שַׂר

prince

also: ruler, leader, chief, chieftain fuller range ↓

H8269 Strong's Hebrew

sar Transliteration

/sar/ Pronunciation

Usage in the Hebrew Bible 421 appearances

Definition — BDB

prince, ruler, leader, chief, chieftain, official, captain - chieftain, leader - vassal, noble, official (under king) - captain, general, commander (military) - chief, head, overseer (of other official classes) - heads, princes (of religious office)

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Cite this entry

Strong's H8269 — שר (sar), "prince". Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB, 1906). Lemma, https://lemma.gebible.app/w/H8269.

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BibTeX

@misc{lemma-H8269,
  author       = {Lemma},
  title        = {H8269 שר (sar) — prince},
  howpublished = {\url{https://lemma.gebible.app/w/H8269}},
  note         = {Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB, 1906). Lemma interlinear Bible study tool}
}

RIS

TY  - GEN
AU  - Lemma
TI  - H8269 — שר (sar), "prince"
PB  - Lemma
N1  - Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB, 1906)
UR  - https://lemma.gebible.app/w/H8269
ER  -

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Grammar key — what these labels mean

Noun: A naming word — a person, place, thing, or idea.

Common: A common noun — a general class of person, place, or thing (“king,” “city,” “water”), not a specific name.

Construct: A noun bound to a following noun in a possessive / “of” relationship (the construct chain).
Absolute: The independent form of a noun, not bound to a following word.

Masculine: Grammatically masculine.

Plural: More than one (in Hebrew, generally three or more).
Singular: One.

95 distinct verses where H8269 appears in the Absolute state, across 22 books. Filtered view — show all forms. Click any verse to open its interlinear word-by-word view. Verse text shown in the World English Bible for context — . Each verse’s Hebrew form is shown with its reference; the English is not keyword-highlighted, since the data carries no word-level English alignment. Use “Compare translations” on any verse to read it across multiple English versions. This concordance covers the Hebrew Bible; Septuagint (Greek Old Testament) occurrences are not indexed here.

Exodus 1 verse

Exodus 2:14 שַׂ֤ר n c ms He said, "Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you plan to kill me, as you killed the Egyptian?" Moses was afraid, and said, "Surely this thing is known."

Numbers 3 verses

1 Samuel 1 verse

1 Samuel 22:2 לְ/שָׂ֑ר prep + n c ms Everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was discontented, gathered themselves to him; and he became captain over them: and there were with him about four hundred men.

2 Samuel 4 verses

1 Kings 1 verse

1 Kings 4:2 הַ/שָּׂרִ֖ים ptcl def.art + n c mp These were the princes whom he had: Azariah the son of Zadok, the priest;

2 Kings 3 verses

1 Chronicles 16 verses

2 Chronicles 11 verses

Ezra 4 verses

Nehemiah 1 verse

Nehemiah 4:16 וְ/הַ֨/שָּׂרִ֔ים conj + ptcl def.art + n c mp It happened from that time forth, that half of my servants worked in the work, and half of them held the spears, the shields, and the bows, and the coats of mail; and the rulers were behind all the house of Judah.

Esther 5 verses

Job 4 verses

Psalms 5 verses

Proverbs 2 verses

Ecclesiastes 1 verse

Ecclesiastes 10:7 וְ/שָׂרִ֛ים conj + n c mp I have seen servants on horses, and princes walking like servants on the earth.

Isaiah 4 verses

Jeremiah 18 verses

Lamentations 1 verse

Lamentations 5:12 שָׂרִים֙ n c mp Princes were hanged up by their hand: The faces of elders were not honored.

Daniel 3 verses

Hosea 5 verses

Micah 1 verse

Micah 7:3 הַ/שַּׂ֣ר ptcl def.art + n c ms Their hands are on that which is evil to do it diligently. The ruler and judge ask for a bribe; And the powerful man dictates the evil desire of his soul. Thus they conspire together.

Zephaniah 1 verse

Zephaniah 1:8 הַ/שָּׂרִ֖ים ptcl def.art + n c mp It will happen in the day of Yahweh's sacrifice, that I will punish the princes, the king's sons, and all those who as are clothed with foreign clothing.

At a glance — auto-summarized from this page’s data, not written by a person. Every figure links to its source below. This summary describes the numbers; it doesn’t interpret them.

