evil/bad
poneros describes persons, deeds, speech, and conditions marked by moral wrongdoing, and can designate an evil one or evil spirits.
The term most often marks people, actions, speech, inner dispositions, and circumstances as morally corrupt or blameworthy. In singular masculine clauses it can identify “the evil one,” while several passages place it with spirits.
Senses in use
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Morally corrupt people, conduct, or conditions · dominant
The adjective marks human conduct and its sources: in John 3:19 the APB renders people as loving darkness because their deeds were “evil,” and in Matthew 12:35 it contrasts what an evil person brings out with what a good person brings out. It also qualifies concrete conduct or conditions, as when Acts 17:5 describes men who form a mob and Ephesians 6:13 speaks of an “evil day.”
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The singular figure called the evil one · common
Singular masculine forms occur in clauses that distinguish a particular opposing figure: in Matthew 13:19 the APB renders this figure as coming to seize what was sown in the hearer’s heart, and in 1 John 5:18 it says that this figure does not touch the one begotten of God. John 17:15 and 2 Thessalonians 3:3 likewise place the form in requests or promises of protection from this figure.
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Spirits described as evil · occasional
In Acts 19:12 and Acts 19:13, plural neuter forms occur in the clauses where the APB speaks of “evil spirits” leaving the sick or being addressed by exorcists. Acts 19:15 and Acts 19:16 continue the episode with a singular neuter form in the clauses about the spirit that answers and then overpowers the men.
In the Anselm Project Bible: The APB commonly uses “evil” for people, deeds, works, spirits, and the evil one; it also uses “wicked” for the addressed slave in Matthew 18:32. These renderings show the clauses' presentation rather than a fixed English equivalent for every occurrence.