Word study

Official

7 Hebrew and 2 Greek words behind this English word

The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: officials, official. 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 “official” 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)

  • שַׂר sarchieftain, chief, ruler, official, captain, princetranslated this way 70 times of its 401 uses · Strong’s H8269Noun  ·  Translated: commanders 74, officials 67, princes 63, commander 39

    Genesis 12:15 When Pharaoh’s officials saw Sarai, they commended her to him, and she was taken into the palace of Pharaoh.

    1 Kings 4:2 and these were his chief officials: Azariah son of Zadok was the priest;

    Full study and all 366 verses →
  • עֶבֶד ebedslave, servanttranslated this way 33 times of its 793 uses · Strong’s H5650Noun  ·  Translated: servant 327, servants 282, officials 31, slaves 24

    Genesis 40:20 On the third day, which was Pharaoh’s birthday, he held a feast for all his officials, and in their presence he lifted up the heads of the chief cupbearer and the chief baker.

    Exodus 5:21 “May the LORD look upon you and judge you,” the foremen said, “for you have made us a stench before Pharaoh and his officials; you have placed in their hand a sword to kill us!”

    Full study and all 712 verses →
  • סָרִיס sârîseunuchtranslated this way 21 times of its 41 uses · Strong’s H5631Noun  ·  Translated: eunuchs 13, officials 6, official 6, court officials 5

    Genesis 40:7 So he asked the officials of Pharaoh who were in custody with him in his master’s house, “Why are your faces so downcast today?”

    1 Samuel 8:15 He will take a tenth of your grain and grape harvest and give it to his officials and servants.

    Full study and all 41 verses →
  • סָגָן sâgânprefect, rulertranslated this way 13 times of its 17 uses · Strong’s H5461Noun  ·  Translated: officials 13, commanders 3, rulers 1

    Ezra 9:2 Indeed, the Israelites have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and their sons, so that the holy seed has been mixed with the people of the land. And the leaders and officials have taken the lead in this unfaithfulness!”

    Nehemiah 2:16 The officials did not know where I had gone or what I was doing, for I had not yet told the Jews or priests or nobles or officials or any other workers.

    Full study and all 16 verses →
  • נָגִיד nâgîdleadertranslated this way 4 times of its 43 uses · Strong’s H5057Noun  ·  Translated: ruler 17, leader 6, prince 5, chief official 3

    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.

    Full study and all 43 verses →
  • אֲפַרְסְכַי Ăpharsekayan Apharsekite, Apharsathkitetranslated this way 3 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s H671Noun  ·  Translated: officials 3

    Ezra 4:9 From Rehum the commander, Shimshai the scribe, and the rest of their associates— the judges and officials over Tripolis, Persia, Erech and Babylon, the Elamites of Susa,

    Ezra 5:6 This is the text of the letter that Tattenai the governor of the region west of the Euphrates, Shethar-bozenai, and their associates, the officials in the region, sent to King Darius.

    Full study and all 3 verses →
  • שֹׁטֵר shôṭêrofficial, officertranslated this way 2 times of its 26 uses · Strong’s H7860Noun  ·  Translated: officers 15, foremen 5, officials 2

    Deuteronomy 16:18 You are to appoint judges and officials for your tribes in every town that the LORD your God is giving you. They are to judge the people with righteous judgment.

    Deuteronomy 29:10 All of you are standing today before the LORD your God— you leaders of tribes, elders, officials, and all the men of Israel,

    Full study and all 25 verses →

Greek words (New Testament)

  • πολιτάρχης politárchēsa ruler of a citytranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s G4173Noun  ·  Translated: city officials 2

    Acts 17:6 But when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some other brothers before the city officials, shouting, “These men who have turned the world upside down have now come here,

    Acts 17:8 On hearing this, the crowd and city officials were greatly disturbed.

    Full study and all 2 verses →
  • βασιλικός basilikósconnected with a king, royal, regaltranslated this way 2 times of its 5 uses · Strong’s G937Adjective  ·  Translated: royal 2, royal official 1, official 1, king's 1

    John 4:46 So once again He came to Cana in Galilee, where He had turned the water into wine. And there was a royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum.

    John 4:49 “Sir,” the official said, “come down before my child dies.”

    Full study and all 5 verses →
How to study a word well
  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. Look at how it is translated. A word rendered five different ways has a wider meaning than any one English word can carry.
  4. 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.
  5. See what it keeps company with. The words that appear beside it again and again show how the Bible itself connects ideas.
  6. Then read the dictionaries. They give the considered view of scholars, with their evidence.
  7. 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.