Word study
Chief
8 Hebrew and 2 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: chief, chiefs. English often uses one word where Hebrew or Greek has several, each with its own shade of meaning. Under each word are verses where it is translated this way; choose the word itself for its full study: every verse, how else it is translated, the forms it takes and what the dictionaries say.
At a glance
How often each original word is translated “chief” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side Compare the Greek words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- רֹאשׁ rôshheadtranslated this way 40 times of its 570 uses · Strong’s H7218Noun · Translated: head 200, heads 113, chief 31, top 29Full study and all 530 verses →
Numbers 25:15 And the name of the slain Midianite woman was Cozbi, the daughter of Zur, a tribal chief of a Midianite family.
2 Samuel 23:8 These are the names of David’s mighty men: Josheb-basshebeth the Tahchemonite was chief of the Three. He wielded his spear against eight hundred men, whom he killed at one time.
- שַׂר sarchieftain, chief, ruler, official, captain, princetranslated this way 26 times of its 401 uses · Strong’s H8269Noun · Translated: commanders 74, officials 67, princes 63, commander 39Full study and all 366 verses →
Genesis 40:2 Pharaoh was angry with his two officers, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker,
1 Kings 4:2 and these were his chief officials: Azariah son of Zadok was the priest;
- אַלּוּף allûphtametranslated this way 18 times of its 31 uses · Strong’s H441Noun · Translated: chiefs 18, companion 2Full study and all 25 verses →
Genesis 36:15 These are the chiefs among the sons of Esau. The sons of Eliphaz the firstborn of Esau: Chiefs Teman, Omar, Zepho, Kenaz,
Exodus 15:15 Then the chiefs of Edom will be dismayed; trembling will seize the leaders of Moab; those who dwell in Canaan will melt away,
- נָגִיד nâgîdleadertranslated this way 5 times of its 43 uses · Strong’s H5057Noun · Translated: ruler 17, leader 6, prince 5, chief official 3Full study and all 43 verses →
1 Chronicles 9:11 Azariah son of Hilkiah, the son of Meshullam, the son of Zadok, the son of Meraioth, the son of Ahitub, the chief official of God’s temple;
2 Chronicles 31:13 Jehiel, Azaziah, Nahath, Asahel, Jerimoth, Jozabad, Eliel, Ismachiah, Mahath, and Benaiah were overseers under the authority of Conaniah and his brother Shimei, by appointment of King Hezekiah and of Azariah the chief official of the house of God.
- נָשִׂיא nâsîone lifted uptranslated this way 4 times of its 126 uses · Strong’s H5387Noun · Translated: leader 44, leaders 29, prince 26, princes 9Full study and all 119 verses →
Numbers 3:32 The chief of the leaders of the Levites was Eleazar son of Aaron the priest; he oversaw those responsible for the duties of the sanctuary.
Joshua 13:21 all the cities of the plateau and all the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon until Moses killed him and the chiefs of Midian (Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba), the princes of Sihon who lived in the land.
- רַב rabgreattranslated this way 3 times of its 14 uses · Strong’s H7229Adjective · Translated: great 9, chief 3, however great 1, commander 1Full study and all 14 verses →
Daniel 2:48 Then the king promoted Daniel and gave him many generous gifts. He made him ruler over the entire province of Babylon and chief administrator over all the wise men of Babylon.
Daniel 4:9 “O Belteshazzar, chief of the magicians, I know that the spirit of the holy gods is in you and that no mystery baffles you. So explain to me the visions I saw in my dream, and their interpretation.
- רִאשׁוֹן rishônformer, first, chieftranslated this way 2 times of its 171 uses · Strong’s H7223Adjective · Translated: first 85, beginning 10, former 9, former things 6Full study and all 164 verses →
1 Chronicles 18:17 Benaiah son of Jehoiada was over the Cherethites and Pelethites; and David’s sons were chief officials at the king’s side.
Daniel 10:13 However, the prince of the kingdom of Persia opposed me for twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left there with the kings of Persia.
- רַב rabmuch, many, greattranslated this way 2 times of its 445 uses · Strong’s H7227Adjective · Translated: many 171, great 65, captain 24, long 14Full study and all 426 verses →
Greek words (New Testament)
- ἀρχιερεύς archiereúshigh priest, chief priesttranslated this way 65 times of its 122 uses · Strong’s G749Noun · Translated: chief priests 64, high priest 52, high priesthood 2, high priests 2Full study and all 119 verses →
Matthew 2:4 And when he had assembled all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he asked them where the Christ was to be born.
Mark 8:31 Then He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and that He must be killed and after three days rise again.
- πρωτοκαθεδρία prōtokathedríaa chief seattranslated this way 4 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s G4410Noun · Translated: chief seats 4Full study and all 4 verses →
Matthew 23:6 They love the places of honor at banquets, the chief seats in the synagogues,
Mark 12:39 and to have the chief seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets.
How to study a word well
- Start from the verse, not the dictionary. Find which Hebrew or Greek word stands in the verse you are studying. One English word often translates several different original words.
- Read every place the word is used. A word means what its writers used it to mean. The list of verses and the count by book show its range, and who uses it most.
- Look at how it is translated. A word rendered five different ways has a wider meaning than any one English word can carry.
- Notice the form. A command is not a statement, and a passive verb is something done to the subject. The form in your verse is part of the meaning.
- See what it keeps company with. The words that appear beside it again and again show how the Bible itself connects ideas.
- Then read the dictionaries. They give the considered view of scholars, with their evidence.
- Come back to the verse. Context decides. A word does not carry every one of its meanings into every verse, and where a word came from does not settle what it means in a sentence written centuries later.
Scripture text and translation counts: Berean Standard Bible. Full entry: Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906, public domain), in the digital edition Brown-Driver-Briggs Enhanced by unfoldingWord (Joel Ruark, J. de Joode), based on data by Eliran Wong and Stephen Ku; its additions are used under CC BY 4.0. Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary: Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible Project, CC BY 4.0. Hebrew-to-English verse numbering: original work of the Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible available at https://github.com/openscriptures/morphhb, CC BY 4.0. We reformatted the data, linked the references to this site’s Bible text and left out words in other scripts that the source holds only as images. These are historical reference works; an entry gives its authors’ view, and a word’s meaning in any verse depends on how it is used there.