adjective

Greekσοφός (sofos)

Biblang

sofos

Strong’sG4680

wise

stem sof-19 times in the New Testamentin 6 of 27 books5 of 26 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

σοφός means wise or skilled/clever ⁴², a general term covering ability in a handicraft, in the practical affairs of life, and in the sciences or learning ¹. It describes the learned generally, Jewish and Christian teachers, and people credited with sound practical judgment, and it is also applied to God as supremely wise ¹. The word is related to σαφής ("clear") 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

σοφός, -ή, -όν

[in LXX chiefly for חָכָם;]

skilled, clever, wise, whether in handicraft, the affairs of life, the sciences or learning: Ro 16:19, I Co 3:10; of the learned, Ro 1:14, 22, I Co 1:19, 20, 26, 27 3:18-20; of Jewish teachers, Mt 11:25, Lk 10:21; Christian, Mt 23:34; of those endowed with practical wisdom, I Co 6:5, Eph 5:15, Ja 3:13; of God, Ro 16:27; compar., τ. μωρὸν τ. θεοῦ σοφώτερον, I Co 1:25.†

SYN.: συνετός, φρόνιμος (v.s. σοφία, SYN.)

G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, 1922 — public domain. References open in the reader.

Strong’s G4680 — the 1890 definition, and where the word comes from

Saidsof-os'

wise (in a most general application)

Fromakin to σαφής (clear);

King Jameswise.

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

σοφός, ή, όν,
skilled in any handicraft or art, clever, ἁρματηλάτας σ. Refs 5th c.BC+; of a sculptor, Refs 5th c.BC+; even of hedgers and ditchers, Refs; but in this sense mostly of poets and musicians, Refs 5th c.BC+; ἐν κιθάρᾳ σ. Refs 5th c.BC+; τὴν τέχνην -ώτεροςRefs 5th c.BC+; γλώσσῃ σ. Refs 5th c.BC+
2 clever in practical matters, wise, prudent, ὁ χρήσιμ᾽ εἰδώς, οὐχ ὁ πόλλ᾽ εἰδώς, σ. Refs 4th c.BC+; especially statesmanlike, in which sense the seven Sages were so called, Refs 4th c.BC+: hence, shrewd, worldly-wise, Refs 6th c.BC+; πολλὰ σ. Refs 4th c.BC+; ἃ δεῖ σ. Refs 5th c.BC+: even of animals, Refs 5th c.BC+; σ. πειθώ Refs 5th c.BC+; εὐβουλία Refs 4th c.BC+. my little trick, Refs 5th c.BC+; your clever notion, Refs; τἀπ᾽ ἐμοῦ σοφά, δάκρυα my tears, all the resources that I have, Refs 5th c.BC+; εἰ δίκαια, τῶν σοφῶν κρείσσω τάδε better than all craft, Refs 5th c.BC+; σοφόν [ἐστι] with infinitive, Refs 5th c.BC+
2.b more generally, learned, wise, τὸ μὲν σ. [αὐτὸν] καλεῖν ἔμοιγε μέγα εἶναι δοκεῖ καὶ θεῷ μόνῳ πρέπειν Refs 5th c.BC+; of sophists,Refs 5th c.BC+; universally and ideally wise, ὁ σ., τουτέστιν ὁ τὴν τοῦ ἀληθοῦς ἐπιστήμην ἔχων Refs 3rd c.BC+ as a title, especially of lawyers or professors, Refs 5th c.AD+
3 subtle, ingenious, opposed to ἀμαθής Refs 5th c.BC+; σοφόν τοι τὸ σαφές, οὐ τὸ μὴ σαφές Refs 5th c.BC+; τὸ σοφὸν οὐ σοφία wisdom overmuch is no wisdom, Refs; τί οὖν ἦν τοῦτ; οὐδὲν ποικίλον οὐδὲ σοφόν nothing curious or recondite, Refs 4th c.BC+—For the senses of ς., see Refs 5th c.BC+; also ἐν οἰωνοῖς, κιθάρᾳ, Refs 5th c.BC+; περί τι or τινος, Refs 5th c.BC+infinitive, πῶς δῆτ᾽ ἔγωγ᾽ ἂν.. Διὸς γενοίμην εὖ φρονεῖν σοφώτερο; Refs 5th c.BC+
II of things, cleverly devised, wise, νόμος Refs 5th c.BC+; νοήματα, ἔπεα, Refs 5th c.BC+; πάντα προσφέρων σοφά all wise sayings, Refs 5th c.BC+; οὐδὲν σοφὸν εἶναι shows no great wisdom, Refs 4th c.BC+
III adverb σοφῶς cleverly, wisely, etc., first (?) in Refs 5th c.BC+: comparative -ώτερονRefs 5th c.BC+: superlative -ώταταRefs 5th c.BC+ —σοφῶς, as an exclamation of applause, Refs 1st c.AD+ (Not in Epic dialect, except in Margites [prev. cited] and as ancient Refs 8th c.BC+; but see at {σοφία},{σοφίζομαι}.)

