A head person (of any rank or class)
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שַׂר (sar) is a Hebrew noun for a prince, ruler, chief, captain, commander, official, overseer, or another person of recognized rank. Its breadth is institutional: a sar may serve a king, command an army, supervise labor, administer a district, lead a group, oversee temple work, or appear in a vision.
Reader summary
Full entry for שַׂר (H8269) · Open the biblical lexicon
שַׂר (sar) is a Hebrew noun for a prince, ruler, chief, captain, commander, official, overseer, or another person of recognized rank. Its breadth is institutional: a sar may serve a king, command an army, supervise labor, administer a district, lead a group, oversee temple work, or appear in a vision.
The BSB source-word alignment has 421 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include the commanders (31), the commander (26), the officials (22), commanders (20), The princes (20).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 12:15. Its strongest book concentrations include Jeremiah (56), 2 Chronicles (51), 1 Chronicles (47), 1 Kings (25).
שַׂר (sar) is a Hebrew noun for a prince, ruler, chief, captain, commander, official, overseer, or another person of recognized rank. Its breadth is institutional: a sar may serve a king, command an army, supervise labor, administer a district, lead a group, oversee temple work, or appear in a vision. The title alone does not establish the person's moral character, exact office, authority source, or modern counterpart.
Scripture portrays both faithful and corrupt officials. Exodus uses the title for oppressive taskmasters and for capable leaders selected to share judicial responsibility. Naaman is a respected army commander who also seeks healing. Isaiah condemns rebellious rulers, promises just rule, and uses the title Prince of Peace in a royal birth oracle. Daniel applies sar language in visionary conflict, a setting that should not be flattened into ordinary political administration.
Rank is therefore accountable stewardship, not intrinsic superiority. Biblical titles do not grant contemporary leaders unlimited access to bodies, money, labor, votes, homes, private information, or obedience. Military and royal narratives cannot independently authorize modern violence or political domination. Healthy authority has defined jurisdiction, competence, transparency, consent where applicable, protection for vulnerable people, conflict-of-interest controls, reporting routes, and meaningful review.
H8269 identifies people of rank across royal courts, armies, households, forced labor, judicial administration, local government, temple organization, music, prophecy, royal promise, and apocalyptic vision.
Potiphar is an Egyptian official and captain of the guard who purchases Joseph, placing rank within a slaveholding household and court structure.
Egypt appoints taskmasters over Israel to oppress them with forced labor, showing that official authority can organize exploitation.
Moses is advised to select capable, God-fearing, trustworthy leaders who hate dishonest gain and assign them graduated responsibility.
Jerusalem's rulers are called rebellious companions of thieves who neglect the orphan and widow.
The promised royal child bears the title Prince of Peace within Isaiah's hope for enduring Davidic government and justice.
Daniel's vision names a prince of Persia and Michael among great princes, using courtly rank language in an apocalyptic heavenly conflict.
Joshua encounters one identifying himself as commander of the Lord's army, a singular holy-ground scene rather than a transferable military title.
Sisera is commander of Jabin's army and an agent of the oppression from which Israel seeks deliverance.
Naaman is a successful Aramean army commander who is also afflicted with a serious skin disease and enters the healing narrative as an outsider.
Chenaniah leads or instructs the singing because he is skillful, connecting responsibility with demonstrated competence.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Hebrew word. Hierarchical authority figure spanning military, administrative, and domestic domains; flexible rank rather than fixed office.
Hierarchical authority figure spanning military, administrative, and domestic domains; flexible rank rather than fixed office.
a head person (of any rank or class) BDB: chieftain Usage: captain (that had rule), chief (captain), general, governor, keeper, lord,(-task-)master, prince(-ipal), ruler, steward.
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 4 selected witnesses from 421 lexical occurrence verses.
שַׂר is built from this root:
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
H8269 prevents leadership teaching from becoming title-centered. The same noun can describe Egyptian taskmasters, Moses' delegated leaders, corrupt Judean rulers, foreign commanders, skilled music leadership, the Prince of Peace, and figures in Daniel's visions. Rank is morally undecided until the narrative shows how it is used. Exodus 18 emphasizes ability, reverence, trustworthiness, and freedom from dishonest gain; Isaiah 1 judges rulers by corruption and neglect of vulnerable people.
Contemporary application should define what a role may and may not do. A title does not erase consent, professional standards, safeguarding duties, financial controls, employment law, civil jurisdiction, or appeal. Military imagery must not turn political opponents, other religions, or traumatized people into enemies to be conquered. Daniel 10 can support sober recognition that Scripture portrays unseen conflict, but it does not allow confident mapping of territorial spirits, blaming a population for demonic control, or hazardous confrontation rituals.
Exod.18.21
H8269 is a flexible status noun whose precise translation follows the governed domain: prince, official, captain, commander, chief, overseer, or leader. Construct phrases often specify what is led, such as an army, guard, district, group, or service. Shared title does not imply shared powers or rank across institutions.
New Testament titles for rulers, officers, leaders, and spiritual powers use Greek vocabulary in distinct institutions. Christological reception of Isaiah's Prince of Peace should be developed from that passage and its canonical use, not by making every sar a type of Christ or church office.
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