Quick Definition
I inflict loss upon, punish
Strong's Definition
to injure, i.e. (reflexively or passively) to experience detriment
Derivation: from G2209 (ζημία);
KJV Usage: be cast away, receive damage, lose, suffer loss
Thayer's Greek Lexicon
ζημιόω, ζημιω: (ζημία), to affect with damage, do damage to: τινα ((Thucydides), Xenophon, Plato); in the N. T. only in the passive, future ζημιωθήσομαι ((Xenophon, mem. 3, 9, 12, others; but as often) in secular authors (future middle) ζημιώσομαι in passive sense; cf. Krüger, § 39, 11 Anm.; Kühner, on Xenophon, mem. as above; (Liddell and Scott, under the word; Veitch, under the word)); 1 aorist ἐζημιώθην; absolutely, to sustain damage, to receive injury, suffer loss: 1Co_3:15; ἐν τίνι ἐκ τίνος, in a thing from one, 2Co_7:9; with the accusative of the thing: (one from whom another is taken away (as a penalty) by death, is said τήν ψυχήν τίνος ζημιουσθαι, Herodotus 7, 39), τήν ψυχήν αὐτοῦ, to forfeit his life, i. e. according to the context, eternal life, Mat_16:26; Mar_8:36, for which Luke, in Luk_9:25, ἑαυτόν i. e. himself, by being shut out from the everlasting kingdom of God. πάντα ἐζημιώθην, reflexive (yet see Meyer), I forfeited, gave up all things, I decided to suffer the loss of all these ((?)) things, Php_3:8.
Mounce Concise Greek Dictionary
not given
Abbott-Smith Greek Lexicon
ζημόω , -ῶ
( < ζημία ),
[in LXX chiefly for H6064 ;]
to damage. Pass ., to suffer loss, forfeit, lose: absol. , 1Co_3:15 ; seq . ἐν , 2Co_7:9 ; c . acc rei ( v. B1., § 34, 6), τ . ψυχήν , Mat_16:26 , Mar_8:36 ; ἑαυτόν , Luk_9:25 ; τ . πάντα , Php_3:8 .†
Moulton & Milligan — Vocabulary of the Greek NT
ζημιόω [page 273]
To the exx. of this verb cited s.v. ζημία we may add P Tebt I. 5 .92 (B.C. 118) τοὺς δὲ παρὰ ταῦτα ποιοῦντας θαν [άτωι ζ ]ημιοῦσθαι , and for the more special sense of fine P Par 47 .18 ( c. B.C. 153) (= Selections , p. 23) χάριν γὰρ ἡμῶν ἠζημίοται εἰς χαλκοῦ τ (άλαντα ) ῑε̄ , for on our account he has been fined to the amount of 15 bronze talents, BGU IV. 1044 .13 (iv/A.D.) ποιήσω ὑμῖς ζημιᾶσθαι ( l. ὑμᾶς ζημιοῦσθαι ) δέκα ἀντὶ τούτου . For the verb in the inscrr. see Michel 1342 .4 (i/B.C.) ἐζημιωμένον ὑπὸ τῶν πρυτάνεων . . . ὀφίλοντα τοὺς κατὰ τὸν νόμον στατῆρας δύο , and OGIS 669 .40 (i/A.D.) ὁ τοῦτο ποιήσας ἀπαραιτήτως ζημιωθήσεται . In accordance with the primary meaning of the word suffer loss, receive damage (see e.g. the citation from P Flor II. 142 .8 s.v. ζημία ). Field ( Notes , p. 61) translates Luk_9:25 and lose, or receive damage in, his own self. A new verb ζημιοπρακτέω , exact punishment from, is found in P Tor II. 7 .7 .
Liddell-Scott — Intermediate Greek Lexicon
ζημιόω [Etym: from ζημία] ζημιόω, "to cause loss or do damage to" any one, τινά Plat. , etc.:—Pass., μεγάλα ζημιώσεται "will suffer" great "losses", Thuc. "to fine, amerce, mulct in" a sum of money, c. dat. rei, ζ. τινὰ χιλίῃσι δραχμῇσι Hdt. ; χρήμασιν Thuc. :— Pass. "to be fined or amerced in" a thing, c. dat., Plat. ; c. acc., τὴν ψυχὴν ζημιώσεαι "wilt lose" thy life, Hdt. generally "to punish", id=Hdt. , Thuc.
