To plan
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bouleuo means to deliberate, plan, resolve, consider, or decide. The New Testament uses it for prudent calculation before battle, murderous plotting against Jesus and Lazarus, council rage resolving to kill the apostles, sailors deciding how to beach a ship, and Paul's defense that his ministry plans were not careless or fleshly yes-and-no speech.
Reader summary
Full entry for βουλεύω (G1011) · Open the biblical lexicon
bouleuo means to deliberate, plan, resolve, consider, or decide. The New Testament uses it for prudent calculation before battle, murderous plotting against Jesus and Lazarus, council rage resolving to kill the apostles, sailors deciding how to beach a ship, and Paul's defense that his ministry plans were not careless or fleshly yes-and-no speech.
The BSB source-word alignment has 7 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include . . . (1), [and] consider (1), do I make my plans (1), made plans (1), they decided (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Luke 14:31. Its strongest book concentrations include 2 Corinthians (2), Acts (2), John (2), Luke (1).
Bouleuo means to deliberate, plan, resolve, consider, or decide. The New Testament uses it for prudent calculation before battle, murderous plotting against Jesus and Lazarus, council rage resolving to kill the apostles, sailors deciding how to beach a ship, and Paul's defense that his ministry plans were not careless or fleshly yes-and-no speech. The word itself does not determine whether planning is wise or wicked.
The moral quality depends on the aim, fear of God, truthfulness, and submission to God's purposes. Pastorally, bouleuo helps readers distinguish faithful deliberation from scheming. It calls leaders, churches, and disciples to plan honestly under God rather than baptize self-protective or violent resolve.
Bouleuo describes planning, deliberating, resolving, or deciding. These witnesses show wise consideration, murderous plotting, enraged council resolve, crisis decision-making, and Paul's defense of truthful ministry planning.
Or what king on his way to war with another king will not first sit down and consider whether he can engage with ten thousand men the one coming against him with twenty thousand?
Jesus uses deliberation as an image for counting the cost. Planning here serves sober assessment.
So from that day on they plotted to kill Him.
The leaders deliberate toward killing Jesus. bouleuo can describe planning hardened into rebellion.
So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus as well,
The plotting extends to Lazarus because his life points others to Jesus. Planning becomes resistance to witness.
When the Council members heard this, they were enraged, and they resolved to put the apostles to death.
The council's resolve comes from rage against apostolic witness. Deliberation becomes violent opposition.
When daylight came, they did not recognize the land, but they sighted a bay with a sandy beach, where they decided to run the ship aground if they could.
Sailors decide on a practical crisis response. The word can describe ordinary prudential judgment.
When I planned this, did I do it carelessly? Or do I make my plans by human standards, so as to say “Yes, yes” and also “No, no”?
Paul defends his planning from the charge of careless or fleshly inconsistency. Ministry planning must be truthful.
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. to plan
(βουλή), [in LXX chiefly for יעץ ;] to take counsel, deliberate, resolve. In mid.,
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
8 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
I deliberate, take counsel
Read verseI deliberate, take counsel
Read verseI deliberate, take counsel
Read verseI deliberate, take counsel
Read verseI deliberate, take counsel
Read verseI deliberate, take counsel
Read verseI deliberate, take counsel
Read verseI deliberate, take counsel
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 this verb appears across 6 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)
βουλεύω 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.
Bouleuo is morally flexible because planning is morally flexible. A king may consider his strength before battle, and sailors may decide how to survive a storm. But the same verb can describe leaders plotting to kill Jesus, planning to kill Lazarus, or resolving to put the apostles to death. Paul uses the word when defending his own ministry plans from the charge of careless, fleshly yes-and-no behavior.
The preacher should therefore avoid slogans either against planning or in praise of planning. Scripture asks what the plan serves. Faithful deliberation counts cost, tells truth, seeks obedience, and submits to God; wicked deliberation organizes rebellion with careful steps.
2Cor.1.17
Bouleuo focuses on deliberation or planning, not on whether the plan is righteous. Context supplies the moral direction through motive, object, and outcome.
Scripture contrasts the counsel of the Lord with the plans of the wicked. New Testament uses of bouleuo show both wise consideration and human plans that oppose God's Messiah and messengers.