Word study
Officer
10 Hebrew and 4 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: officers, officer. 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 “officer” 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)
- שֹׁטֵר shôṭêrofficial, officertranslated this way 16 times of its 26 uses · Strong’s H7860Noun · Translated: officers 15, foremen 5, officials 2Full study and all 25 verses →
Numbers 11:16 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Bring Me seventy of the elders of Israel known to you as leaders and officers of the people. Bring them to the Tent of Meeting and have them stand there with you.
Deuteronomy 1:15 So I took the leaders of your tribes, wise and respected men, and appointed them as leaders over you — as commanders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens, and as officers for your tribes.
- שַׂר sarchieftain, chief, ruler, official, captain, princetranslated this way 15 times of its 401 uses · Strong’s H8269Noun · Translated: commanders 74, officials 67, princes 63, commander 39Full study and all 366 verses →
1 Kings 9:22 But Solomon did not consign any of the Israelites to slavery, because they were his men of war, his servants, his officers, his captains, and the commanders of his chariots and cavalry.
2 Kings 11:14 And she looked out and saw the king standing by the pillar, according to the custom. The officers and trumpeters were beside the king, and all the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets. Then Athaliah tore her clothes and screamed, “Treason! Treason!”
- שָׁלִישׁ shâlîshthirdtranslated this way 10 times of its 16 uses · Strong’s H7991Noun · Translated: officers 5, officer 4, captains 2Full study and all 15 verses →
Exodus 14:7 He took 600 of the best chariots, and all the other chariots of Egypt, with officers over all of them.
2 Kings 7:2 But the officer on whose arm the king leaned answered the man of God, “Look, even if the LORD were to make windows in heaven, could this really happen?” “You will see it with your own eyes,” replied Elisha, “but you will not eat any of it.”
- עֶבֶד ebedslave, servanttranslated this way 7 times of its 793 uses · Strong’s H5650Noun · Translated: servant 327, servants 282, officials 31, slaves 24Full study and all 712 verses →
- סָרִיס sârîseunuchtranslated this way 4 times of its 41 uses · Strong’s H5631Noun · Translated: eunuchs 13, officials 6, official 6, court officials 5Full study and all 41 verses →
Genesis 37:36 Meanwhile, the Midianites sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and captain of the guard.
2 Kings 8:6 When the king asked the woman, she confirmed it. So the king appointed for her an officer, saying, “Restore all that was hers, along with all the proceeds of the field from the day that she left the country until now.”
- פָּקִיד pâqîdcommissioner, deputy, overseertranslated this way 4 times of its 13 uses · Strong’s H6496Noun · Translated: officer 3, commissioners 2, appointed 2, overseer 2Full study and all 13 verses →
Judges 9:28 Then Gaal son of Ebed said, “Who is Abimelech, and who is Shechem, that we should serve him? Is he not the son of Jerubbaal, and is not Zebul his officer? You are to serve the men of Hamor, the father of Shechem. Why should we serve Abimelech?
2 Chronicles 24:11 Whenever the chest was brought by the Levites to the king’s overseers and they saw that there was a large amount of money, the royal scribe and the officer of the high priest would come and empty the chest and carry it back to its place. They did this daily and gathered the money in abundance.
- נַעַר naara shaking, scatteringtranslated this way 4 times of its 227 uses · Strong’s H5288Noun · Translated: boy 48, young men 30, young man 27, servant 25Full study and all 214 verses →
1 Kings 20:14 “By whom?” Ahab asked. And the prophet replied, “This is what the LORD says: ‘By the young officers of the district governors.’” “Who will start the battle?” asked Ahab. “You will,” answered the prophet.
1 Kings 20:15 So Ahab assembled the young officers of the district governors, and there were 232 men. And after them, he assembled the rest of the Israelite troops, 7,000 in all.
- פֶּחָה pechâhgovernortranslated this way 3 times of its 28 uses · Strong’s H6346Noun · Translated: governors 14, governor 8, officer 2, allotted to the governor 2Full study and all 27 verses →
1 Kings 20:24 So do this: Dismiss all the kings from their positions and replace them with other officers.
2 Kings 18:24 For how can you repel a single officer among the least of my master’s servants when you depend on Egypt for chariots and horsemen?
- נָגִיד nâgîdleadertranslated this way 3 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 26:24 Shebuel, a descendant of Gershom son of Moses, was the officer in charge of the treasuries.
2 Chronicles 11:11 He strengthened their fortifications and put officers in them, with supplies of food, oil, and wine.
- פָּקַד pâqadattend to, visit, muster, appointtranslated this way 2 times of its 294 uses · Strong’s H6485Verb · Translated: punish 41, numbered 26, appointed 15, counted 14Full study and all 267 verses →
Numbers 31:14 But Moses was angry with the officers of the army — the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds — who were returning from the battle.
Numbers 31:48 Then the officers who were over the units of the army — the commanders of thousands and of hundreds — approached Moses
Greek words (New Testament)
- ὑπηρέτης hypērétēsa servant, an attendanttranslated this way 13 times of its 20 uses · Strong’s G5257Noun · Translated: officers 12, servants 3Full study and all 20 verses →
Matthew 5:25 Reconcile quickly with your adversary, while you are still on the way to court. Otherwise, he may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison.
Mark 14:54 Peter followed Him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest. And he sat with the officers and warmed himself by the fire.
- πράκτωρ práktōran officer employed to execute judicial sentencestranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s G4233Noun · Translated: officer 2Full study and its 1 verse →
Luke 12:58 Make every effort to reconcile with your adversary while you are on your way to the magistrate. Otherwise, he may drag you off to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and the officer may throw you into prison.
- στρατηγός stratēgósa general, magistrate, captain of the templetranslated this way 2 times of its 10 uses · Strong’s G4755Noun · Translated: magistrates 5, captain 3, officers 1, temple officers 1Full study and all 10 verses →
Luke 22:4 And Judas went to discuss with the chief priests and temple officers how he might betray Jesus to them.
Luke 22:52 Then Jesus said to the chief priests, temple officers, and elders who had come for Him, “Have you come out with swords and clubs as you would against an outlaw?
- ῥαβδοῦχος rhabdoûchosa lictor, Roman officertranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s G4465Noun · Translated: officers 2Full study and all 2 verses →
Acts 16:35 When daylight came, the magistrates sent their officers with the order: “Release those men.”
Acts 16:38 So the officers relayed this message to the magistrates, who were alarmed to hear that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens.
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.
What the Bible says about officer: passages by topic →
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.