προφήτης
prophet
‘prophet’ is one of 3 main senses fuller range ↓
Full lexicon entry — Thayer's Greek Lexicon
From Thayer's Greek Lexicon
Where this word appears
See every Nominative-case word in the Greek New Testament →
Grammar key — what these labels mean
Part of speech
- Noun
- A naming word — a person, place, thing, or idea.
Case
- Genitive
- The case of source, possession, or “of” — answers “whose / from what.”
- Nominative
- The case of the subject (and the predicate nominative).
- Accusative
- The case of the direct object and of extent.
- Dative
- The case of the indirect object, means, or location — “to / for / with / in.”
Gender
- Masculine
- Grammatically masculine.
Number
- Plural
- More than one.
- Singular
- One.
3 verses where G4396 appears in the Nominative case in the Book of 1 Corinthians. Filtered view — show all forms. Click any verse to open its interlinear word-by-word view. Verse text shown in the World English Bible for context — . Each verse’s Greek form is shown with its reference; the English is not keyword-highlighted, since the data carries no word-level English alignment. Use “Compare translations” on any verse to read it across multiple English versions. This concordance covers the Greek New Testament; Septuagint (Greek Old Testament) occurrences of this word are not indexed here.
1 Corinthians
- 1 Corinthians 12:29 προφῆται n nom pl masc Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all miracle workers?
- 1 Corinthians 14:29 προφῆται n nom pl masc Let the prophets speak, two or three, and let the others discern.
- 1 Corinthians 14:37 προφήτης n nom sg masc If any man thinks himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him recognize the things which I write to you, that they are the commandment of the Lord.
About this entry
At a glance — auto-summarized from this page’s data, not written by a person. Every figure links to its source below. This summary describes the numbers; it doesn’t interpret them.
The Greek noun προφητης centers on the idea of “prophet.” Debuting at Matthew 1:22, it then recurs through the corpus. Spanning 139 verses in 15 books, it ranks among the common words of the Greek New Testament. Thayer's distinguishes 3 senses for it. Sharing its root, it stands alongside προ, πορρω and πρηνης. For the data behind this summary, explore the sense tree and the renderings breakdown below.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's G4396 catalogs a Greek word from the Greek New Testament.
These counts are not copied from any lexicon or concordance. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged Greek New Testament. What Lemma adds →
- 139
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 139 distinct verses.
- 15 / 27
- NT books
- The word appears in 15 of 27 New Testament books.
- #112
- by frequency
- Top 250 most frequent Greek words (rank 112 of 5,347 Greek words by occurrence).
View all 139 occurrences in the concordance →
By section of the New Testament
By traditional corpus
Conventional, traditional groupings — biblical authorship is debated, so this is a traditional corpus grouping, not an authorship claim. Some books belong to more than one corpus (Luke is in both the Gospels and the Lukan corpus, and so on), so these shares overlap and need not total 100%. Each figure is a share of the word’s 139 distinct verses.
- Gospels 82 verses · 59%
- Lukan (Luke–Acts) 59 verses · 42%
- Johannine 22 verses · 16%
- Pauline corpus 13 verses · 9%
- Revelation 8 verses · 6%
- General (Catholic) Epistles 4 verses · 3%
- Hebrews 2 verses · 1%
How translations render this word
Counts come from each version’s own published word-to-Strong’s tagging or interlinear alignment — an approximate guide to how each version renders this word, not a word-level alignment the data otherwise carries. Because each total is that version’s own tagged count, the per-version totals vary from one another and need not match the appearance or distinct-verse counts above. These counts may also differ from a printed concordance because Lemma counts each distinctly tagged rendering and does not collapse phrase taggings into a single head-word total. This is a fixed set of word-tagged versions (KJV, ASV, BSB, ULT) and does not change with the reading translation you choose elsewhere. Each version’s license is shown beside its name below (and on Sources).
- King James Version: Prophets 80×, Prophet 65×, Than a prophet 2×
- American Standard Version: Prophets 76×, Prophet 62×, Of 2×
- Berean Standard Bible: Prophets 79×, Prophet 60×, Prophet’s 2×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text: Prophets 81×, Prophet 63×, Of 7×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders G4396 across 149 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 2 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
American Standard Version Public Domain
Renders G4396 across 145 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 3 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
Berean Standard Bible Public Domain
Renders G4396 across 143 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Not rendered by a distinct English word in 1 further occurrence.
