The meaning of Malice, Malignity in the Bible
(From International Standard Bible Encyclopedia)

mal'-is, ma-lig'-ni-ti (kakia, poneros, kakoetheia): "Malice," now used in the sense of deliberate ill-will, by its derivation means badness, or wickedness generally, and was so used in Older English. In the Apocrypha it is the translation of kakia, "evil," "badness" (The Wisdom of Solomon 12:10,20; 16:14; 2 Macc 4:50, the Revised Version (British and American) "wickedness"); in Ecclesiasticus 27:30; 28:7, we have "malice" in the more restricted sense as the translation of menis, "confirmed anger." In the New Testament "malice" and "maliciousness" are the translation of kakia (Romans 1:29; I Corinthians 5:8; I Corinthians 14:20; Colossians 3:8); malicious is the translation of poneros, "evil" (III John 1:10, the Revised Version (British and American) "wicked"); it also occurs in Additions to Esther 13:4,7, verse 4, "malignant"; The Wisdom of Solomon 1:4, the Revised Version (British and American) that deviseth evil"; 2 Macc 5:23; malignity occurs in Romans 1:29 as the translation of kakoetheia, "evil disposition"; "maliciously," Susanna verses 43,62; 2 Macc 14:11, the Revised Version (British and American) "having ill will."

W. L. Walker


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