שר — transliterated sar — is a Hebrew noun carrying the sense “prince.” The King James Version usually renders it “princes,” while modern versions prefer “commanders” (Berean Standard Bible) — see the renderings breakdown. With 368 verses in 28 books, it is a common word in the Hebrew Bible. Debuting at Genesis 12:15, it then recurs through the corpus. Alongside “prince” the lexicon also lists “ruler”, “leader”, and “chief” — part of its full sense range. Each statement above links to its evidence; the full detail follows below.

Gloss history

Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship

Strong's · 1890

captain

Modern gloss

prince

About this word

Strong's H8269 catalogs a Hebrew word from the Hebrew Old Testament.

These counts are not copied from any lexicon or concordance. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged Hebrew Old Testament. What Lemma adds →

368: distinct verses; The word appears in 368 distinct verses.
28 / 39: OT books; The word appears in 28 of 39 Old Testament books.
Genesis 12:15: first appearance; The earliest occurrence is in Genesis 12:15.
Zephaniah 3:3: last appearance; The latest occurrence is in Zephaniah 3:3.
#117: by frequency; Top 250 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 117 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).

View all 368 occurrences in the concordance →

Most concentrated in

Jeremiah 52 verses 14%
2 Chronicles 47 verses 13%
1 Chronicles 37 verses 10%

By section of the Old Testament

Pentateuch 42 · 11%
Historical 206 · 56%
Wisdom 17 · 5%
Prophets 103 · 28%

By traditional corpus

Conventional, traditional groupings — biblical authorship is debated, so this is a traditional corpus grouping, not an authorship claim. Each share is this word’s portion of its verses in that division of the Hebrew canon. Each figure is a share of the word’s 368 distinct verses.

Prophets (Nevi'im) 166 verses · 45%
Writings (Ketuvim) 160 verses · 43%
Torah (Pentateuch) 42 verses · 11%

How translations render this word

Counts come from each version’s own published word-to-Strong’s tagging or interlinear alignment — an approximate guide to how each version renders this word, not a word-level alignment the data otherwise carries. Because each total is that version’s own tagged count, the per-version totals vary from one another and need not match the appearance or distinct-verse counts above. These counts may also differ from a printed concordance because Lemma counts each distinctly tagged rendering and does not collapse phrase taggings into a single head-word total. This is a fixed set of word-tagged versions (KJV, ASV, BSB, ULT) and does not change with the reading translation you choose elsewhere. Each version’s license is shown beside its name below (and on Sources).

BDB lists this Strong’s number as 2 distinct words (homographs). Each count above pools all of them and is not split by sense — see the Senses section below. A low-frequency rendering may belong to a different one of those words, not the primary meaning.

King James Version: Princes 139×, Captains 57×, Captain 39×
American Standard Version: Princes 133×, Captains 54×, Captain 42×
Berean Standard Bible: Commanders 73×, Officials 67×, Princes 61×
unfoldingWord Literal Text: Princes 46×, Commanders of 39×, Leaders of 36×

King James Version Public Domain

Renders H8269 across 420 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

“Princes” 139×
“Captains” 57×
“Captain” 39×
“Chief” 24×
“Rulers” 19×
“All the princes” 15×
“Prince” 14×
“All the captains” 10×
“Ruler” 10×
“Governor” 4×
“Came to pass when the captains” 3×
“Chief captain” 3×

Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 62 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings. Not rendered by a distinct English word in 1 further occurrence.

American Standard Version Public Domain

Renders H8269 across 418 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

“Princes” 133×
“Captains” 54×
“Captain” 42×
“All the princes” 16×
“Chief” 16×
“Prince” 12×
“Rulers” 11×
“All the captains” 9×
“Ruler” 9×
“Governor” 5×
“'s princes” 4×
“Came to pass” 4×

Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 77 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.

Berean Standard Bible Public Domain

Renders H8269 across 399 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

“Commanders” 73×
“Officials” 67×
“Princes” 61×
“Commander” 37×
“Leaders” 33×
“Chief” 25×
“Officers” 15×
“Captain” 13×
“Prince” 9×
“Ruler” 9×
“Rulers” 8×
“Governor” 5×

Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 25 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings. Not rendered by a distinct English word in 21 further occurrences.

unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0

Renders H8269 across 390 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

“Princes” 46×
“Commanders of” 39×
“Leaders of” 36×
“Commander of” 34×
“Chiefs of” 31×
“Chief of” 30×
“Officials” 21×
“Chiefs” 16×
“Officials of” 14×
“Princes of” 14×
“Commanders” 11×
“The” 11×

Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 20 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.

19 senses and sub-senses in the full BDB

What do BDB’s symbols mean?

