"counsel, purpose, design, determination, decree, Lk. 7:30; 23:51, et al. freq.; by impl. secret thoughts, cogitations of the mind, 1 Cor. 4:5"
Definition and meaning
counsel, purpose, design, determination, decree, Lk. 7:30; 23:51, et al. freq.; by impl. secret thoughts, cogitations of the mind, 1 Cor. 4:5
In the original Greek the word is written: βουλή
Historical context
Luke wrote as a historian addressing a Greek audience. He carefully interviewed eyewitnesses and arranged events in order. The social and economic realities he describes — Roman taxation, Jewish religious hierarchy, the marginalization of women and the poor — are consistent with first-century Judea under Roman administration.
The people who first heard this word were not reading a book — they were living through empires, oppression, exile, and covenant. Every word carried the weight of that reality. Understanding it changes how you read Scripture.
Scripture references
These are the most notable occurrences of boule (G1012) across the King James Bible.
But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves, being not baptized of him.
(The same had not consented to the counsel and deed of them;) he was of Arimathaea, a city of the Jews: who also himself waited for the kingdom of God.
Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:
For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.
And now I say unto you, Refrain from these men, and let them alone: for if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nought:
For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption:
For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.
And because the haven was not commodious to winter in, the more part advised to depart thence also, if by any means they might attain to Phenice, and there to winter; which is an haven of Crete, and lieth toward the south west and north west.
And the soldiers' counsel was to kill the prisoners, lest any of them should swim out, and escape.
Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.
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Common questions
Strong's G1012 (boule) is a Greek word that means: counsel, purpose, design, determination, decree, Lk. 7:30; 23:51, et al. freq.; by impl. secret thoughts, cogitations of the mind, 1 Cor. 4:5 It appears 12 times in the King James Bible.
The word boule (G1012) appears 12 times in the original Greek text.
Strong's G1012 is boule, a Greek word defined as: counsel, purpose, design, determination, decree, Lk. 7:30; 23:51, et al. freq.; by impl. secret thoughts, cogitations of the mind, 1 Cor. 4:5. James Strong catalogued this in his 1890 concordance to help English readers study the original languages of the Bible.
boule is a Greek word found in the New Testament.