נָבִיא
prophet
also: spokesman, speaker fuller range ↓
Full lexicon entry — Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
From Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
Where this word appears
See every Absolute-state word in the Hebrew Bible →
Grammar key — what these labels mean
Part of speech
- Noun
- A naming word — a person, place, thing, or idea.
Noun type
- Common
- A common noun — a general class of person, place, or thing (“king,” “city,” “water”), not a specific name.
State
- Absolute
- The independent form of a noun, not bound to a following word.
- Construct
- A noun bound to a following noun in a possessive / “of” relationship (the construct chain).
Gender
- Masculine
- Grammatically masculine.
Number
- Singular
- One.
- Plural
- More than one (in Hebrew, generally three or more).
Every verse where H5030 appears in the Book of 2 Kings — 29 distinct verses. Click any verse to open its interlinear word-by-word view. Verse text shown in the World English Bible for context — . Each verse’s Hebrew 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 Hebrew Bible; Septuagint (Greek Old Testament) occurrences are not indexed here.
2 Kings
- 2 Kings 2:3 הַ/נְּבִיאִ֥ים ptcl def.art + n c mp The sons of the prophets who were at Bethel came forth to Elisha, and said to him, "Do you know that Yahweh will take away your master from your head today?" He said, "Yes, I know it; hold your peace."
- 2 Kings 2:5 הַ/נְּבִיאִ֥ים ptcl def.art + n c mp The sons of the prophets who were at Jericho came near to Elisha, and said to him, "Do you know that Yahweh will take away your master from your head today?" He answered, "Yes, I know it. Hold your peace."
- 2 Kings 2:7 הַ/נְּבִיאִים֙ ptcl def.art + n c mp Fifty men of the sons of the prophets went, and stood over against them afar off: and they two stood by the Jordan.
- 2 Kings 2:15 הַ/נְּבִיאִ֤ים ptcl def.art + n c mp When the sons of the prophets who were at Jericho over against him saw him, they said, The spirit of Elijah does rest on Elisha. They came to meet him, and bowed themselves to the ground before him.
- 2 Kings 3:11 נָבִיא֙ n c ms But Jehoshaphat said, Isn't there here a prophet of Yahweh, that we may inquire of Yahweh by him? One of the king of Israel's servants answered, Elisha the son of Shaphat is here, who poured water on the hands of Elijah.
- 2 Kings 3:13 נְבִיאֵ֣י נְבִיאֵ֖י n c mp cs n c mp cs Elisha said to the king of Israel, What have I to do with you? get you to the prophets of your father, and to the prophets of your mother. The king of Israel said to him, No; for Yahweh has called these three kings together to deliver them into the hand of Moab.
- 2 Kings 4:1 הַ֠/נְּבִיאִים ptcl def.art + n c mp Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets to Elisha, saying, Your servant my husband is dead; and you know that your servant did fear Yahweh: and the creditor is come to take to him my two children to be bondservants.
- 2 Kings 4:38 הַ/נְּבִיאִ֔ים הַ/נְּבִיאִֽים ptcl def.art + n c mp ptcl def.art + n c mp Elisha came again to Gilgal. There was a dearth in the land; and the sons of the prophets were sitting before him; and he said to his servant, Set on the great pot, and boil stew for the sons of the prophets.
- 2 Kings 5:3 הַ/נָּבִ֖יא ptcl def.art + n c ms She said to her mistress, Would that my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! then would he recover him of his leprosy.
- 2 Kings 5:8 נָבִ֖יא n c ms It was so, when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, that he sent to the king, saying, Why have you torn your clothes? let him come now to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel.
- 2 Kings 5:13 הַ/נָּבִ֛יא ptcl def.art + n c ms His servants came near, and spoke to him, and said, My father, if the prophet had bid you do some great thing, wouldn't you have done it? how much rather then, when he says to you, Wash, and be clean?
- 2 Kings 5:22 הַ/נְּבִיאִ֑ים ptcl def.art + n c mp He said, All is well. My master has sent me, saying, Behold, even now there are come to me from the hill-country of Ephraim two young men of the sons of the prophets; please give them a talent of silver, and two changes of clothing.
- 2 Kings 6:1 הַ/נְּבִיאִ֖ים ptcl def.art + n c mp The sons of the prophets said to Elisha, See now, the place where we dwell before you is too strait for us.