BDB uses these scholarly abbreviations:

Symbol	Meaning
𝔊	the Septuagint (the ancient Greek translation, LXX)
𝔙	the Vulgate (the Latin translation)
𝔖	the Syriac version (the Peshitta)
𝔗	the Targum (the Aramaic translation)
ψ	the Psalms
√	root (the underlying root or stem)
‖	parallel passage (a synonymous or contrasted parallel)
†	the dagger: every passage where the word occurs is cited

The 19 senses and sub-senses the full Brown-Driver-Briggs lexicon distinguishes for this word, in lexicon order (not ranked by frequency), with BDB’s own verbatim wording and sub-sense lettering. Shown in Hebrew script with BDB’s own scholarly abbreviations. The condensed entry is in the Lexicon Entry tab. See also the Forms in the corpus table below.

שר I be stubborn, rebellious (usually towards י׳) (NH id., (rare)

Qal

Pf. 3 ms. ס׳ יִשְׂרָאֵל Ho 4:16 Isr. is stubborn; Pt. act. בֵּן סוֹרֵר וּמוֹרֶה Dt 21:18, cf. v 20; בָּנִים סוֹרְרִים Is 30:1, עַם סוֹרֵר 65:2, דּוֹר ס׳ וּמֹרֶה ψ 78:8 (all of Isr.); לֵב ס׳ וּמוֹרֶה Je 5:23; פָּרָה סֹרֵרָ֔ה Ho 4:16 (sim. of Isr., v. supr.); as pred. שָׂרֵיהֶם סוֹרְרִים Ho 9:15 cf. Is 1:23; סָרֵי סוֹרְרִים Je 6:28 revolters among the rebellious (? cf. סור Qal ad fin., and סַר infr.); of loose woman הֹמִיָּה הִיא וְסוֹרָ֑רֶת Pr 7:11; as subst. = the stubborn, ψ 66:7; 68:7, 19; fs. וַיִּתְּנוּ כָתֵף סֹרֶ֫רֶת Ne 9:29 and they presented a stubborn shoulder (of Isr.) = Zc 7:11 (סֹרָ֑רֶת). e.g. Hosea 4:16

שר II chieftain, chief, ruler, official, captain, prince (NH especially of angels

