Empaizo denotes treating someone with derision, whether by ridicule, contemptuous words, or humiliating actions.

The attested use consistently concerns derisive treatment of a person: observers may ridicule a failed builder, people may treat Jesus with contempt through words and actions, and Herod is said to have been deceived by the sages.

1. Deriding or treating someone with contempt · dominant

   In Luke 14:29, the present active infinitive occurs in the warning that onlookers may begin deriding the person unable to finish building. In Luke 22:63 the imperfect active form is set alongside beating, while in Matthew 27:29 the soldiers kneel and speak, "Hail, King of the Jews!"; the APB presents both scenes as hostile ridicule. The passive form in Matthew 2:16 describes Herod as having been deceived by the sages, showing the same derisive action from the recipient's perspective.

   Luke 14:29Luke 22:63Luke 23:11Mark 15:31Matthew 27:29Matthew 2:16

In the Anselm Project Bible: Across the supplied verses, the APB ordinarily uses "mocked" or "mocking" and, in Luke 23:11, pairs this with "treated him with contempt." In Matthew 2:16 it uses "had been mocked" for Herod and the sages; these are verse-level renderings rather than definitions.