7:22a

greed: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as greed refers to “wanting more than one already has.” The word often has sexual connotations. It may also imply that one person takes advantage of another person in order to satisfy his own desires. (Louw & Nida (page 758) define pleonexiai as “exploitation,” taking advantage of someone else out of greed. This is the sense in which the word is used in several other passages that refer to sexual greed. UBS Handbook (page 233), Cranfield (page 241) and Lane (page 257) all mention the connotations of sexual sin, and Hiebert (page 182) mentions self-gratification as a motive for the plural “acts of selfish grasping.”) Most English versions translate this word as in the Berean Standard Bible. If your language has a word or expression that has more of the connotations of the Greek word, you should use it here.

wickedness: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as wickedness refers to “doing wicked deeds.”

Here are some other ways to translate this word:

evil actions (New Century Version)
-or-
meanness (Contemporary English Version)

7:22b

deceit: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as deceit refers to “lying” and “tricking people.”

debauchery: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as debauchery is a general term that refers to “improper sexual behavior that is done in front of people without shame.”

7:22c

envy: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates here as envy is literally “evil eye.” This is a Hebrew idiom that probably means here “envy” or “jealousy.” (Several commentaries say that this idiom may refer to stinginess, the opposite of generosity (Wessel page 681, Guelich page 379, Gundry page 356, Lane page 257, France page 293). However, most of these commentaries also say that envy, jealousy or covetousness are alternate meanings. Hiebert (page 182), Cranfield (page 242) and UBS Handbook (page 233) all define the word as envy. Louw & Nida (page 760) give both meanings: “envy” for Mark 7:22 and “stingy” for Matthew 20:15. All versions have either envy or jealousy.) It refers to a person feeling resentful because someone else has something that he wants. It does not refer to casting evil spells.

Other languages also have idioms to express the idea of envy or jealousy.

slander: The Greek word translated slander means to “speak evil about someone,” or to “speak insultingly about someone.”

7:22d

arrogance: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as arrogance refers to a proud and arrogant attitude. An arrogant person considers himself to be better and more important than other people. Other words that express this idea in English are “pride” or “haughtiness.”

foolishness: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as foolishness refers to doing things that are morally foolish or senseless. It does not refer here to being intellectually stupid. In some languages the idea of moral foolishness may need to be expressed in different ways. For example:

they show their lack of wisdom
-or-
acting foolishly in God’s sight
-or-
they do things without thinking about whether God approves of those actions

General Comment on 7:21–22

Different versions translate the words in this list in various ways. Use the versions to help you find an expression that makes the meaning clear in your language. Many languages will need to translate these nouns as verbal expressions. If you do this, you may also need to use more than one sentence. For example:

21b
They think about doing evil deeds, they do sexual acts that are immoral, they steal, and they murder other people. They marry and then have sex with someone to whom they are not married. 22aThey desire things that do not belong to them, they do harmful things to other people, 22band they trick other people. They do sexual sins without shame, 22cthey are envious, and they speak evil about other people. 22dThey think they are more important than everyone else, and they do foolish things.

Many languages use idioms, metaphors, or euphemisms to talk about some of these actions. Some languages may have one expression that covers two of these terms. Translate these words with expressions that are natural in your language.

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