1. chieftain, leader:
- a. pl. of Isr. Nu 21:18 (poem in JE; ‖ נְדִיב הָעָם), of Issachar Ju 5:15 (poem); שָׂרֵי גִלְעָד 10:18 is dub. (we should expect וְשׂ׳, and cf. זִקְנֵי ג׳, instead, 11:5–11); of Midian 7:25; 8:3; Philistines 1 S 29:3(×2), 4(×2), 9 (appar. = סְרָנִים v 2, 6, 7 [We], yet disting. by HPS and [with reserve] Bu; 𝔊 𝔖 𝔙 Th Bu del. in v 4b), cf. 18:30; poet., of כְּמוֹשׂ (i.e. the leading Moabites) Je 48:7, of מלכם (q.v.; i.e. the leading Ammonites) Am 1:15 = Je 49:3. e.g. Numbers 21:18
- b. sg. David as leader of freebooters 1 S 22:2; cf. שׂ׳ גְּדוּד 1 K 11:24, pl. 2 S 4:2. e.g. 1 Samuel 22:2
2. vassal, noble, official, under king (acting, on occasion, as counsellor, commander, etc.):
- a. pl., in Egypt Gn 12:15 (J) + 3 times Is + 30:4 Di Du Skinner (> of foreign embassy [cf. ‖ מַלְאָכָיו] Che al. reading [CheHeb.Hpt. Marti] שָׂרִים), 105:22; Moab Nu 22:8 + 8 times 22, 23 (JE), Am 2:3; Edom Is 34:12 (‖ חֹרִים); As. 10:8; 31:9; Bab. 21:5 + 7 times Je + 2 Ch 32:31 (but here perhaps vaguely = authorities); other nations Je 49:38 + 17 times Ezr Est; in gen. Is 49:7; officials, officials class, under kings of Israel: David (only Chr) 1 Ch 22:17 + 5 times 1 Ch, Ezr 8:20; Sol. 1 K 4:2; Jehoiachin 2 K 24:12, 14; Zedek. Je 34:21; 2 Ch 36:18; other kings 19 times 2 Chr; in gen. Ec 10:16, 17; see also (Judah) Je 1:18 + 31 times Je (17:25a del. שׂ׳ Gf Che Gie Du), 4 times La, Ez 17:12, Zp 1:8 (where disting. from בְּנֵי הַמֶּלֶךְ, who are never called שׂ׳); so, in gen., Ne 9:32, 34 Dn 9:6, 8; and (N. Isr.) Ho 3:4 + 6 times Ho. e.g. Genesis 12:15
- b. as having powers of magistrate Ex 2:14 (E. + שֹׁפֵט); under Moses (over groups of 1000, 100, 50, 10) 18:21 + 7 times 18 (E), Dt 1:15(×4); later in Judah Ho 5:10 (Now reads שָׂרֵי יִשׂ׳), Is 1:23, cf. 3:4, 14; 32:1; Mi 7:3 (sg.; ‖ שֹׁפֵט), Zp 3:3 (‖ id.), Ez 22:27, cf. Pr 8:16 (‖ נְדִיבִים); 28:2 read perhaps צָרֶיהָ, v. Toy. e.g. Exodus 2:14
- c. as ruler or magistrate of a district (מְדִינָה), 1 K 20:14, 15, 17, 19 (cf. Est 1:3; 8:9; 9:3, שָׂרֵי עַם וָעָם 3:12). e.g. 1 Kings 20:14
- d. as commandant of city, שׂ׳ הָעִיר Ju 9:30, cf. 1 K 22:26 = 2 Ch 18:25, 2 K 23:8; 2 Ch 34:8; of citadel, שׂ׳ הַבִּירָה Ne 7:2; pl. of city officials, שׂ׳ סֻכּוֹת Ju 8:6, 14 (disting. from זְקֵנִים), cf. 2 K 10:1; 2 Ch 29:20. e.g. Judges 9:30
3. specif. military, = captain, general:
- a. שַׂר־(ה)צבא Gn 21:22, 32 (E), 26:26 (J), 1 S 12:9 + 23 times, + שׂ׳־צ׳־י׳ Jos 5:14, 15 (JE; צָבָא 1 b), angel-captain in vision; v. also 8, 9; שָׂרֵי הַצּ׳ 1 K 1:25 + 3 times Chr, שָׂרִים בַּצּ׳ 1 Ch 12:22 (Gi Baer; van d. H. v 21); שָׂרֵי צְבָאוֹת Dt 20:9; 1 K 2:5; 1 Ch 27:3; שַׂר־הַחַ֫יִל 2 S 24:2 (but read וְאֶל־שָׂרֵי as 𝔊L and ‖ 1 Ch 21:2 Th We Dr HPS Bu), שָׂרֵי (הַ)ח׳ v 4(×2), 2 K 9:5; 2 Ch 33:14; Ne 2:9, שָׂרֵי הַחֲיָלִים 1 K 15:20 = 2 Ch 16:4; 2 K 25:23; 26 Je 40:7, 13 + 7 times Je; שָׂרֵי מִלְחָמוֹת 2 Ch 32:6; so (ה)שׂר alone 2 S 18:5; 19:7 1 K 9:22 = 2 Ch 8:9 𝔊B Be Kit (שָׂרָיו וְשָׁלִישָׁיו, for MT שָׂרֵי שׂ׳), 2 K 9:5(×2); 1 Ch 11:6, 21 + 9 times, + Jb 39:25 Dn 11:5; שׂ׳ וְגָדוֹל 2 S 3:38 (of Abner); poss. military fig. also in שַׂר שָׁלוֹם Is 9:5 (Mess. name). e.g. Genesis 21:22