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders G4396 across 156 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 1 rendering that appears only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
Senses in Thayer's
The 3 senses Thayer's distinguishes for this word, in lexicon order (not ranked by frequency or importance). The full entry — with sub-senses — is in the Lexicon Entry tab.
- in Greek writings, an interpreter of oracles or of other hidden things
- one who…
- a poet (because poets were believed to sing under divine inspiration)
Word origin
Derived from προ (pró) (G4253) — before.
Forms in the corpus
The 8 distinct written forms G4396 takes in the Greek New Testament, most frequent first — each parse links to that case’s occurrences in the concordance.
| Form | Parsing | Example | Uses |
|---|---|---|---|
| προφητῶν prophētō̂n | Noun, Genitive, Plural, Masculine | Matthew 2:23 | 32 |
| προφήτης prophḗtēs | Noun, Nominative, Singular, Masculine | Matthew 13:57 | 28 |
| προφήτου prophḗtou | Noun, Genitive, Singular, Masculine | Matthew 1:22 | 26 |
| προφῆται prophē̂tai | Noun, Nominative, Plural, Masculine | Matthew 7:12 | 21 |
| προφήτας prophḗtas | Noun, Accusative, Plural, Masculine | Matthew 5:12 | 15 |
| προφήτην prophḗtēn | Noun, Accusative, Singular, Masculine | Matthew 10:41 | 12 |
| προφήταις prophḗtais | Noun, Dative, Plural, Masculine | Luke 6:23 | 10 |
| προφήτῃ prophḗtē | Noun, Dative, Singular, Masculine | Mark 1:2 | 1 |
Same root — word family
Other Thayer's entries built from the same root as G4396, grouped by Strong’s listed origin. These share a root / origin per the lexicon — not necessarily a shared meaning. Each links to that word’s own entry.
Derives from
Shares the same root
- πορρω pórrhō G4206 far
- πρηνης prēnḗs G4248 headlong
- πριν prín G4250 before
- προαγω proágō G4254 to lead forward
- προαιρεομαι proairéomai G4255 to choose before
- προαιτιαομαι proaitiáomai G4256 to charge previously
- προακουω proakoúō G4257 to hear before
- προαμαρτανω proamartánō G4258 to sin before
- προαυλιον proaúlion G4259 porch
- προβαινω probaínō G4260 to go forward
- προβαλλω probállō G4261 to throw forward
- προβιβαζω probibázō G4264 to drag forward
- προβλεπω problépō G4265 to foresee
- προγινομαι progínomai G4266 to come before
- προγινωσκω proginṓskō G4267 to foreknow
- προγραφω prográphō G4270 to write before
- προδηλος pródēlos G4271 manifest
- προδιδωμι prodídōmi G4272 to give before
- προειδω proeídō G4275 to foresee
- προελπιζω proelpízō G4276 to hope before
- προεπω proépō G4277 to say before
- προεναρχομαι proenárchomai G4278 to begin before
- προεπαγγελλομαι proepangéllomai G4279 to promise before
- προερεω proeréō G4280 to say before
+47 more words share this root (not shown).
Derived from this word
- προφητεια prophēteía G4394 prophecy
- προφητευω prophēteúō G4395 to prophesy
- προφητικος prophētikós G4397 prophetic
- προφητις prophētis G4398 prophetess
Proper names from this root
People and places named from this root — a name, not an additional meaning of the word.
Compare all same-root words → Showing 4 of 78 — not the complete family. 1 of the same-root words is a proper name (a person or place). They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.
Septuagint usage
The same Greek word προφητης appears 280 times in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), across 259 verses in 25 books.
- 280
- LXX occurrences
- Tagged occurrences of this Greek word in the Septuagint.
- 259
- verses
- Distinct Septuagint verses containing this word.
- 25 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 25 of the 39 Old Testament books.
Sample Septuagint occurrences
- Genesis 20:7 προφήτης
- Exodus 7:1 προφήτης
- Numbers 11:29 προφήτης
- Deuteronomy 13:2 προφήτης
- Judges 6:8 προφήτης
- 1 Samuel 3:20 προφήτης
- 2 Samuel 7:2 προφήτης
- 1 Kings 1:8 προφήτης
- 2 Kings 2:3 προφήτης
- 1 Chronicles 10:13 προφήτης
- 2 Chronicles 9:29 προφήτης
- Ezra 5:1 προφήτης
Septuagint occurrences (same lexeme)
Every verse where the same Strong’s number (G4396) appears in the Greek Septuagint — showing the first 50 of 259. Verse text shown in the World English Bible for context; the Greek form is the matched word — the English is not keyword-highlighted.
