Aramaic word · H5029

נְבִיא

nevi'ah'

prophet

A prophet: a person authorized to speak for God, delivering his messages of rebuke, command, promise and warning. Foretelling the future is one part of this and not the core. The Aramaic word is borrowed from Hebrew nāvî'.

A Biblical Aramaic word, from the parts of the Old Testament written in Aramaic. Why Aramaic?

Appears 4 times in 3 verses of the Aramaic of the Old Testament. ·

What it means

prophet

Aramaic of na.vi (נָבִיא "prophet" H5030)

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Ezra 5:2

Range of meaning

A prophet: a person authorized to speak for God, delivering his messages of rebuke, command, promise and warning. Foretelling the future is one part of this and not the core. The Aramaic word is borrowed from Hebrew nāvî'.

Against the English

All versions say "prophets." The English word is correct but tends to make people think of prediction.

How it drifted

In popular use "prophet" mainly means someone who predicts. Haggai and Zechariah's recorded messages of 520 BC are chiefly about the present: why the harvests are failing, whose house is still unbuilt, and "be strong and work, for I am with you" (Haggai 2:4).

Used elsewhere in the period

Ezra 5:1 and 6:14 ("they prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah"). Haggai 1:12–14; Zechariah 4:6–10 ("the hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also finish it").

Where it appears

Ezra · 4

  1. Ezra 5:1 נְבִיָּ֗א נְבִיַּיָּ֔א prophet the, prophets the

    Later, the prophets Haggai and Zechariah son of Iddo prophesied to the Jews in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel, who was over them.

  2. Ezra 5:2 נְבִיַּיָּ֥א prophets the

    Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Jeshua son of Jozadak rose up and began to rebuild the house of God in Jerusalem. And the prophets of God were with them, helping them.

    Here: "The prophets." Here these are Haggai and Zechariah, named in 5:1. Each was a spokesman who delivered God's word to the community about what it should do now.

  3. Ezra 6:14 נְבִיָּ֔א prophet the

    So the Jewish elders built and prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah son of Iddo. They finished building according to the command of the God of Israel and the decrees of Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes, kings of Persia.

    Here: His title: one who speaks God's word to the people. Haggai is always identified this way, with no family line given.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.