¶

Word	Strong's	Co-vv	Typical Pattern
βάλλω (cast)	G906	8x (29%)	"cast into hell / into the sea" — consequence of offending
ἔχω (have)	G2192	7x (25%)	"having two hands/feet/eyes" — body-part sayings
καλός (better/good)	G2570	7x (25%)	"it is better for thee..." — self-amputation logic
γέεννα (hell)	G1067	6x (21%)	"cast into geenna" — eschatological consequence
δύο (two)	G1417	5x (18%)	"two hands/feet/eyes" — the body-part set
εἷς (one)	G1520	5x (18%)	"one of these little ones"; "one [member]"
εἰσέρχομαι (enter)	G1525	5x (18%)	"enter into life" as antithesis of stumbling
πῦρ (fire)	G4442	5x (18%)	"hell fire" / unquenchable fire
θάλασσα (sea)	G2281	4x (14%)	millstone-in-the-sea threat
ζωή (life)	G2222	4x (14%)	"enter into life" vs. stumbling to destruction
μικρός (little)	G3398	3x (11%)	"little ones that believe"
ἀδελφός (brother)	G80	3x (11%)	"make my brother to offend" (Paul)
ὀφθαλμός (eye)	G3788	3x (11%)	"if thine eye offend thee"
συμφέρω (be profitable)	G4851	3x (11%)	"it is profitable for thee..."

Word Family / Cognates¶

σκάνδαλον (skandalon) G4625 — the noun: the trap-stick, stumbling-block, snare itself (13 vv)
No other immediate Greek cognates — the σκανδαλ- stem is confined to this pair in NT Greek

Synonyms¶

No direct synonyms were returned by search_relationships.py for G4624.

Antonyms¶

No antonyms were returned by search_relationships.py for G4624.

Easily Confused Words¶

Word	Strong's	Shared KJV Translation	Key Difference
σκάνδαλον (skandalon)	G4625	"offend" (nominal "offence")	The thing that trips up (noun); skandalizō is the act of tripping up (verb). One overlap at Matt 16:23 where KJV renders σκάνδαλον as "offend."
πταίω (ptaiō)	G4417	"offend" (Jas 2:10; 3:2)	To trip, to stumble (intransitive: I stumble). Skandalizō is causative and passive: "be caused to stumble." Ptaiō is one's own misstep; skandalizō involves an external obstacle.
πρόσκομμα (proskomma)	G4348	"stumblingblock" (noun)	Noun for the stumbling-block itself — synonymous with σκάνδαλον in Paul's hands (Rom 14:13 pairs both).
προσκόπτω (proskoptō)	G4350	"stumble" / "dash"	Verb: to strike against, stumble against. More physical / literal than skandalizō; describes the collision rather than the trap.
παράπτωμα (paraptōma)	G3900	"offence" (of outcome)	A lapse, a slip into wrongdoing. Paraptōma is the sin itself; skandalizō is what induces another into sin.
ἀσθενέω (astheneō)	G0770	"is made weak" (Rom 14:21)	Paul's triad: stumbleth / is offended / is made weak — three degrees of damage to the brother.

Domain Neighbors (Louw-Nida 25.016 — Offend, Be Offended)¶

Strong's	Lemma	Total vv	Primary KJV	Key Difference
G4348	πρόσκομμα	6	stumblingblock	The noun: the object of stumbling
G4349	προσκοπή	1	offence	Act/occasion of stumbling (abstract)
G4350	προσκόπτω	8	stumble, dash	Verb: strike against, trip over
G4625	σκάνδαλον	13	offence, stumblingblock	Noun cognate: the trap-stick
G0677	ἀπρόσκοπος	3	none / without offence	Negative: giving no offence
G1465	ἐγκόπτω	5	hinder	To cut into, impede (broader sense of hindrance)

Hebrew Source¶

No tool-derived PMI-ranked LXX→Hebrew mapping was returned for G4624 specifically (the verb is thinly attested in the LXX proper). The underlying Hebrew field for the σκανδαλ- word group centers on: - מוֹקֵשׁ (môqêsh) H4170 — snare, noose, trap (the dominant LXX source for σκάνδαλον) - מִכְשׁוֹל (mikshôl) H4383 — stumbling-block (overlap with σκάνδαλον and πρόσκομμα) - פַּח (pach) H6341 — bird-trap, snare

See WG-stumbling-block.md for the full cluster treatment.

Pauline Context — Rom 14:13, 20, 21 and 1 Cor 8:9, 13¶

Though this study remains context-neutral, the target cluster deserves note: Paul uses the verb σκανδαλίζω only in Rom 14:21 and 1 Cor 8:13, and in both he pairs or neighbors it with the cognate noun πρόσκομμα (Rom 14:13, 20; 1 Cor 8:9). In these two chapters the σκανδαλ-/προσκομμ- field is used to frame the ethics of Christian liberty toward a "weaker brother." The verb in Paul's usage is causative and transitive ("make my brother to offend"), not the Synoptic passive "be offended at Christ." This is a distinct Pauline sub-usage within the overall semantic range.