Quick Definition
προφήτης, ου, ὁ n.m. a prophet, poet
Strong's Definition
from a compound of 4253 and 5346; a foreteller ("prophet"); by analogy, an inspired speaker; by extension, a poet
KJV Usage: prophet
UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament
noun, m. | -ου | φημί
53.79 · Religious Activities · Roles and Functions
prophet, inspired preacher one who proclaims inspired utterances on behalf of God There is a tendency in a number of languages to translate προφήτης only in the sense of ‘one who foretells the future,’ but foretelling the future was only a relatively minor aspect of the prophet’s function, though gradually it became more important. Patristic authors defined the function of a prophet mainly in terms of foretelling the future. In New Testament times, however, the focus was upon the inspired utterance proclaimed on behalf of and on the authority of God. Accordingly, in a number of languages it is more appropriate to translate προφήτης as ‘one who speaks for God.’
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33.60 · ((occurring in the plural as a collective)) · Communication · Written Language
Collocation: προφῆται
the writings of the prophets, the Prophets the writings of the prophets, including both the earlier and the later prophets It is quite impossible in many languages to speak of ‘the Prophets’ in reference to the writings of the prophets, and therefore one must often say ‘what the prophets wrote’ or ‘the books containing the words of the prophets.’
JHN 6:45 · ACT 10:43 · ACT 15:15 · ACT 24:14 · ACT 26:22 · ACT 26:27 · ROM 1:2 · 1PE 1:10
33.58 · Communication · Written Language
Collocation: ὁ νόμος καὶ οἱ προφῆται
the sacred writings, the Law and the Prophets (an idiom, literally: the Law and the Prophets) all of the sacred writings of the OT, including the Law, the Prophets, and the Writings
MAT 5:17 · MAT 7:12 · MAT 11:13 · MAT 22:40 · ACT 13:15 · ACT 28:23 · ROM 3:21
1 Even in the NT, the role of the προφήτης had become recognized as a special function, and therefore it should not be equated with preaching (33.256-259) in general. 2 It is possible that προφῆται may have an even wider range of meaning, as in LUK 24:25 (ὦ ἀνόητοι καὶ βραδεῖς τῇ καρδίᾳ τοῦ πιστεύειν ἐπὶ πᾶσιν οἷς ἐλάλησαν οἱ προφῆται ‘how foolish you are and how slow you are to believe everything the prophets said’). 3 The phrase ὁ νόμος καὶ οἱ προφῆται is classified as an idiom, since the meaning of this fixed phrase is really different from the total of the constituent parts, in that more is included than merely the Law and the Prophets.
UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament © United Bible Societies, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Thayer's Greek Lexicon
προφήτης, -ov, 6, (πρόφημι, to speak forth, speak out; hence prop. ‘one who speaks forth’; see πρό, ἃ. a.), Sept. - = . for w2) (which comes fr. the same root as (Gs: ‘to divulge,’ ‘make known,’ ‘announce’ [ef. Fleischer in Delitzsch, Com. τι. d. Gen., 4te Aufl. p. 551 sq.], therefore prop. i. q. interpreter, Ex. vii. 1, ef. iv. 16; hence an inlerpreter or spokesman for God; one through whom God speaks; cf. esp. Bleek, Einl. in ἃ. A. T. 4te Aufl. p. 309 [Β. Ὁ. s. v. Prophet and reff. there; esp. also Day’s note on Oehler’s O. T. Theol. § 161, and W. Robertson Smith, Prophets of Israel, p. 389 (note on Lect. ii.)]), one who speaks forth by divine inspiration; I. In Grk. writ. fr. Aeschyl., Hdt., and Pind. down 1. an interpreter of oracles (whether uttered by the gods or the μάντεις), or of other hidden things. 2. a foreteller, soothsayer, seer. II. In the N. T. 1. one who, moved by the Spirit of God and hence his organ or spokesman, solemnly declares to men what he has received by inspiration, esp. future events, and in particular such as relate to the cause and kingdom of God and to human salvation. The title is applied to a. the O.T. prophets, —and with allusion to their age, life, death, deeds: Mt. v.12; xii. 39; xiii.17; xxiii. 