noun · feminine
boulas
Strong’sG1012
counsel, deliberate wisdom
stem boul-12 times in the New Testamentin 5 of 27 books5 of 10 forms occur
What it means
A plain-English reading of the word, with the lexicons it draws on — Abbott-Smith, Strong's, and Liddell-Scott-Jones — right below it, in full.
AI Summary
βουλή denotes a purpose, plan, or counsel — the will or design behind a decision, whether formed by God or by people 1234. In the New Testament it is used of God's own purpose or will, as in phrases speaking of "the counsel of God" or "the purpose of his will" 1. It is also used of human plans, decisions, or resolutions, including in the plural for the private counsels or motives of individuals 1. Strong's adds that the word can also carry the sense of advice given to someone 2.
Sources: 1 Abbott-Smith 2 Strong's 3 LSJ 4 Dodson. Condensed by anthropic/claude-sonnet-5 on 2026-09-23 — it may still misstate what these say; check them yourself if it matters to you.
The lexicons it was drawn from, in full:
Abbott-Smith — the 1922 lexicon entry, in full
βουλή, -ῆς, ἡ
(< βούλομαι), [in LXX freq. for עֵצָה;]
G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, 1922 — public domain. References open in the reader.
Strong’s G1012 — the 1890 definition, and where the word comes from
Saidboo-lay'
volition, i.e. (objectively) advice, or (by implication) purpose
Fromfrom G1014;
King James+ advise, counsel, will.
James Strong, Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, 1890 — public domain. The numbers in it link to the entries here.
Liddell-Scott-Jones — the classical dictionary this word appears in
Doric dialect βωλά Decrees Byzantine cited in Refs 4th c.BC+, Aeolic dialect βόλλα Refs 2nd c.BC+: accusative plural βουλᾰς Refs 8th c.BC+: (βούλομαι):— will, determination, especially of the gods, Refs 8th c.BC+
2 counsel, design, βουλὰς βουλεύουσι Refs 8th c.BC+: generally, counsel, advice, opposed to μάχεσθαι, Refs 8th c.BC+; νυκτὶ βουλὴν διδόναι Refs 5th c.BC+; β. ποιεῖσθαι, ={βουλεύεσθαι}, Refs 5th c.BC+; ἐν βουλῇ γενέσθαι πότερον.. Refs 1st c.BC+; τούτοις οὐκ ἔστι κοινὴ β. they have no common ground of argument, Refs 5th c.BC+: in plural, counsels, Refs 4th c.BC+; ἐν βουλαῖς ἄριστος, ἐν βουλαῖσι κράτιστος, Refs
3 deliberation, Refs 4th c.BC+
4 decree, β. εἰσηγεῖσθαι Refs 5th c.BC+
II Council of elders, Senate, βουλὴν ἷζε γερόντων Refs 8th c.BC+ or Senate of Refs 5th c.BC+; commonly called ἡ β. (or ἡ β. οἱ πεντακόσιοι Refs 4th c.BC+; also β. ἀπὸ κυάμου Refs 5th c.BC+; in other states, as at Argos, Refs 5th c.BC+; of the Roman Refs 1st c.BC+; of local senates, Refs 3rd c.AD+; βουλῆς εἶναι to be of the Council, a member of it, Refs 5th c.BC+ made a substantive βουλῆς, ὁ); ἀνὴρ βουλῆς τῆς Ῥωμαίων Refs 2nd c.AD+
H. G. Liddell, R. Scott, H. S. Jones, A Greek-English Lexicon (9th ed., 1925–1940) — digitised by the Perseus Digital Library and corrected and expanded by Tyndale House, Cambridge, via STEPBible-Data's TFLSJ table, CC BY 4.0. Covers all of Greek literature, not just the Bible.
Translated as
Every occurrence, sorted by the English it was actually given — the evidence for what the word means, not a gloss of it.
Berean Standard Bible (BSB), dedicated to the public domain — berean.bible.
Biblang forms
Every form this word takes in Biblang, with the Greek it corresponds to and how often the New Testament uses it.
| Job in the sentence case | one singular | more than one plural |
|---|---|---|
| subject nominative | boulas3×βουλὴ | boulais |
| object accusative | boulan4×βουλὴν | boulain1×βουλὰς |
| direct address vocative | boular | boulair |
| of, belonging to genitive | boulau1×βουλῆς | boulaiu |
| to, for dative | boula3×βουλῇ | boulai |
Tinted cells are forms the New Testament never uses, so there is no Greek to show against them — but they are still correct Biblang, built from the slots below like any other.
Why these forms, and no others — the slots that make them
boula is this word in every one of its forms. The slots after it make all the rest.
same in every form varies — every value shown
Words built on the same stem
Other words sharing the exact same stem — not merely related in meaning.
Where it appears
Every verse the word appears in, filed under the form it takes there.
12 occurrences, every one of them listed
boulas“plan”subjectnominative singular3×
Acts 4:28“plan”… hoseim tas cheiras su kai tas boulas proorizata genera.… out what Your hand and will had …
Acts 5:38“plan”… hoti ean ateiō ek anthrōpoiu tas boulas houtas ē tem ergem houtem, kataluiti,… them go! For if their purpose or endeavor is of human origin, it will fail.
Acts 27:42“plan”toiu de stratiōtoiu boulas geneta hina toin desmōtoin apoktenaleia, mē …The soldiers planned to kill the prisoners so none …
boulan“purpose”objectaccusative singular4×
Luke 7:30… de Farisaiois kai tois nomikois tan boulan tou theou athetala eis heautoin, mē …… experts in the law rejected God’s purpose for themselves, because they had not …
Acts 20:27“purpose”… hupostelema teu mē anangelara pantan tan boulan tou theou vi.… did not shrink back from declaring to you the whole will of God.
Acts 27:12“decision”… huparcharōntou pros paracheimasian tois polloterois tithela boulan anagira ekeithen, ei pōs dunoloiō katantarantois …… the harbor was unsuitable to winter in, the majority decided to sail on, hoping that somehow they could reach Phoenix to …
Ephesians 1:11… tou teim panteim energarōntou kata tan boulan teu thelēmeu autou,… who works out everything by the counsel of His will,
boulau“purpose”of, belonging togenitive singular1×
Hebrews 6:17… klēronomoi tau epangeliau tem ametathetem tau boulau autou mesiteuata horko,… make the unchanging nature of His purpose very clear to the heirs of …
boula“plan”to, fordative singular3×
Luke 23:51“plan”houtos ouk ate sunkatatithorēntos ta boula kai ta praxia autoiu apo Harimathaiau …who had not consented to their decision or action. He was from the Judean town of Arimathea and was waiting for the kingdom of …
Acts 2:23houton ta horizorēnta boula kai prognōsia tou theou ekdoton dia …… was delivered up by God’s set plan and foreknowledge, and you, by the …
Acts 13:36… idia genea hupēretarantos ta tou theou boula koimita kai prostithita pros toin patroin …For when David had served God’s purpose in his own generation, he fell …
boulain“counsels”objectaccusative plural1×
1 Corinthians 4:5“counsels”… krupteim teu skoteu kai fanerati tain boulain taiu kardiaiu, kai tote tos epainos …… nothing before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men’s hearts. At that time each will receive his praise from God.