Word Summary
ophis: a snake
Original Word: ὄφιςTransliteration: ophis
Phonetic Spelling: (of'-is)
Part of Speech: Noun, Masculine
Short Definition: a snake
Meaning: a snake
Strong's Concordance
serpent.
Probably from optanomai (through the idea of sharpness of vision); a snake, figuratively, (as a type of sly cunning) an artful malicious person, especially Satan -- serpent.
see GREEK optanomai
Thayer's Greek Lexicon
STRONGS NT 3789: ὄφιςὄφις,
ὀφισεως,
ὁ (perhaps named from its sight; cf.
δράκων, at the beginning, and see
Curtius, as under the word
ὀφθαλμός); from
Homer, Iliad 12, 208 down; the
Sept. mostly for
נָחָשׁ;
a snake, serpent:
Matthew 7:10;
Mark 16:18;
Luke 10:19;
Luke 11:11;
John 3:14;
1 Corinthians 10:9;
Revelation 9:19; with the ancients the serpent was an emblem of cunning and wisdom,
2 Corinthians 11:3, cf.
Genesis 3:1; hence,
φρόνιμοι ὡς οἱ ὄφεις,
Matthew 10:16 (here
WH marginal reading
ὁ ὄφις); hence, crafty hypocrites are called
ὄφεις,
Matthew 23:33. The serpent narrated to have deceived Eve (see Gen. as above) was regarded by the later Jews as the devil (Sap. ii., 23f, cf. 4 Macc. 18:8); hence, he is called
ὁ ὄφις ὁ ἀρχαῖος,
ὁ ὄφις:
Revelation 12:9, 14;
Revelation 20:2; see (Grimm on Sap. as above; From Lenormant, Beginnings of History etc., chapter ii., p. 109f, and)
δράκων.