- Genesis 20:7 προφήτης Now therefore, restore the man's wife. For he is a prophet, and he will pray for you, and you will live. If you don't restore her, know for sure that you will die, you, and all who are yours."
- Exodus 7:1 προφήτης Yahweh said to Moses, "Behold, I have made you as God to Pharaoh; and Aaron your brother shall be your prophet.
- Numbers 11:29 προφήτης Moses said to him, Are you jealous for my sake? would that all Yahweh's people were prophets, that Yahweh would put his Spirit on them!
- Numbers 12:6 προφήτης He said, Hear now my words: if there be a prophet among you, I Yahweh will make myself known to him in a vision, I will speak with him in a dream.
- Deuteronomy 13:2 προφήτης and the sign or the wonder come to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, Let us go after other gods, which you have not known, and let us serve them;
- Deuteronomy 13:4 προφήτης You shall walk after Yahweh your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and you shall serve him, and cleave to him.
- Deuteronomy 13:6 προφήτης If your brother, the son of your mother, or your son, or your daughter, or the wife of your bosom, or your friend, who is as your own soul, entice you secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which you have not known, you, nor your fathers;
- Deuteronomy 18:15 προφήτης Yahweh your God will raise up to you a prophet from the midst of you, of your brothers, like me; to him you shall listen;
- Deuteronomy 18:18 προφήτης I will raise them up a prophet from among their brothers, like you; and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I shall command him.
- Deuteronomy 18:19 προφήτης It shall happen, that whoever will not listen to my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him.
- Deuteronomy 18:20 προφήτης But the prophet, who shall speak a word presumptuously in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or who shall speak in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.
- Deuteronomy 18:22 προφήτης when a prophet speaks in the name of Yahweh, if the thing doesn't follow, nor happen, that is the thing which Yahweh has not spoken: the prophet has spoken it presumptuously, you shall not be afraid of him.
- Deuteronomy 34:10 προφήτης There has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom Yahweh knew face to face,
- Judges 6:8 προφήτης that Yahweh sent a prophet to the children of Israel: and he said to them, Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, I brought you up from Egypt, and brought you forth out of the house of bondage;
- 1 Samuel 3:20 προφήτης All Israel from Dan even to Beersheba knew that Samuel was established to be a prophet of Yahweh.
- 1 Samuel 3:21 προφήτης Yahweh appeared again in Shiloh; for Yahweh revealed himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of Yahweh.
- 1 Samuel 9:9 προφήτης (In earlier times in Israel, when a man went to inquire of God, thus he said, Come, and let us go to the seer; for he who is now called a Prophet was before called a Seer.)
- 1 Samuel 10:5 προφήτης After that you shall come to the hill of God, where is the garrison of the Philistines: and it shall happen, when you are come there to the city, that you shall meet a band of prophets coming down from the high place with a psaltery, and a tambourine, and a pipe, and a harp, before them; and they will be prophesying:
- 1 Samuel 10:10 προφήτης When they came there to the hill, behold, a band of prophets met him; and the Spirit of God came mightily on him, and he prophesied among them.
- 1 Samuel 10:11 προφήτης It happened, when all who knew him before saw that, behold, he prophesied with the prophets, then the people said one to another, What is this that is come to the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?
- 1 Samuel 10:12 προφήτης One of the same place answered, Who is their father? Therefore it became a proverb, Is Saul also among the prophets?
- 1 Samuel 19:20 προφήτης Saul sent messengers to take David: and when they saw the company of the prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing as head over them, the Spirit of God came on the messengers of Saul, and they also prophesied.
- 1 Samuel 19:24 προφήτης He also stripped off his clothes, and he also prophesied before Samuel, and lay down naked all that day and all that night. Therefore they say, "Is Saul also among the prophets?"
- 1 Samuel 22:5 προφήτης The prophet Gad said to David, Don't stay in the stronghold; depart, and get you into the land of Judah. Then David departed, and came into the forest of Hereth.
- 1 Samuel 28:6 προφήτης When Saul inquired of Yahweh, Yahweh didn't answer him, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets.