29-31; Mk. vi. 15; Lk. iv. 27; x. 24; xi.47; xiii. 28; Jn. viii. 52, 53; Acts iii. 25; vii. 52; xiii. 20; Ro. xi.3; 1 Th. ii. 15; Heb. ΧΙ. 82; «68. ν- 10; appeal is made to their utteranves as having foretold the sa deeds, death, of Jesus the Messiah: Mt. i. 22; 11. 5, 15,17, 23; iii.3; iv. 14; viii. 17 ΧΊΣ 90: χαῖν lige KITT: ce xxi. 4; xxiv. 15; xxvi. 56; xxvii. 9; Mk. xiii. 14 Ree. ; Lk. i. 70; iii. 45 iv. 17; xviii. 31; xxiv. 25; Jn. i. 23,45 (46); xii. 38; Acts ii. 16; iii. 18, 21, 24; vii. 37,48; x.43; xili. 27; xv. 15; xxvi. 22 βα.; Ro. i. 2; Heb. i.1; 1 Pet. i. 10; 2 Pet. iii. 2; Rev. x. 7; in the number of prophets David also is reckoned, as one who predicted the resurrection of Christ, Acts ii. 30 sq.; so too is Balaam, 2 Pet. ii. 16 (see Βαλαάμ). by meton. προφῆται is put for the books of the prophets: Lk. xxiv. 27, 44; Acts viii. 28; xiii. 15; xxiv. 14; xxviii. 23; ἐν τοῖς προφήταις, i. q. ἐν βίβλῳ τῶν προφ. (Acts vii. 42), in the volume of the prophets (which in Hebr. has the title Ὁ 3232), Jn. vi. 45; Acts xiii. 40;—or for the teaching set forth in their books: Mt. v.17; vii. 12; xxii. 40; Lk. xvi. 29, 31; Acts xxvi. 27. See νόμος, 4. b. John the Baptist, the herald of Jesus the Messiah: Mt. xxi. 26; Mk. vi. 15; xi. 32; Lk. i. 76; xx. 6, whom Jesus declares to be greater Tee the O. T. yen because in him the hope of the Jews respecting Elijah as the forerunner of the Messiah was fulfilled: Mt. xi. 911, 14, (cf. xvii. 11,12; Mk. ix. 12 sq.) ; Lk. vii. 28[R α T Tr br.]. c. That illustrious prophet whom the Jews (apparently on the ground of Deut. xviii. 15) expected to arise just before the Messiah’s advent: Jn. i. 21, 25; vii. 40. those two illustrious prophets, the one Elijah, the other Enoch or Moses [but ef. the Comm. ; e. g. Stuart, Com. vol. ii. p. 219 sq.], who according to the writer of the Apocalypse will publicly appear shortly before the visible return of Christ from heaven: Rey. xi. 10 (cf. 3). ἃ. the Messiah: Acts iii. 22, 23; vii. 37, after Deut. xviii. 15; Jesus the Messiah, inasmuch as he is about to fulfil the expectation respecting this Messiah, Mt. xxi. 11; Jn. vi. 14. e. univ. a man filled with the Spirit of God, who by God’s authority and command in words of weight pleads the cause of God and urges the saivation of men: Mt. xxi. 46; Lk. xiii. 833; xxiv. 19; Jn. vii. 52; in the proverb that a prophet is without honor in his own country, Mt. xiii. 57; Mk. vi.4; Lk. iv. 24; Jn. iv. 44. he may be known —now by his supernatural knowledge of hidden things (even though past), Lk. vii. 39; Jn. iv. 19, (προφήτης ἀληθείας ἐστὶν 6 πάντοτε πάντα εἰδώς, τὰ μὲν γεγονότα ws ἐγένετο, Ta δὲ γινόμενα ws γίνεται, τὰ δὲ ἐσόμενα ὡς ἔσται, Clem. hom. 2, 6),— now by his power of working miracles, Lk. vii. 16; xxiv.19; Jn. ix. 17; such a prophet Jesus is shown to have been by the passages cited, nor is it denied except by his enemies, Lk. vii. 39; Jn. vii. 52. f. The prophets that appeared in the apostolic age among the Christians: Mt. x. 41; xxiii. 34; Acts xv. 32; 1 Co. xiv. 29,37; Rev. xxii. 6,9; they are associated with apostles in LE. xi. 49; 1 Co. xii. 28, 29; Eph. ii. 20; iii.5; iv. 11; Rev. xviii. 20; they discerned and did what was best for the Christian cause, Acts xiii. 1sq.; foretold certain future events, Acts xi. 27 sq.; xxi. 10sqq.; and in the religious assemblies of the Christians, being suddenly seized by the Spirit (whose promptings, however, do not impair their self-government, 1 Co. xiv. 32), give utterance in glowing and exalted but intelligible language to those things which the Holy Spirit teaches them, and which have power to instruct, comfort, encourage, rebuke, convict, stimulate, their hearers, 1 Co. xiv. 3,24. [Cf. Harnack, Lehre der Zwolf Apostel, Proleg. § 5 i. 2 p. 93 sqq. 119 sqq.; Bonwetsch in (Luthardt’s) Zeitschr. f. kirehl. Wissen. τι. s. w. 1884, pp. 408 sqq. 460 sqq.] g. Prophets both of the Old Test. and of the New are grouped together under the name προφῆται in Rev. xi. 18; xvi. 6; xviii. 24. 2 a poet (because poets were believed to sing under divine inspiration) : so of Epimenides, Tit. i. 12.