- 2 Kings 6:12 הַ/נָּבִיא֙ ptcl def.art + n c ms One of his servants said, No, my lord, O king; but Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bedchamber.
- 2 Kings 9:1 הַ/נָּבִ֔יא הַ/נְּבִיאִ֑ים ptcl def.art + n c ms ptcl def.art + n c mp Elisha the prophet called one of the sons of the prophets, and said to him, Gird up your loins, and take this vial of oil in your hand, and go to Ramoth-gilead.
- 2 Kings 9:4 הַ/נָּבִ֖יא ptcl def.art + n c ms So the young man, even the young man the prophet, went to Ramoth-gilead.
- 2 Kings 9:7 הַ/נְּבִיאִ֗ים ptcl def.art + n c mp You shall strike the house of Ahab your master, that I may avenge the blood of my servants the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of Yahweh, at the hand of Jezebel.
- 2 Kings 10:19 נְבִיאֵ֣י n c mp cs Now therefore call to me all the prophets of Baal, all his worshippers, and all his priests; let none be wanting: for I have a great sacrifice [to do] to Baal; whoever shall be wanting, he shall not live. But Jehu did it in subtlety, to the intent that he might destroy the worshippers of Baal.
- 2 Kings 14:25 הַ/נָּבִ֔יא ptcl def.art + n c ms He restored the border of Israel from the entrance of Hamath to the sea of the Arabah, according to the word of Yahweh, the God of Israel, which he spoke by his servant Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet, who was of Gath Hepher.
- 2 Kings 17:13 נביא/ו נְבִיאֵ֨י הַ/נְּבִיאִֽים n c ms cs + sfx pers 3ms n c mp cs ptcl def.art + n c mp Yet Yahweh testified to Israel, and to Judah, by every prophet, and every seer, saying, Turn you from your evil ways, and keep my commandments and my statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets.
- 2 Kings 17:23 הַ/נְּבִיאִ֑ים ptcl def.art + n c mp until Yahweh removed Israel out of his sight, as he spoke by all his servants the prophets. So Israel was carried away out of their own land to Assyria to this day.
- 2 Kings 19:2 הַ/נָּבִ֖יא ptcl def.art + n c ms He sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz.
- 2 Kings 20:1 הַ/נָּבִ֗יא ptcl def.art + n c ms In those days was Hezekiah sick to death. Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him, and said to him, Thus says Yahweh, Set your house in order: for you shall die, and not live.
- 2 Kings 20:11 הַ/נָּבִ֖יא ptcl def.art + n c ms Isaiah the prophet cried to Yahweh; and he brought the shadow ten steps backward, by which it had gone down on the dial of Ahaz.
- 2 Kings 20:14 הַ/נָּבִ֔יא ptcl def.art + n c ms Then came Isaiah the prophet to king Hezekiah, and said to him, What said these men? and from whence came they to you? Hezekiah said, They are come from a far country, even from Babylon.
- 2 Kings 21:10 הַ/נְּבִיאִ֖ים ptcl def.art + n c mp Yahweh spoke by his servants the prophets, saying,
- 2 Kings 23:2 וְ/הַ/נְּבִיאִ֔ים conj + ptcl def.art + n c mp The king went up to the house of Yahweh, and all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the people, both small and great: and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant which was found in the house of Yahweh.
- 2 Kings 23:18 הַ/נָּבִ֔יא ptcl def.art + n c ms He said, Let him be; let no man move his bones. So they let his bones alone, with the bones of the prophet who came out of Samaria.
- 2 Kings 24:2 הַ/נְּבִיאִֽים ptcl def.art + n c mp Yahweh sent against him bands of the Chaldeans, and bands of the Syrians, and bands of the Moabites, and bands of the children of Ammon, and sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of Yahweh, which he spoke by his servants the prophets.
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.
“prophet” is the headline sense of the Hebrew noun נביא (nâbîyʼ). Beyond “prophet” it also covers “spokesman” and “speaker” — see its full sense range. With 288 verses in 27 books, it is a common word in the Hebrew Bible. It concentrates in Jeremiah, which alone accounts for 30% of its uses. First canonically at Genesis 20:7, it enters the text early. The sections below give every sense, occurrence, and version rendering.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's H5030 catalogs a Hebrew word from the Hebrew Old Testament.