STEPBible — Tyndale Abridged Greek Lexicon
ζημόω, -ῶ
(ζημία), [in LXX chiefly for עָנַשׁ ;]
to damage. Pass., to suffer loss, forfeit, lose: absol., 1Co.3:15; before ἐν, 2Co.7:9; with accusative of thing(s) (see B1., § 34, 6), τ. ψυχήν, Mat.16:26, Mrk.8:36; ἑαυτόν, Luk.9:25; τ. πάντα, Php.3:8.†
(AS)
📖 In-Depth Word Study
Forfeit (Suffer loss) (2210) zemioo
Suffered...loss (2210)(zemioo from zemia) means to affect with damage or to do damage to, to suffer injury, to suffer loss, to sustain damage, to forfeit or to fine. It means to experience the loss of something, with implication of undergoing hardship or suffering.
Zemioo was a business term meaning to "punish by exacting a forfeit" (Vincent).
A T Robertson writes that zemioo
occurs in the sense of being fined or mulcted ( penalized by fining or demanding forfeiture) of money.
Marvin Vincent agrees noting that zemioo was...
Often in the classics, of fining or mulcting in a sum of money.
Here in Philippians, zemioo is in the aorist tense which denotes a distinct point in time (~Paul's conversion) when in that "great crisis" (Vincent) all his legal "possessions" were lost. The passive voice is more literally translated "I have been caused to forfeit."
There are 6 uses of zemioo in the NT...
Matthew 16:26 "For what will a man be profited, if he gains (kerdaino) the whole world, and forfeits (zemioo - aorist tense) his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? (Comment: Vincent has an interesting comment - "Note that both words are in the past (aorist) tense: if he may have gained or lost. The Lord looks back to the details of each life as the factors of the final sum of gain or loss." Wow! This is worth meditating on for a few moments!)
Mark 8:36 "For what does it profit a man to gain (kerdaino) the whole world, and forfeit (zemioo - aorist tense) his soul?
Luke 9:25 "For what is a man profited if he gains (kerdaino) the whole world, and loses (apollumi) or forfeits (zemioo - aorist tense) himself?
1 Corinthians 3:15 If any man's work is burned up, he shall suffer loss; but he himself shall be saved, yet so as through fire.
2 Corinthians 7:9 I now rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to the point of repentance; for you were made sorrowful according to the will of God, in order that you might not suffer loss in anything through us.
Philippians 3:8 More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish in order that I may gain Christ,
Zemioo is used 6 times in the Septuagint (LXX) (Ex 21:22; Deut 22:19; Prov 17:26; 19:19; 21:11; 22:3)
Proverbs 21:11 When the scoffer is punished (Hebrew = 'anash = to fine, punish; Lxx = zemioo), the naive becomes wise; But when the wise is instructed, he receives knowledge.
Proverbs 22:3 The prudent sees the evil and hides himself, But the naive go on, and are punished (Hebrew = 'anash = to fine, punish; Lxx = zemioo) for it.
Wuest adds that
Paul was a citizen of Tarsus. At the time he lived there, only families of wealth and reputation were allowed to retain their Tarsian citizenship. This throws a flood of light upon Paul’s early life. He was born into a home of wealth and culture. His family were wealthy Jews living in one of the most progressive of oriental cities. All this Paul left to become a poor itinerant missionary. But not only did he forfeit all this when he was saved, but his parents would have nothing to do with a son who had in their estimation dishonored them by becoming one of those hated, despised Christians. They had reared him in the lap of luxury, had sent him to the Jewish school of theology in Jerusalem to sit at the feet of the great Gamaliel, and had given him an excellent training in Greek culture at the University of Tarsus, a Greek school of learning. But they had now cast him off. He was still forfeiting all that he had held dear, what for? He tells us, “that I may win Christ." (Wuest, K. S. Wuest's Word Studies from the Greek New Testament: Eerdmans or Logos)
Count (2233)(hegeomai) was a mathematical term which conveyed the idea to
Think about something & then to arrive at a conclusion.
The all things were all conceivable worldly advantages, everything that Judaism held for him. The permanent honor, satisfaction and joy of the personal knowledge of Christ Jesus, and the abiding blessedness of owning Him as “my Lord,” robbed everything else of its once supposed advantages. Moreover, that in the change it was not mere mental knowledge, but a knowledge that affected the heart, is plainly indicated in the “my.” It is just this that proves incontestably the reality and validity of the facts of the Christian faith. For anyone to undergo such an experience, involving a permanently transformed outlook, attitude and aspiration, nullifies the force and reason of all skepticism regarding, and criticism of, the doctrines which can produce such effects.
