To prophesy
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Prophēteuō means to prophesy or speak a prophetic message. Its New Testament uses range from claims made by people rejected by Christ, to Spirit-enabled praise, congregational speech that exposes the heart, and the commissioned witness of Revelation.
Reader summary
Full entry for προφητεύω (G4395) · Open the biblical lexicon
Prophēteuō means to prophesy or speak a prophetic message. Its New Testament uses range from claims made by people rejected by Christ, to Spirit-enabled praise, congregational speech that exposes the heart, and the commissioned witness of Revelation.
The BSB source-word alignment has 28 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include prophesied (6), prophesies (5), Prophesy (5), they will prophesy (2), did we not prophesy (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 7:22. Its strongest book concentrations include 1 Corinthians (11), Acts (4), Matthew (4), Luke (2).
Prophēteuō means to prophesy or speak a prophetic message. Its New Testament uses range from claims made by people rejected by Christ, to Spirit-enabled praise, congregational speech that exposes the heart, and the commissioned witness of Revelation. The verb therefore does not certify a speaker merely because prophetic activity is claimed or experienced. Matthew 7:22 places the claim beneath Christ's final judgment.
First Corinthians places prophetic speech beneath intelligibility, edification, order, and discernment in the gathered church. Luke shows Zechariah speaking under the Holy Spirit, while Revelation portrays witnesses authorized by God. A responsible study asks who speaks, by what authority, with what content, and under what apostolic tests.
Prophēteuō describes prophetic speaking, but the passages refuse to treat the activity as self-authenticating. Jesus judges false claimants, the Spirit fills Zechariah, Paul regulates speech in worship for conviction and edification, and God commissions Revelation's witnesses. Authority, content, fruit, and context must all be examined.
Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’
Matthew 7:22 records people appealing to prophecy and mighty works at the judgment. Jesus' answer shows that spectacular ministry claims cannot replace knowing Him and doing the Father's will.
Then his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied:
Luke 1:67 introduces Zechariah's Spirit-filled prophecy. His song interprets God's covenant faithfulness and the coming salvation centered on the Davidic horn and John's preparatory ministry.
Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head.
First Corinthians 11:4 discusses men praying or prophesying within Paul's argument about honor and head coverings. The verse assumes the activity while addressing its fitting conduct in worship.
But if an unbeliever or uninstructed person comes in while everyone is prophesying, he will be convicted and called to account by all,
First Corinthians 14:24 imagines ordered congregational prophecy exposing an unbeliever's heart and leading to worship. The effect belongs to intelligible truth brought home to the hearer, not theatrical display.
And I will empower my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.”
Revelation 11:3 presents two witnesses receiving authority to prophesy for an appointed period. Their speech and protection belong to the symbolic vision and God's sovereign commission.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Greek word. Speaking forth divine counsel and truth, not merely predicting the future as primary purpose
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
16 of 28 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
I foretell, prophesy
Read verseI foretell, prophesy
Read verseI foretell, prophesy
Read verseI foretell, prophesy
Read verseI foretell, prophesy
Read verseI foretell, prophesy
Read verseI foretell, prophesy
Read verseI foretell, prophesy
Read verseI foretell, prophesy
Read verseI foretell, prophesy
Read verseI foretell, prophesy
Read verseI foretell, prophesy
Read verseI foretell, prophesy
Read verseI foretell, prophesy
Read verseI foretell, prophesy
Read verseI foretell, prophesy
Read verseFull New Testament corpus: 260 chapters, 7,957 verses, 140,628 tokens. Data source: honza/textus-receptus (data only), with authority check against byztxt/greektext-textus-receptus.
How mood, tense, and voice shift the force of this verb in context.
This verb appears through different tense, voice, mood, or stem patterns. Those forms help readers see how the action is presented in context.
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
How this verb appears across 26 occurrences in the NT discourse index (MACULA Greek SBLGNT).
Aspect reflects grammatical form — not authorial emphasis. Participles and infinitives are verbal adjectives and nouns respectively.
Clause data: MACULA Greek (Clear Bible, CC BY 4.0) · SBLGNT (Logos/SBL, CC BY 4.0)
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 4 selected witnesses from 28 lexical occurrence verses.
προφητεύω is built from this root:
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
The verb prophēteuō identifies prophetic speaking, but Scripture never asks the church to honor the label without discernment. Matthew 7 places claimed prophecy under Christ's searching verdict. Luke 1 displays speech filled with Scripture's covenant promises and focused on God's saving action. First Corinthians treats prophecy as communication meant to build up the gathered church, expose hearts through intelligible truth, and operate within ordered worship.
Revelation depicts witnesses whose authority is given by God for a defined mission. These passages yield neither credulity nor cynicism. They call believers to prize truthful, Christ-honoring witness while testing claims, content, conduct, and fruit under apostolic teaching. The word alone cannot settle present-day questions about gifts; those require the full arguments of the relevant passages and faithful church oversight.
1Cor.14.24
Prophēteuō is the verb related to prophētēs, a prophet. It denotes the act of prophetic speaking; it does not by its morphology determine whether a claim is true, false, predictive, exhortative, or symbolically portrayed.
Old Testament prophets speak God's word, confront covenant unfaithfulness, announce judgment and hope, and are tested for truthfulness. Luke's songs deliberately echo that scriptural world, while the New Testament centers faithful witness on Christ and apostolic truth.