These counts are not copied from any lexicon or concordance. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged Hebrew Old Testament. What Lemma adds →
- 288
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 288 distinct verses.
- 27 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 27 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #158
- by frequency
- Top 250 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 158 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 288 occurrences in the concordance →
By section of the Old Testament
By traditional corpus
Conventional, traditional groupings — biblical authorship is debated, so this is a traditional corpus grouping, not an authorship claim. Each share is this word’s portion of its verses in that division of the Hebrew canon. Each figure is a share of the word’s 288 distinct verses.
- Prophets (Nevi'im) 230 verses · 80%
- Writings (Ketuvim) 46 verses · 16%
- Torah (Pentateuch) 12 verses · 4%
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: Prophet 139×, Prophets 108×, All the prophets 7×
- American Standard Version: Prophet 131×, Prophets 99×, All the prophets 6×
- Berean Standard Bible: Prophet 150×, Prophets 135×, Among the prophets 5×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text: Prophet 134×, Prophets 114×, Prophets of 13×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H5030 across 314 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 40 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings. Not rendered by a distinct English word in 2 further occurrences.
American Standard Version Public Domain
Renders H5030 across 313 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 51 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 H5030 across 310 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 12 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings. Not rendered by a distinct English word in 6 further occurrences.
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders H5030 across 292 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 12 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
Senses in the full BDB
What do BDB’s symbols mean?
BDB uses these scholarly abbreviations:
| Symbol | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 𝔊 | the Septuagint (the ancient Greek translation, LXX) |
| 𝔙 | the Vulgate (the Latin translation) |
| 𝔖 | the Syriac version (the Peshitta) |
| 𝔗 | the Targum (the Aramaic translation) |
| ψ | the Psalms |
| √ | root (the underlying root or stem) |
| ‖ | parallel passage (a synonymous or contrasted parallel) |
| † | the dagger: every passage where the word occurs is cited |
The 3 senses and sub-senses the full Brown-Driver-Briggs lexicon distinguishes for this word, in lexicon order (not ranked by frequency), with BDB’s own verbatim wording and sub-sense lettering. Shown in Hebrew script with BDB’s own scholarly abbreviations. The condensed entry is in the Lexicon Entry tab. See also the Forms in the corpus table below.