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.

wise17×skilled1×wiser1×

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	masculine singular	feminine singular	neuter singular	masculine plural	feminine plural	neuter plural
subject nominative	sofos6×σοφὸς	sofas	sofem	sofois3×σοφοὶ	sofais	sofeim
object accusative	sofon	sofan		sofoin4×σοφοὺς	sofain
direct address vocative	sofor	sofar		sofoir	sofair
of, belonging to genitive	sofou	sofau	sofeu	sofoiu4×σοφῶν	sofaiu	sofeiu
to, for dative	sofo	sofa	sofe	sofoi1×σοφοῖς	sofai	sofei

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

sofstem+oaegender+smnru—its job in the sentence case+—ione · more than one number

sof 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

sofos“wise”subjectnominative singular6×

1 Corinthians 1:20pou sofos? pou grammatevos? pou suzētētos tou aiōnou …Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where …

1 Corinthians 3:10“skilled”… tou theou tan dōirantan mi hōs sofos architektonos themelion tithama, allosos de epoikodomatō. …… the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But …

1 Corinthians 3:18Mēdenos heauton exapatatōr; ei tinos dokatō sofos arō en vi en to aiōno …… any of you thinks he is wise in this age, he should become …

1 Corinthians 3:18… aiōno houto, mōros genetar, hina geneteia sofos,… fool, so that he may become wise.

1 Corinthians 6:5… houtōs ouk eniatō en vi oudenos sofos hos duneti diakrinara ana mesem tou …… there really no one among you wise enough to arbitrate between his brothers?

James 3:13Tinos sofos kai epistēmōnos en vi? deikatar ek …Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him …

sofois“wise”subjectnominative plural3×

Romans 1:22faskarōntois arō sofois mōranila,Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools,

1 Corinthians 1:26… klēsian vu, adelfoir, hoti ouk pollois sofois kata sarkan, ouk pollois dunatois, ouk …… calling: Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were …

Ephesians 5:15… peripatavō, mē hōs asofois alla hōs sofois,… walk, not as unwise but as wise,

sofoin“wise”objectaccusative plural4×

Matthew 23:34… mis apostelamō pros vin profētoin kai sofoin kai grammatevoin; ek autoiu apoktenavi kai …… I am sending you prophets and wise men and teachers. Some of them …

Romans 16:19… vi oun chairamō, thelamō de vin sofoin arō eis tem agathem, akeraioin de …… But I want you to be wise about what is good and innocent …

1 Corinthians 1:27… eklegeta tos theos, hina kataischunateiō toin sofoin, kai teim astheneim tou kosmou eklegeta …… of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of …

1 Corinthians 3:19… atō; grafotē gar; Tos drassorōntos toin sofoin en ta panourgia autoiu;… it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness.”

sofoiu“wise”of, belonging togenitive plural4×

Matthew 11:25… tau gēau, hoti kruptasa houteim apo sofoiu kai sunetoiu, kai apokaluptasa auteim nēpioi;… have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to …

Luke 10:21… tau gēau, hoti apokruptasa houteim apo sofoiu kai sunetoiu, kai apokaluptasa auteim nēpioi; …… have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to …

1 Corinthians 1:19grafotē gar; Apolami tan sofian toiu sofoiu, kai tan sunesian toiu sunetoiu athetami.… will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I …

1 Corinthians 3:20… palin; Kurios gnōskatō toin dialogismoin toiu sofoiu hoti alō mataiois.… knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.”

sofoi“wise”to, fordative plural1×

Romans 1:14Hellēnoi tē kai barbaroi, sofoi tē kai anoētoi ofeiletos amō;… Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish.

sofoterem1×

1 Corinthians 1:25hoti tem mōrem tou theou sofoterem toiu anthrōpoiu atō, kai tem asthenem …For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness …