noun · masculine
ofios
Strong’sG3789
a serpent
stem ofi-14 times in the New Testamentin 7 of 27 books8 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
ὄφις refers to a serpent or snake 1234, the literal reptile named throughout the New Testament 1.
The word is also used figuratively for a cunning or crafty being 123 — applied to wisdom paired with cunning in a positive or neutral sense 1, to an artful, malicious person 2, and especially to Satan, who is identified as "the serpent" 12.
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
ὄφις, -εως, ὁ,
[in LXX chiefly for נָחָשׁ;]
G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, 1922 — public domain. References open in the reader.
Strong’s G3789 — the 1890 definition, and where the word comes from
Saidof'-is
a snake, figuratively, (as a type of sly cunning) an artful malicious person, especially Satan
Fromprobably from G3700 (through the idea of sharpness of vision);
King Jamesserpent.
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
genitive ὄφεως, poetry also ὄφεος Refs 5th c.BC+; Doric dialect and Ionic dialect ὄφιος Refs 8th c.BC+:—serpent, αἰόλος Refs 8th c.BC+; ὁ ψυχρὸς ὄ. Refs 3rd c.BC+; equivalent to δράκων in Refs 8th c.BC+
II like{δράκων}, a serpent-like bracelet, Refs 4th c.BC+; ὄφεις is Attic dialect for ψέλλια accusative to Refs 2nd c.AD+
II.2 τρικάρηνος ὄ. ὁ χάλκεος dedicated at Delphi (= Refs 5th c.BC+
III the constellation Refs 4th c.BC+
IV a creeping plant, Refs 5th c.BC+
V a kind of fish, see at {ὀφίδιον} Refs
VI guinea-worm (elsewhere δρακόντιον), Refs 2nd c.AD+
VII ={ὀφίασις} I, Refs 1st c.AD+. [The first syllable is sometimes made long in the older Poets, αἰόλον ὄφιν Refs 8th c.BC+ —The ultima of the _nominative_ and _accusative_ ὄφις, ὄφιν is commonly long, as in Refs 8th c.BC+; short only in later Poets, as Refs 4th c.BC+
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 | ofios4×ὄφις | ofiois1×ὄφεις |
| object accusative | ofion3×ὄφιν | ofioin1×ὄφεις |
| direct address vocative | ofior | ofioir1×ὄφεις |
| of, belonging to genitive | ofiou1×ὄφεως | ofioiu2×ὄφεων |
| to, for dative | ofio | ofioi1×ὄφεσιν |
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
ofio 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
Where it appears
Every verse the word appears in, filed under the form it takes there.
14 occurrences, every one of them listed
ofios“serpent”subjectnominative singular4×
2 Corinthians 11:3“serpent”fobomō de mē pōs, hōs tos ofios exapatata Hevan en ta panourgia autou, …I am afraid, however, that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds …
Revelation 12:9… balita tos drakontos tos megos, tos ofios tos archaios, tos kalorōntos Diabolos kai …… dragon was hurled down — that ancient serpent called the devil and Satan, the …
Revelation 12:15kai balata tos ofios ek teu stomeu autou opisō tau …Then from his mouth the serpent spewed water like a river to …
Revelation 20:2kai kratata ton drakonton, tos ofios tos archaios, hos atō Diabolos kai …He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent who is the devil and Satan …
ofion“snake”objectaccusative singular3×
Matthew 7:10ē kai ichthon aitati mē ofion epidōati auto?… a fish, will give him a snake?
Luke 11:11… tos huios ichthon, kai anti ichthou ofion auto epidōati?… a fish, will give him a snake instead?
John 3:14“serpent”kai kathōs Mōusos hupsata ton ofion en ta erēma, houtōs hupsira datō …Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,
ofiou“serpent”of, belonging togenitive singular1×
Revelation 12:14… kai hēmisuem kairou apo prosōpeu tou ofiou.… fly from the presence of the serpent to her place in the wilderness …
ofiois“serpents”subjectnominative plural1×
Matthew 10:16“serpents”… lukoiu; genovōr oun fronimois hōs tois ofiois kai akeraiois hōs tais peristerais.… sheep among wolves; therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.
ofioin“snakes”objectaccusative plural1×
Mark 16:18ofioin airali kan thanasimem tinem pinaleia ouk …they will pick up snakes with their hands, and if they …
ofioir“serpents”direct addressvocative plural1×
Matthew 23:33“serpents”ofioir gennēmeim echidnaiu, pōs fugaveia apo tau …… snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape the sentence of …
ofioiu“snakes”of, belonging togenitive plural2×
Luke 10:19… vi tan exousian teu patarō epanō ofioiu kai skorpioiu, kai epi pantan tan …… given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the …
1 Corinthians 10:9“serpents”… tinois autoiu peirazala, kai hupo toiu ofioiu apolole.… Christ, as some of them did, and were killed by snakes.
ofioi“serpents”to, fordative plural1×
Revelation 9:19“serpents”… autoiu; tais gar ourais autoiu homoiais ofioi, echarōntais kefalain, kai en autai adikalō.… and in their tails; indeed, their tails were like snakes, having heads with which to …