G93 — ἀδικία (adikía)¶

Core Data¶

Strong's: G93
Original: ἀδικία
Transliteration: adikía
Pronunciation: ad-ee-kee'-ah
Part of Speech: Feminine noun
Root: α-privative + δίκη (dikē, "right, justice") — the negation of justice
Occurrences: 24 unique verses (25 tokens) in NT
Books: 12
First Occurrence: Luk 13:27 — "depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity"
Hapax Legomenon: No

Lexicon Definition¶

From G94 (ádikos); (legal) injustice (properly, the quality, by implication, the act); morally, wrongfulness (of character, life, or act).

Louw-Nida Semantic Domain¶

Domain: 88 — Moral and Ethical Qualities and Related Behavior
Subdomain: 88.002 — Just, Righteous
Glosses: unjust deed, unrighteousness, doing what is unjust
Other words in subdomain: ἀδικέω (G91), ἀδίκημα (G92), ἄδικος (G94), ἀδίκως (G95), δίκαιος (G1342), δικαιοσύνη (G1343), δικαιόω (G1344), δικαίωμα (G1345), δικαίως (G1346), ἔνδικος (G1738)

Translation Distribution (KJV)¶

Translation	Count	%
unrighteousness	10	41.7%
of unrighteousness	5	20.8%
of iniquity	4	16.7%
iniquity	2	8.3%
unjust	2	8.3%
wrong	1	4.2%

Distribution by Book¶

Book	Count	Per 100 Verses
2 Thessalonians	2	4.3
2 Peter	2	3.3
1 John	2	1.9
Romans	6	1.4
2 Timothy	1	1.2
James	1	0.9
2 Corinthians	1	0.4
Luke	4	0.3
Hebrews	1	0.3
Acts	2	0.2
1 Corinthians	1	0.2
John	1	0.1

Romans accounts for 25% of all occurrences (6/24). The word is absent from Matthew, Mark, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, 1 Peter, Jude, and Revelation. Concentration is Pauline-epistolary (10/24 = 42% in Paul's letters) with a secondary Lukan cluster (4/24).

Semantic Categories¶

1. General Moral Wickedness / Character of Unrighteousness¶

Luk 13:27 — "depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity" — defines a class of people characterized by adikia
Rom 1:29 — "being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness" — heads a vice list as the umbrella category
2 Tim 2:19 — "Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity" — adikia as the moral condition Christians must abandon
1 Jhn 5:17 — "All unrighteousness is sin" — equates adikia with hamartia

2. Opposition to Truth / Suppression of Righteousness¶

Rom 1:18 — "who hold the truth in unrighteousness" — adikia as the force that suppresses truth
Rom 2:8 — "do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness" — truth and adikia as rival authorities
2 Th 2:10 — "deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish" — adikia as deceptive power
2 Th 2:12 — "believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness" — choosing adikia over truth
1 Cor 13:6 — "rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth" — love's antithesis to adikia

3. Adikia Contrasted with God's Righteousness¶

Rom 3:5 — "if our unrighteousness commend the righteousness of God, what shall we say?" — human adikia set against divine dikaiosynē
Rom 9:14 — "Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid." — categorical denial of adikia in God's character
Jhn 7:18 — "he that seeketh his glory that sent him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in him" — absence of adikia as proof of authenticity

4. Instrument of Sin / Moral Servitude¶

Rom 6:13 — "Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin" — adikia as a tool in the service of hamartia
Jas 3:6 — "the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity" — the tongue as a microcosm of adikia

5. Reward and Consequence of Wickedness¶

Act 1:18 — "this man purchased a field with the reward of iniquity" — Judas's wages of adikia
2 Pet 2:13 — "shall receive the reward of unrighteousness" — eschatological recompense
2 Pet 2:15 — "who loved the wages of unrighteousness" — Balaam's pattern of adikia-for-profit
Luk 16:8–9 — "the unjust steward... the mammon of unrighteousness" — wealth characterized by adikia

6. Object of Divine Forgiveness / Cleansing¶

Heb 8:12 — "I will be merciful to their unrighteousness" — adikia as what God forgives under the new covenant
1 Jhn 1:9 — "to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" — adikia as what confession removes

7. Bondage and Entrapment¶

Act 8:23 — "thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity" — adikia as a binding force
Luk 18:6 — "Hear what the unjust judge saith" — adikia characterizing a person in authority

Morphological Distribution¶

Case	Count	%
Genitive Singular	13	52%
Dative Singular	5	20%
Nominative Singular	4	16%
Accusative Singular	2	8%
Dative Plural	1	4%

The genitive dominates (52%), reflecting the word's frequent use as a qualifier — "of iniquity," "of unrighteousness" — modifying another noun. The single dative plural (Heb 8:12) is the only plural form in the entire NT.