- b. leading companies of 50 2 K 1:9–14; Is 3:3, of 100; 1 S 22:7 + 16 times + 8:12 (reading מֵאוֹת for חֲמִשִּׁים 𝔊 HPS, cf. We; Bu ins. שָׂרֵי מֵאוֹת), of 1000; 1 S 17:18 + 11 times, + שָׂרֵי הָאֲלָפִים וְהַמֵּאוֹת 1 Ch 13:1 26:26 (disting. from שָׂרֵי הַצָּבָא), 27:1; 29:6; 2 Ch 1:2; also שׂ׳ הָרֶכֶב captain of the chariotry 1 K 22:31, 32, 33 = 2 Ch 18:30, 31, 32 + 3 times + שָׂרֵי ר׳ וּפָרָשָׁיו 1 K 9:22 = 2 Ch 8:9. e.g. 2 Kings 1:9
4.
- a. chief, head, of other official classes: שַׂר הַטַּבָּחִים, Egypt, Gn 37:36 + 5 times; שָׂרֵי הָרָצִים 1 K 14:27 = 2 Ch 12:10; שָׂרֵי הַנִּצָּבִים 1 K 5:30; 9:23 = 2 Ch 8:10; even domestic positions (court of Pharaoh), שַׂר הַמַּשְׁקִים Gn 40:2 + 5 times, שַׂר הָאוֹפוֹת 40:2 + 4 times (all E); שָׂרֵי הַמַּהְלְקוֹת 1 Ch 28:1, i.e. of the successive courses of royal military officials; cf. הַשַּׂר 27:28; שַׂר הַסָּרִיסִים Dn 1:7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 18; שַׂר מְנוּחָה Je 51:59. e.g. Genesis 37:36
- b. = overseer: שַׂר בֵּית הַסֹּהַר Gn 39:21, 23, שָׂרֵי מִקְנֶה 47:6 (all J; cf. אַבִּיר הָרֹעִים 1 S 21:8), שָׂרֵי מִסִּים Ex 1:11 (J); cf. 1 Ch 15:27; 29:6; 27:31; 28:1.—In 1 Ch 15:22 read prob. סַר הַמַּשָּׂא (= שַׂר) overseer of the carrying (for MT בְּמַשָּׂא יָסֹר בַּמַּשָּׂא), so 𝔊 Benz Kit, Be יָסֹר = יָשׂר; v. another view יָסַר Qal. e.g. Genesis 39:21
5. of religious office: שָׂרֵי הַכֹּהֲנִים Ezr 8:24, 29; 10:5 2 Ch 36:14; שׂ׳ הַלְוִיִּם 1 Ch 15:16, 22 2 Ch 35:9, cf. 1 Ch 15:5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10; heads of classes or courses of priests, called שָׂרֵי קֹדֶשׁ 1 Ch 24:5, שׂ׳ אֱלֹהִים v 5;—שָׂרֵי ק׳ Is 43:28 (usually consecrated princes, whether priests, or kings, or both) is prob. corrupt, read perhaps שַׁעֲרֵי (Du) or וַיְחַלְּלוּ שָׂרֶיךָ קָדְשִׁי 𝔊 Houb Klo CheHpt Gr (substantially). e.g. Ezra 8:24
6. late, of representative leaders of people, tribal heads, שׂ׳ שִׁבְטֵי יִשׂ׳ 1 Ch 27:22; 29:6, cf. 28:1; appar. = elders, שׂ׳ הָעָם Ez 11:1; 2 Ch 24:23; שׂ׳ alone, ψ 68:28(×3); in post-exilic Jerus. Ezr 9:1; 2 Ne 4:10; 10:1; 11:1 (שָׂרֵי הָעָם), + elders Ezr 10:8, 14; called שָׂרֵי יְהוּדָה Ne 12:31, 32; of district-rulers 3:9, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19; of heads of families, שָׂרֵי הָאָבוֹת Ezr 8:29; 1 Ch 29:6 (= רָאשֵׁי הָא׳ 24:31; 27:1; Ne 7:70). e.g. 1 Chronicles 27:22
7. late, as term of rank and dignity, Is 23:8 (cf. ‘merchant-princes’), Jb 3:15; 29:9 (‖ נְגִידִים), 34:19 ψ 45:17; 82:7; 148:11, opp. עבד(ים) Pr 19:10; Ec 10:7; formidable foes ψ 119:23, 161. e.g. Isaiah 23:8
8. = patron-angel, only Dn: פָּרַס (מַלְכוּת) שַׂר 10:13, 20, שׂ׳ יָוָן v 20; specif. of מִיכָאֵל v 13, 21; 12:1. e.g. Daniel 10:13
9. שַׂר־הַצָבָא 8:11 = God (prob., cf. צָבָא 1 c; yet v. also צ׳ 1 b), so שַׂר שָׂרִים v 25. e.g. Daniel 8:11

