PUN'ISH, L. punio, from the root of poena,pain. The primary sense is to press or strain.
1. To pain to afflict with pain, loss or calamity for a crime or fault primarily, to afflict with bodily pain, as to punish a thief with pillory or stripes but the word is applied also to affliction by loss of property, by transportation, banishment, seclusion from society, &c. The laws require murderers to be punished with death. Other offenders are to be punished with fines, imprisonment, hard labor,&c. God punishes men for their sins with calamities personal and national.
2. To chastise as, a father punishes his child for disobedience.
3. To regard with pain or suffering inflicted on the offender applied to the crime as, to punish murder or theft.
The King James Bible has stood its ground for nearly 400 years. However, during that time the English language has changed, and with it the meanings of some words it used. Here are more than 6,500 words whose definitions have changed since 1611.Wikipedia
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