- 1. genuine prophet of י׳, נביא, anciently called רֹאֶה, 1 S 9:9 (antiquarian note); change prob. occurred in times of Elijah and is first reflected in Ephr. lit. as applied to Abraham Gn 20:7; Moses Dt 34:10, M. and other early proph. Ho 6:5; 12:11(×2), 14(×2) Am 2:11, 12; of proph. in ecstatic state Nu 12:6 (E), 11:24 (JE). So in Judaic lit., of prophet like Moses Dt 18:15, 18 (D), of Aaron (as mouthpiece of M.) Ex 7:1 (P), of Sam. 1 S 3:20, an unknown Ju 6:8; in time of Sam. proph. were organized in bands: †הֶבֶל נביאים 1 S 10:5, 10; †להקת הנ׳ 1 S 19:20; and in time of Elijah were †בְּנֵי הַנְּבִיאִים = members of prophets’ guilds 1 K 20:35 2 K 2:3, 5, 7, 15; 4:1, 38(×2) נָבִיא of genuine proph. (besides phrases), in Judaic prophets, only of Jer., Je 1:5; Ezekiel, Ez 2:5 = 33:33; of ancient prophets Je 28:8, 9(×3) Zc 1:6; 8:9; especially †הנביאים הראשׁנים Zc 1:4; 7:7, 12, cf. †עבדי(ו) הנביאים my (his) servants the prophets 2 K 9:7; 17:13, 23; 21:10; 24:2 (all RD) Ezr 9:11 Dn 9:10 Je 7:25; 25:4; 26:5; 29:19; 35:15; 44:4 Am 3:7 Zc 1:6, cf. Ez 38:17 Dn 9:6; †עבדוֹ הַנּ׳ his servant the prophet 1 K 14:18 2 K 14:25; הַנָּבִיא with n.pr.: Jer, 2 Ch 36:12 Dn 9:2 + 31 times Je (but 𝔊 only 4 times, the rest prob. redactional, see GieJer. xxvii); Elijah 1 K 18:36 (om 𝔊), 2 Ch 21:12 Mal 3:23; Nathan 2 S 7:2 + 10 times S. and K.; 4 times Chr ψ 51:2 (title); Isaiah, 2 K 19:2; 20:1, 14 = Is 37:2; 38:1; 39:1; 2 K 20:11; 2 Ch 26:22; 32:20, 32; Habakkuk Hb 1:1; 3:1 (titles); Haggai, Hg 1:1, 3, 12; 2:1, 10; Zech., Zc 1:1, 7 (titles); elsewhere several others in S., K. and Chr. 15 times; נביא is used elsewhere of genuine proph. only 1 S 9:9 + 34 times S. and K.; 1 Ch 16:22 = ψ 105:15, + 13 times Chr.; ψ 74:9 complains of absence of נ׳; לַחְתֹּם חָזוֹן וְנָבִיא Dn 9:24 v. חתם. e.g. 1 Samuel 9:9
- 2. false prophets: †prophets as official class, beside priests, charact. as false prophets: Is 28:7 Je 2:26; 4:9; 6:13; 8:1, 10; 13:13; 14:18; 18:18; 23:11, 33, 34; 26:7, 8, 11, 16; 32:32 Zc 7:3, app. also 2 K 23:2 Ne 9:32 La 2:20 Je 29:1 Ez 7:26 (in these not characterized); always false (except of ancient and special prophets given above) in Am 7:14 Ho 4:5; 9:7, 8 Mi 3:5, 6, 11 Is 3:2; 9:14; 29:10 Je 2:8, 30; 5:13, 31; 14:13, 14, 15(×2); 23:9 + 16 times; 27:9, 14, 15, 16, 18; 29:8, 15; 37:19 Ez 13:2(×2), 3, 4, 9, 16; 14:4, 7, 9(×2), 10; 22:25, 28 Zp 3:4 La 2:9, 14; 4:13; especially discredited Dt 13:2, 4, 6; 18:20(×2), 22(×2) Zc 13:2, 4, 5; such a prophet Hananiah called הַנָּבִיא Je 28:1, 5, 10, 12, 15, 17 (𝔊 omits in all but v 1, where Ψευδοπροφήτης). Usage of prophets themselves gives such a bad flavour to נביא, that we are not surprised that it is absent from exilic Isaiah, the Wisd. lit., and ψψ (except for special reasons in 3 ψψ given under 1). e.g. Isaiah 28:7
- 3. heathen prophets 1 K 18:20; 19:1; 2 K 3:13(×2); נביאי האשׁרה 1 K 18:19; נביאי הבעל 1 K 18:19, 22, 25, 40 2 K 10:19; 1 K 22:6, 10, 12, 13, 22, 23 = 2 Ch 18:5, 9, 11, 12, 21, 22. e.g. 1 Kings 18:20
Senses from the full Brown-Driver-Briggs lexicon (Brown, Driver, Briggs; Oxford 1906 — public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). Full attribution on Sources.
Word origin
n.m. spokesman, speaker, prophet—נ׳ Gn 20:7 + 155 times; sf. נְבִיאֶ֑ךָ Ex 7:1; pl. נְבִיאִים Nu 11:29 + 82 times; נְבִאִים Je 27:18 + 16 times; sf. נְבִיאַי ψ 105:15; נְבִאָיו 1 K 22:22; נְבִיאָו֯ 2 K 17:13, etc.;—
— Brown-Driver-Briggs (Oxford 1906, public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). See Sources.
Derived from נבא (nâbâʼ) (H5012) — to prophesy.
Jastrow Dictionary
A second Hebrew/Aramaic lexicon for comparison, covering Aramaic and post-biblical (Talmudic, Targumic, Midrashic) usage that the biblical-Hebrew BDB does not. Matched by lemma rather than by Strong’s number, so a lemma may carry more than one Jastrow headword (shown separately below), and the entries cover usage well beyond the Bible.