- 1 Samuel 28:15 προφήτης Samuel said to Saul, Why have you disquieted me, to bring me up? Saul answered, I am sore distressed; for the Philistines make war against me, and God is departed from me, and answers me no more, neither by prophets, nor by dreams: therefore I have called you, that you may make known to me what I shall do.
- 2 Samuel 7:2 προφήτης that the king said to Nathan the prophet, See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells within curtains.
- 2 Samuel 12:1 προφήτης Yahweh sent Nathan to David. He came to him, and said to him, "There were two men in one city; the one rich, and the other poor.
- 2 Samuel 12:25 προφήτης and he sent by the hand of Nathan the prophet; and he named him Jedidiah, for Yahweh's sake.
- 2 Samuel 24:11 προφήτης When David rose up in the morning, the word of Yahweh came to the prophet Gad, David's seer, saying,
- 1 Kings 1:8 προφήτης But Zadok the priest, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and Nathan the prophet, and Shimei, and Rei, and the mighty men who belonged to David, were not with Adonijah.
- 1 Kings 1:10 προφήτης but Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah, and the mighty men, and Solomon his brother, he didn't call.
- 1 Kings 1:22 προφήτης Behold, while she yet talked with the king, Nathan the prophet came in.
- 1 Kings 1:23 προφήτης They told the king, saying, Behold, Nathan the prophet. When he was come in before the king, he bowed himself before the king with his face to the ground.
- 1 Kings 1:32 προφήτης King David said, Call to me Zadok the priest, and Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada. They came before the king.
- 1 Kings 1:34 προφήτης and let Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anoint him there king over Israel; and blow you the trumpet, and say, [Long] live king Solomon.
- 1 Kings 1:38 προφήτης So Zadok the priest, and Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and the Cherethites and the Pelethites, went down, and caused Solomon to ride on king David's mule, and brought him to Gihon.
- 1 Kings 1:44 προφήτης and the king has sent with him Zadok the priest, and Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and the Cherethites and the Pelethites; and they have caused him to ride on the king's mule;
- 1 Kings 1:45 προφήτης and Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet have anointed him king in Gihon; and they are come up from there rejoicing, so that the city rang again. This is the noise that you have heard.
- 1 Kings 11:29 προφήτης It happened at that time, when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, that the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite found him in the way; now [Ahijah] had clad himself with a new garment; and they two were alone in the field.
- 1 Kings 13:11 προφήτης Now there lived an old prophet in Bethel; and one of his sons came and told him all the works that the man of God had done that day in Bethel: the words which he had spoken to the king, them also they told to their father.
- 1 Kings 13:18 προφήτης He said to him, I also am a prophet as you are; and an angel spoke to me by the word of Yahweh, saying, Bring him back with you into your house, that he may eat bread and drink water. [But] he lied to him.
- 1 Kings 13:20 προφήτης It happened, as they sat at the table, that the word of Yahweh came to the prophet who brought him back;
- 1 Kings 13:25 προφήτης Behold, men passed by, and saw the body cast in the way, and the lion standing by the body; and they came and told it in the city where the old prophet lived.
- 1 Kings 13:29 προφήτης The prophet took up the body of the man of God, and laid it on the donkey, and brought it back; and he came to the city of the old prophet, to mourn, and to bury him.
- 1 Kings 16:12 προφήτης Thus did Zimri destroy all the house of Baasha, according to the word of Yahweh, which he spoke against Baasha by Jehu the prophet,
- 1 Kings 17:1 προφήτης Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the foreigners of Gilead, said to Ahab, As Yahweh, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.
- 1 Kings 18:4 προφήτης for it was so, when Jezebel cut off the prophets of Yahweh, that Obadiah took one hundred prophets, and hid them by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water.)
- 1 Kings 18:13 προφήτης Wasn't it told my lord what I did when Jezebel killed the prophets of Yahweh, how I hid one hundred men of Yahweh's prophets by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water?
- 1 Kings 18:19 προφήτης Now therefore send, and gather to me all Israel to Mount Carmel, and the prophets of Baal four hundred fifty, and the prophets of the Asherah four hundred, who eat at Jezebel's table.
These are occurrences of the same Greek lexeme (G4396) in the Septuagint — not a translation of any one Hebrew word. The store carries no word-level Hebrew↔Greek alignment, so no Hebrew original is asserted here. Counts come from the recovered LXX Strong's tagging — high-frequency vocabulary is well covered, while rare or late forms may be untagged — so they reflect tagged occurrences and may slightly undercount.