Common Collocations¶

Word	Strong's	Co-occurrences	Typical Pattern
πᾶς (pas)	G3956	9x (38%)	"all unrighteousness" — universalizing adikia (Rom 1:18, 1:29, 1 Jhn 1:9, 5:17)
ἀλήθεια (alētheia)	G225	5x (21%)	adikia vs. truth as antithetical forces (Rom 1:18, 2:8, 1 Cor 13:6, 2 Th 2:10, 2:12)
θεός (theos)	G2316	5x (21%)	God's character or wrath in relation to adikia (Rom 1:18, 3:5, 9:14)
ἁμαρτία (hamartia)	G266	4x (17%)	adikia paralleled with or equated to sin (Rom 6:13, 1 Jhn 1:9, 5:17)
ὀργή (orgē)	G3709	3x (12%)	divine wrath responding to adikia (Rom 1:18, 2:8)
μισθός (misthos)	G3408	3x (12%)	"reward/wages of unrighteousness" (Act 1:18, 2 Pet 2:13, 2:15)
δικαιοσύνη (dikaiosynē)	G1343	2x (8%)	direct antithesis — adikia vs. righteousness (Rom 3:5, 6:13)

Word Family / Cognates¶

G94 ἄδικος (ádikos) — adjective: unjust, unrighteous (12v)
G91 ἀδικέω (adikéō) — verb: do wrong, hurt, be unjust (24v)
G92 ἀδίκημα (adíkēma) — noun: wrongful deed, crime (3v)
G95 ἀδίκως (adíkōs) — adverb: unjustly (1v)
G1349 δίκη (díkē) — positive root: justice, penalty (3v)
G1342 δίκαιος (díkaios) — adjective: righteous, just (79v)
G1343 δικαιοσύνη (dikaiosýnē) — noun: righteousness (90v) — direct antonym
G1344 δικαιόω (dikaióō) — verb: justify, declare righteous (38v)

Synonyms¶

None curated in SDBH/UBS. Contextual near-synonyms from collocations and confused-word data: - G458 ἀνομία (anomía) — lawlessness, violation of law (15v) — overlaps in "iniquity" translation - G266 ἁμαρτία (hamartía) — sin (172v) — 1 Jhn 5:17 explicitly connects them

Antonyms¶

G225 ἀλήθεια (alētheia) — truth (109v) — explicit antithesis in Rom 1:18, 2:8, 1 Cor 13:6, 2 Th 2:10, 2:12
G1343 δικαιοσύνη (dikaiosýnē) — righteousness (90v) — structural opposite in Rom 3:5, 6:13

Easily Confused Words¶

Word	Strong's	Shared Translation	Key Difference
ἀνομία (anomía)	G458	"iniquity," "unrighteousness"	anomía = illegality, violation of specific law; adikía = broader injustice/moral wrongness as a quality
ἁμαρτία (hamartía)	G266	—	hamartía = generic sin / missing the mark; adikía = specific wrongness in the justice domain
παρανομία (paranomía)	G3892	"iniquity"	paranomía = transgression alongside (para-) the law (1v only); adikía = absence of justice

Hebrew Source (via LXX)¶

Hebrew Source	Strong's	Co-occurrences	PMI
עָוֺן (ʻâvôn)	H5771	78	5.64
עֶוֶל (ʻevel)	H5766	23	5.92
חָמָס (châmâç)	H2555	15	5.14
מִכְשׁוֹל (mikshôwl)	H4383	6	5.85
חַטָּאָה (chaṭṭâʼâh)	H2403	22	3.47
שֶׁקֶר (sheqer)	H8267	11	3.81
פֶּשַׁע (peshaʻ)	H6588	10	3.90
רֶשַׁע (reshaʻ)	H7562	5	4.53

The LXX uses adikía as a broad rendering for multiple Hebrew sin/injustice terms. The two strongest bridges are ʻâvôn (guilt/iniquity, 78 co-occurrences) and ʻevel (perverseness/injustice, PMI 5.92). This wide Hebrew source range reflects adikía's function as the general-purpose Greek term for moral wrongness in the justice domain.