Mounce Concise Greek Dictionary
προφήτης prophētēs 144x
pr. a spokesman for another; spc. a spokesman or interpreter for a deity; a prophet, seer, Tit. 1:12; in NT a prophet, a divinely commissioned and inspired person, Mt. 14:5; Lk. 7:16, 39; Jn. 9:17; a prophet in the Christian church, a person gifted for the exposition of divine truth, 1 Cor. 12:28, 29; a prophet, a foreteller of the future, Mt. 1:22, et al. freq.; οἱ προφῆται, the prophetic scriptures of the Old Testament, Lk. 16:29
Abbott-Smith Greek Lexicon
προφήτης, -ου, ὁ [< πρόφημι, to speak forth),
[in LXX chiefly for נָבִיא;]
one who acts as an interpreter or forth-teller of the Divine will (v. Lft., Notes, 83 f.; Tr., Syn., § vi), a prophet; in cl. (Æsch., Hdt., Plat., al.), of the interpreters of oracles.
In NT, of the OT prophets: Mt 5:12, Mk 6:15, Lk 4:27, Jo 8:52, Ro 11:3, al.;
of prophets in general: Mt 10:41 13:57 21:46, Mk 6:4, Lk 13:33, al.;
of John the Baptist: Mt 21:26, Mk 6:15, Lk 1:76;
of Christ: Mt 21:11, Jo 6:14, Ac 3:22, 23 7:37 (LXX);
of Christian prophets in the apostolic age: Ac 15:32, I Co 12:28, Eph 2:20, al.;
by meton., of the writings of prophets: Lk 24:27, Ac 8:28, al.;
of a poet: Tit 1:12 (on the use of the term in π. and Inscr., v. Deiss., BS, 235 f.; MM, xxii).
Moulton & Milligan — Vocabulary of the Greek NT
προφήτης. OGIS 11118 shows us a προφήτης in Upper Egypt in ii/B.c. ; and in Sy/J 790 (=*1157)* (c. B.C. 100?), a procession is ordered in honour of the oracle of Apollo Coropaeus (Corope in the Pagasaean Gulf). The procession is formed of an elected ἱερεύς of Apollo, one each from the colleges of στρατηγοί and νομοφύλακες, one of the πρυτάνεις and a ταμίας, preceding τὸν γραμματέα τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ τὸν προφήτην. The prophet is the interpreter of the oracle—‘‘ the composer’’ would come nearer to fact—and the γραμματεύς takes down the response he dictates. See also the list of religious officials in the Canopic Decree OGIS 56% (B.c. 238) (cf. the Rosetta stone 72. 90°—B.c. 196) οἱ ἀρχιερεῖς Kal προφῆται καὶ οἱ εἰς τὸ ἄδυτον εἰσπορευόμένοι πρὸς τὸν στολισμὸν τῶν θεῶν καὶ οἱ πτεροφόραι καὶ ἱερογραμματεῖς καὶ οἱ ἄλλοι ἱερεῖς. Dittenberger notes adl. that the προφῆται are ‘‘interpretes oraculorum et scriptorum sacrorum,’’ and for the title compares P Amh II. 56° (B.c. 146 or 135) Διόδωρος... προφήτης Σοκνοπαίου θεοῦ μεγάλον ᾿Αμωνίωι χαίρειν, and similarly 7. 57°. From Roman
Liddell-Scott-Jones — Greek-English Lexicon
προφήτης (prophētēs) — prophet. προφήτ-ης, ου, Doric dialect and Boeotian dialect προφάτας [ᾱ], α, [Refs 6th c.BC+] (πρό, φημί):— properly one who speaks for a god and interprets his will to man, Διὸς π. interpreter, expounder of the will of Zeus, of Tiresias, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; Βάκχου π., perhaps of Orpheus, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; [Διονύσου] π., of the Bacchae, [Refs]; Νηρέως π., of Glaucus, [Refs]; especially of the Delphic Apollo, Διὸς π. ἐστὶ Λοξίας πατρός [Refs 4th c.BC+]; of the minister and interpreter at Delphi, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; at the Ptoön,[Refs 2nd c.BC+]; compare προφῆτις.
2. title of official keepers of the oracle at Branchidae, [Refs 1st c.AD+]; elsewhere, [Refs 2nd c.BC+]
2. b in Egyptian temples, member of the highest order of the clergy, priest, π. θεῶν Εὐεργετῶν [Refs 3rd c.BC+]
3. interpreter, expounder of the utterances of the μάντις (which see), [Refs 5th c.BC+]
4. possessor of oracular powers, of Amphiaraus, [Refs 4th c.BC+]; of Pseudo-Bacis, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; of Epimenides, [NT]
5. generally, interpreter, declarer, ἐγὼ π. σοι λόγων γενήσομαι [Refs 5th c.BC+]; π. ἀτόμων, of the Epicureans, [Refs 2nd c.AD+]; τῶν Πύρρωνος λόγων, of Timon, [Refs 2nd c.AD+]; spokesman, [LXX]
5. b metaphorically, proclaimer, harbinger, κώμου προφάτας, of the wine-bowl, [Refs 5th c.BC+]
II. herald at the games, [Refs 5th c.BC+]
III. in LXX, revealer of God's will, prophet, [LXX]
III.2. in NT, inspired preacher and teacher, organ of special revelations from God, [NT]; and (as comprised in this),
III.2. b foreteller, prophet of future events, [NT]
III.3. herbalist, Ps.-[Refs 1st c.AD+]; quack doctor, [Refs 2nd c.AD+]