H7249 H7249
Chief, master; a Babylonian-Assyrian title forming compound official designations (Rab-saris, Rab-mag, Rab-shakeh)
An Akkadian loanword meaning 'chief' or 'master,' used in Hebrew exclusively as the first element of compound Babylonian court titles. It appears in phrases like Rab-saris (chief eunuch), Rab-mag (chief magician), and Rab-shakeh (chief cupbearer), all referring to high-ranking imperial officers. The word surfaces only in narratives involving Assyrian and Babylonian state encounters with Israel and Judah, marking it as a technical borrowing of foreign administrative vocabulary rather than a native Hebrew word for leadership.
Senses
1. Rab-saris (chief eunuch, Babylonian court official) — The specific compound title Rab-saris, designating the chief eunuch or chief courtier of the Babylonian court. In Jer 39:3 and 39:13, the title identifies Nebuchadnezzar's officer Nebushazban. Spanish renders the underlying sense as 'eunucos,' while English retains the transliterated form 'Saris,' reflecting the tension between transliteration and translation of foreign titles. 3×
AR["الْخَصِيِّينَ", "سَارِسَ"]·ben["নপুংসক", "নপুংসকদের", "সারীষকে"]·DE["Saris", "[סריס]"]·EN["Saris", "eunuch"]·FR["Saris", "eunuque"]·heb["סריס"]·HI["सारीस"]·ID["Saris"]·IT["Saris", "capo"]·jav["Saris", "punggawa-istana"]·KO["내시의", "환관"]·PT["Saris"]·RU["Сарис", "Сариса"]·ES["Saris", "eunucos"]·SW["matowashi"]·TR["Saris", "hadım"]·urd["خواجہ-سرا", "ساریس"]
2. chief, master (title in compound expressions) — The generic title element meaning 'chief' or 'master,' functioning as the first component in various Babylonian-Assyrian compound official designations. In 2 Kgs 18:17 it appears in multiple compound titles during the Assyrian siege of Jerusalem. Spanish 'jefe-de' (chief of) captures the compositional sense well, showing how the word serves as a rank-marker rather than a standalone noun. 3×
AR["رَبَّ-", "رَبُّ"]·ben["প্রধান-", "রব-"]·DE["Rav", "[רב]"]·EN["Rav", "chief"]·FR["Rab", "nombreux"]·heb["רב-"]·HI["रब-"]·ID["Rab-"]·IT["Rav", "capo"]·jav["Rab-", "kepala-"]·KO["장-", "총-"]·PT["Rav", "Rav-"]·RU["Рав-"]·ES["Rab", "jefe-de"]·SW["mkuu-wa", "mkuu-wa-"]·TR["Rav-", "baş-"]·urd["رب-"]
Related Senses
H3808 1. simple negation (not) (4839×)G1722 1. locative: in, within (2442×)H0376 1. man, person, human male (2130×)H1004b 1. house, dwelling, building (2015×)G3756 1. not (negation particle) (1635×)H4480a 1. source or separation (1198×)H5892b 1. city, town (1093×)G1519 1. direction: into, to, toward (1061×)H3427 1. Qal: to dwell, inhabit (937×)G1537 1. from, out of (source/origin) (886×)H8034 1. Name (designation / identifier) (856×)G3361 1. subjective negation (not) (834×)G1909 1. on, upon (spatial surface) (757×)H0369 1. existential negation: there is not (738×)H5869a 1. in the eyes/sight of (evaluative) (734×)H5650 1. Servant, attendant, subject (723×)H0408 1. prohibitive negation do-not (712×)G2443 1. so that, in order that (purpose/result) (665×)G0575 1. from (649×)G1223 1. through, by means of (582×)
BDB / Lexicon Reference
II. רַב49 n.m. chief (Assyrian-Bab. influence, cf. rab DlHWB 609b; Biblical Aramaic רַב);—cstr. ר׳ Je 39:9 +; pl. cstr. רַבֵּי 39:13; 41:1 (but v. infr.);—especially רַב־ טַבָּחִים chief of guardsmen (v. טַבָּח), only as title of Bab. officer Je 39:9, 10 + 15 times Je, 7 times ‖ 2 K 25 (cf. שַׂר הַטּ׳ in Gn [JE]); also †רַב הַחֹבֵל Jon 1:6 chief of the sailors, i.e. captain; †in gen. כָּל־רַב…