נָבִיא
- preced. wds.) prophet. B. Bath. 12ᵃ אטו חכם לאו נ׳ וכ׳ was a scholar never a prophet? Ib. חכם עדיף מנ׳ a scholar is superior to a prophet. Meg. 15ᵃ; a. v. fr.—Pl. נְבִיאִים, נְבִיאִין. Sot. IX, 12 נ׳ הראשונים the early prophets (of the first Temple). Lev. R. s. 1, beg., v. בַּיִת. Pes. 66ᵃ אם אין נ׳ הן בני נ׳ הן if they (the Israelites) are no prophets, yet they are sons of prophets (they will find what is right intuitively); Y. Sabb. XIX, 17ᵃ top. Lev. R. l. c.; Gen. R. s. 74 נְבִיאֵי ישראל Israelitish prophets; נ׳ אומות העולם heathen prophets; a. v. fr.—נָבִיא (sub. ספר) נְבִיאִים (sub. ספרי) N’biim, Prophets, the second division of the Scriptures. Tosef. Meg. IV (III), 18 אין מפטירין בנביא וכ׳ we read in the Prophets for the Haftarah no more than three verses at a time (to be interpreted). Meg. 21ᵇ ובנביא אחד וכ׳ and when reading from the Prophets (for the Haftarah), one reads and two may interpret. Ib. 27ᵃ מניחין … על גבי נביאים וכתובים you may put … parts of the Pentateuch on the Prophets or the Hagiographa, but not the Prophets &c. B. Bath. 14ᵇ סדרן של נ׳ the order of the books of Prophets; a. fr.—Fem. נְבִיאָה. Pes. 9ᵇ וכי חולדה נ׳ וכ׳ is the weasel (ḥuldah) a prophetess to know &c.? Deut. R. s. 6; a. fr.—Pl. נְבִיאוֹת. Meg. 14ᵃ; a. e.
נְבִיָּא
- ; constr. נְבִי, נְבֵי. Targ. Jud. VI, 8. Targ. Gen. XX, 7 (O. Ms. II נַבְיָא). Targ. Deut. XVIII, 20; a. v. fr.—Gitt. 57ᵇ נ׳ הוה בן וכ׳ there was a prophet among us who rebuked us &c.; Lam. R. to II, 2 נ׳ כהנא וכ׳ a prophet priest was ours &c.; a. e.—Pl. נְבִיאִין, נְבִיאַיָּא; נְבִיאָן, נְבִיָּין (נִבְיָין); נְבִיאֵי. Targ. I Kings XVIII, 4. Targ. Num. XI, 29; a. fr.—Kidd. 49ᵃ נְבִיאֵי the Books of the Prophets, v. preced.—Fem. נְבִיאֲתָא, נְבִיאָתָא. Targ. Ex. XV, 20. Targ. Jud. IV, 4; a. fr.
A Dictionary of the Targumim, the Talmud Babli and Yerushalmi, and the Midrashic Literature (Marcus Jastrow; London, Luzac, 1903) — Public Domain. Digitized via Sefaria. Digitized via Sefaria. Full attribution on Sources.
Forms in the corpus
The 131 distinct written forms H5030 takes in the Hebrew Bible, most frequent first — each parse links to that state’s occurrences in the concordance. Hebrew forms include their vowel points and cantillation, so a single lemma takes many written forms.
The 60 most common forms are shown; 71 rarer forms follow in the full concordance.
Same root — word family
Other BDB entries built from the same root as H5030, 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
Derived from this word
Compare all same-root words → Showing 4 of 6 — not the complete family. They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.
Septuagint verse parallels
This word appears in 270 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 288 Hebrew verses it occurs in. You can read those verses in Greek by switching the Old Testament edition to the Septuagint.
Read these verses in the Septuagint
- Genesis 20:7
- Exodus 7:1
- Numbers 11:29
- Deuteronomy 13:1
- Judges 6:8
- 1 Samuel 3:20
- 2 Samuel 7:2
- 1 Kings 1:8
- 2 Kings 2:3
- 1 Chronicles 16:22
- 2 Chronicles 9:29
- Ezra 9:11
This is a verse-level parallel only — the same verses exist in both the Hebrew and Greek Old Testaments. No word-level Hebrew↔Greek correspondence is claimed: the data carries no such alignment, so no Greek word is shown as this Hebrew word’s translation. Coverage is not total — the Septuagint omits the deuterocanon and renumbers the Psalms, so some Hebrew verses have no direct Greek parallel.
