noun · feminine
profēteias
Strong’sG4394
prophecy
stem profētei-19 times in the New Testamentin 7 of 27 books6 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
Prophecy: the gift of interpreting God's will and purpose, and the act of exercising that gift — speaking or interpreting under divine influence, whether as prediction or as inspired teaching and preaching 1234. Abbott-Smith notes this covers both prophecy given in the Old Testament and prophecy exercised within the New Testament church 1, and Strong's likewise describes it as prediction, whether scriptural or otherwise 2. LSJ specifies that in the New Testament the word denotes the gift of expounding scripture, or of speaking and preaching, under the influence of the Holy Spirit 3.
The word can also refer concretely to a particular prophecy or oracular utterance itself, rather than the gift in general 3.
In wider Greek usage outside the Bible, the word could also denote the office or position of a prophet, though this sense does not occur in the biblical text 3.
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
† προφητεία, -ας, ἡ
(< προψητεύω), [in LXX for נְבוּאָה, חָזוֹן;]
G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, 1922 — public domain. References open in the reader.
Strong’s G4394 — the 1890 definition, and where the word comes from
Saidprof-ay-ti'-ah
prediction (scriptural or other)
Fromfrom G4396 ("prophecy");
King Jamesprophecy, prophesying.
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
gift of interpreting the will of the gods, gift of prophecy, διδασκαλίαν ὡς π. ἐκχεῶ LXX; ἡ δὲ προφητείη δίης φρενός ἐστιν ἀπορρώξ Oracle texts cited in Refs 2nd c.AD+
2 concrete, prophecy or oracular response, LXX+3rd c.AD+
II office of προφήτης Refs 2nd c.BC+
III in NT, gift of expounding scripture, or of speaking and preaching, under the influence of the Holy Spirit (compare προφήτης), NT
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 | profēteias5×προφητεία | profēteiais1×προφητεῖαι |
| object accusative | profēteian2×προφητείαν | profēteiain2×προφητείας |
| direct address vocative | profēteiar | profēteiair |
| of, belonging to genitive | profēteiau8×προφητείας | profēteiaiu |
| to, for dative | profēteia1×προφητείᾳ | profēteiai |
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
profēteia 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.
19 occurrences, every one of them listed
profēteias“prophecy”subjectnominative singular5×
Matthew 13:14kai anaplērotō autoi tas profēteias Ēsaiou tas legarōntas; Akoa akouavi kai …In them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled: ‘You will …
1 Corinthians 12:10alloso energēmeim dunamiaiu, alloso profēteias, alloso diakrisiais pneumeiu, hetero geneim glōssaiu, …… the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to …
1 Corinthians 14:22… pisteuarōntoi alla toi apistoi, tas de profēteias ouk toi apistoi alla toi pisteuarōntoi.… not for believers, but for unbelievers. Prophecy, however, is for believers, not for …
2 Peter 1:20houtem prōtem gnōskarōntois hoti pantas profēteias grafau idiau epilusiau ouk genotō,… all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture comes from one’s own …
2 Peter 1:21ouk gar thelēme anthrōpou ferita profēteias pote, alla hupo pneumeu hagieu ferorōntois …For no such prophecy was ever brought forth by the …
profēteian“prophecy”objectaccusative singular2×
Romans 12:6… charitan tan dōirantan ni diaforeim, eite profēteian kata tan analogian tau pistiau,… given us. If one’s gift is prophecy, let him use it in proportion …
1 Corinthians 13:2kai ean echameiō profēteian kai oidameiē teim mustērieim panteim kai …If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and …
profēteiau“prophecy”of, belonging togenitive singular8×
1 Timothy 4:14… si charismeu, hem dōita si dia profēteiau meta epithesiau taiu cheiraiu teu presbuterieu.… which was given you through the prophecy spoken over you at the laying …
Revelation 1:3… kai tois akouarōntois toin logoin tau profēteiau kai tērarōntois teim en auta graforēnteim, …… reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear …
Revelation 11:6“prophesying”… mē huetos brechateiō tain hēmerain tau profēteiau autoiu, kai exousian echalō epi teiu …… that no rain will fall during the days of their prophecy, and power to turn the waters into blood and to strike the earth with …
Revelation 19:10… marturias Iēsu atō tem pneumem tau profēteiau.… of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”
Revelation 22:7… makarios tos tērarōntos toin logoin tau profēteiau teu biblieu houteu.… one who keeps the words of prophecy in this book.”
Revelation 22:10… mi; Mē sfragizaseia toin logoin tau profēteiau teu biblieu houteu, tos kairos gar …… not seal up the words of prophecy in this book, because the time …
Revelation 22:18… panto to akouarōnto toin logoin tau profēteiau teu biblieu houteu; ean tinos epitithateia …… everyone who hears the words of prophecy in this book: If anyone adds …
Revelation 22:19… apo toiu logoiu teu biblieu tau profēteiau houtau, afairati tos theos tem merem …… the words of this book of prophecy, God will take away his share …
profēteia“prophecy”to, fordative singular1×
1 Corinthians 14:6… apokalupsia ē en gnōsia ē en profēteia ē en didacha?… you some revelation or knowledge or prophecy or teaching?
profēteiais“prophecies”subjectnominative plural1×
1 Corinthians 13:8Tas agapas oudepote piptatō. eite de profēteiais, katargili; eite glōssais, paueli; eite gnōsias, …… never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are …
profēteiain“prophecies”objectaccusative plural2×
1 Thessalonians 5:20profēteiain mē exouthenavōr;Do not treat prophecies with contempt,
1 Timothy 1:18… Timotheor, kata tain proagarōntain epi sin profēteiain, hina strateuoseiō en autai tan kalan …… command in keeping with the previous prophecies about you, so that by them …