The Greek verb diastrepho means to pervert, corrupt, distort, or turn away from the right path. Literally 'to turn through' or 'twist thoroughly,' it describes the moral and spiritual corruption of individuals or communities.
Diastrepho is used by both Paul and Jesus to describe the corruption of truth and the twisting of souls away from God. In Acts 13:10, Paul confronts Elymas the sorcerer: 'You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery. Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord?' The word captures the active, malicious distortion of divine truth — not mere ignorance but intentional twisting. False teaching is always a form of diastrepho.