προφήτης, προφήτου, ὁ (προφημι, to speak forth, speak out; hence, properly, ’one who speaks forth’; see πρό, d. ἆ.), the Sept. for ðÈáÄéà (which comes from the same root as , ’to divulge,’ ’make known,’ ’announce’ (cf. Fleischer in Delitzsch, Com. . d. Gen 4:1-26 te Aufl., p. 551f), therefore properly, equivalent to interpreter, Exo 7:1; cf. Exo 4:16; hence, an interpreter or spokesman for God; one through whom God speaks; cf. especially Bleek, Einl. in d. A. T. 4te Aufl., p. 309 (B. D. under the word and references there; especially also Day’s note on Oehler’s O. T. Theol. § 161, and Winers Grammar, Robertson Smith, Prophets of Israel, p. 389 (note on Lect. ii.))), one who speaks forth by divine inspiration;

I. In Greek writings from Aeschylus, Herodotus, and Pindar 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, especially future events, and in p*articular 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: Mat 5:12; Mat 12:39; Mat 13:17; Mat 23:29-31; Mar 6:15; Luk 4:27; Luk 10:24; Luk 11:47; Luk 13:28; Joh 8:52; Joh 8:55 Act 3:25; Act 7:52; Act 13:20; Rom 11:3; 1Th 2:15; Heb 11:32; Jas 5:10; appeal is made to their utterances as having foretold the kingdom, deeds, death, of Jesus the Messiah: Mat 1:22; Mat 2:5; Mat 2:15; Mat 2:17; Mat 2:23; Mat 3:3; Mat 4:14; Mat 8:17; Mat 11:13; Mat 12:17; Mat 13:35; Mat 21:4; Mat 24:15; Mat 26:56; Mat 27:9; Mar 13:14 Rec.; Luk 1:70; Luk 3:4; Luk 4:17; Luk 18:31; Luk 24:25; Joh 1:23; Joh 1:45(46); ; Act 2:16; Act 3:18; Act 3:21; Act 3:24; Act 7:37; Act 7:48; Act 10:43; Act 13:27; Act 15:15; Act 26:22; Rom 1:2; Heb 1:1; 1Pe 1:10; 2Pe 3:2; Rev 10:7; in the number of prophets David also is reckoned, as one who predicted the resurrection of Christ, Act 2:30 f; so too is Balaam, 2Pe 2:16 (see Βαλαάμ). by metonymy, προφῆται is put for the books of the prophets: Luk 24:27; Luk 24:44; Act 8:28; Act 13:15; Act 24:14; Act 28:23; ἐν τοῖς προφήταις, equivalent to ἐν βίβλῳ τῶν προφητῶν, (Act 7:42), in the volume of the prophets (which in Hebrew has the title ðÀáÄéàÄéí), Joh 6:45; Act 13:40; — or for the teaching set forth in their books: Mat 5:17; Mat 7:12; Mat 22:40; Luk 16:29; Luk 16:31; Act 26:27. See νόμος, 4.

b. John the Baptist, the herald of Jesus the Messiah: Mat 21:26; Mar 6:15; Mar 11:32; Luk 1:76; Luk 20:6, whom Jesus declares to be greater than the O. T. prophets, because in him the hope of the Jews respecting Elijah as the forerunner of the Messiah was fulfilled: Mat 11:9-11; Mat 11:14 (cf. Mat 17:11-12; Mar 9:12 f); Luk 7:28 (R G T Tr brackets).

c. That illustrious prophet whom the Jews (apparently on the ground of Deu 18:15) expected to arise just before the Messiah’s advent: Joh 1:21; Joh 1:25; Joh 7:40. those two illustrious prophets, the one Elijah, the other Enoch or Moses (but compare the commentaries; e. g. Stuart, commentary vol. ii, p. 219f), who according to the writer of the Apocalypse will publicly appear shortly before the visible return of Christ from heaven: Rev 11:10 (cf. 3).

d. the Messiah: Act 3:22-23; Act 7:37, after Deu 18:15; Jesus the Messiah, inasmuch as he is about to fulfil the expectation respecting this Messiah, Mat 21:11; Joh 6:14.

e. universally, "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 salvation of men": Mat 21:46; Luk 13:33; Luk 24:19; Joh 7:52; in the proverb that a prophet is without honor in his own country, Mat 13:57; Mar 6:4; Luk 4:24; Joh 4:44. he may be known — now by his supernatural knowledge of hidden things (even though past), Luk 7:39; Joh 4:19 (προφήτης ἀληθείας ἐστιν ὁ πάντοτε πάντα εἰδώς, τά μέν γεγοντα ὡς ἐγένετο, τά δέ γινόμενα ὡς γίνεται, τά δέ σεομενα ὡς ἔσται, Clement, hom. 2, 6) — now by his power of working miracles, Luk 7:16; Luk 24:19; Joh 9:17; such g prophet Jesus is shown to have been by the passages cited, nor is it denied except by his enemies, Luk 7:39; Joh 7:52.

f. The prophets that appeared in the apostolic age among the Christians: Mat 10:41; Mat 23:34; Act 15:32; 1Co 14:29; 1Co 14:37; Rev 22:6; Rev 22:9; they are associated with apostles in Luk 11:49; 1Co 12:28-29; Eph 2:20; Eph 3:5; Eph 4:11; Rev 18:20; they discerned and did what was best for the Christian cause, Act 13:1 f; foretold certain future events, Act 11:27; Act 21:10 ff; and in the religious assemblies of the Christians, being suddenly seized by the Spirit (whose promptings, however, do not impair their self-government, 1Co 14:32), 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, 1Co 14:3; 1Co 14:24. (Cf. Harnack, Lehre der Zwölf Apostel, Proleg. § 5 i. 2, p. 93ff, 119ff; Bonwetsch in (Luthardt’s) Zeitschr. f. kirchl. Wissen. as above with 1884, pp. 408ff, 460ff) g. Prophets both of the Old Testament and of the New Testament are grouped together under the name προφῆται in Rev 11:18; Rev 16:6; Rev 18:24.

2. a poet (because poets were believed to sing under divine inspiration): so of Epimenides, Tit 1:12.