Senses from the full Brown-Driver-Briggs lexicon (Brown, Driver, Briggs; Oxford 1906 — public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). Full attribution on Sources.

Word origin

I. vb. be stubborn, rebellious (usually towards י׳) (NH id., (rare); Assyrian sarâru);—

II. n.m. chieftain, chief, ruler, official, captain, prince (NH especially of angels; Assyrian šarru, king);—abs. שַׂר 2 S 3:38 +, הַשַּׂר Mi 7:3 +, שָׂ֑ר Ho 3:4 +; cstr. שַׂר Ju 4:2 +; sf. שַׂרְכֶם Dn 10:21; pl. שָׂרִים 1 K 4:2 +; cstr. שָׂרֵי Gn 12:15 +; sf. שָׂרַי Ju 5:15; Is 10:8, שָׂרֵיכֶם Je 44:21, שָׂרֵיהֶם Is 3:4 +;—

— Brown-Driver-Briggs (Oxford 1906, public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). See Sources.

Derived from שרר (sârar) (H8323) — to rule.

Part of speech: Noun Masculine TWOT: 2295a

Jastrow Dictionary

A second Hebrew/Aramaic lexicon for comparison, covering Aramaic and post-biblical (Talmudic, Targumic, Midrashic) usage that the biblical-Hebrew BDB does not. Matched by lemma rather than by Strong’s number, so a lemma may carry more than one Jastrow headword (shown separately below), and the entries cover usage well beyond the Bible.

שֵׁר

Tower of Sher (or Shed), Straton’s Tower (v. Hildesh. Beitr. p. 4 sq.). Sifré Deut. 51 מדבר שרשך דור, read: מגדל שר שן דור; Yalk. ib. 874 מגדל שרשן דירו (corr. acc.); Y. Shebi. VI, 36ᶜ top מגדל שיד.

שַׂר

prince, chief.; שר (של מעלה) guardian angel, genius. Zeb. 116ᵇ שר ונגיד a prince or a nobleman. Yeb. 16ᵇ שר העולם the genius of the universe; Ḥull. 60ᵃ. Ex. R. s. 22 נטל הקב"ה שר שלהם וכ׳ the Lord took first their (the Egyptians’) guardian angel and drowned him. Pes. 118ᵃ שר הברד, v. יוּרְקָמִי. Ib. אני שר של אש I (Gabriel) am the angel of fire. B. Bath. 74ᵇ שר של ים the angel of the sea. Mekh. B’shall., Shir., s. 2 כיון שראו שָׂרָהּ של מלכות נופל (not נופלת) when they saw the genius of the (Egyptian) empire fallen; Yalk. Ex. 243; a. v. fr.—Pl. שָׂרִים. Ib. אין … משָׂרֵיהֶן תחלה the Lord will not punish governments, unless he have punished their guardian angels first. Gen. R. s. 78, beg. מיכאל … שהם ש׳ של מעלה Michael and Gabriel who are the princes on high. Yalk. l. c. קרא … לכל שָׂרֵי האומות the Lord summoned all the tutelary angels of the nations. Cant. R. to VIII, 14 ש׳ של מעלה the princes on high (angels); ש׳ של מטה the earthly (human) governors. Ib. (play on הרי בשמים, ib.) המתינו לי … על הריהם שהם שָׂרֵיהֶם שנתונים אצלי בַּשָּׁמַיִם (not שנתונות) wait until I shall have sat in judgment over their mounts, that is, their chiefs that are placed with me in heaven; a. fr.—Gen. R. s. 98 גני ש׳, v. גִּינֵּיסַר.—Fem. שָׂרָה. Tosef. Ber. I, 12 (ref. to Gen. XVII, 15) בתחלה הרי היא ש׳ על עמה ועכשיו הרי היא ש׳ על אומות העולם ed. Zuck. (Var. שָׂרַי על עמה … על כל באי העולם, v. ed. Zuck. note) at first she was a princess of her own people, and now she is a princess for the nations of the world (for all that enter into the world); Ber. 13ᵃ שרי לאומתה … ש׳ לכל העולם. e.g. Genesis 17:15

A Dictionary of the Targumim, the Talmud Babli and Yerushalmi, and the Midrashic Literature (Marcus Jastrow; London, Luzac, 1903) — Public Domain. Digitized via Sefaria. Digitized via Sefaria. Full attribution on Sources.

Forms in the corpus

The 134 distinct written forms H8269 takes in the Hebrew Bible, most frequent first — each parse links to that state’s occurrences in the concordance. Hebrew forms include their vowel points and cantillation, so a single lemma takes many written forms.

Form	Parsing	Example	Uses
שָׂרֵ֣י	Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Construct	Esther 1:14	48
שַׂר	Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct	Daniel 8:25	36
שָׂרֵ֥י	Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Construct	Deuteronomy 20:9	29
שָׂרֵ֨י	Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Construct	Deuteronomy 1:15	20
שַׂ֣ר	Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct	Daniel 1:11	19
וְ/שָׂרֵ֣י	Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Construct	Deuteronomy 1:15	16
שַׂ֥ר	Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct	Daniel 1:7	12
שָׂרֵ֤י	Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Construct	Exodus 18:21	12
וְ/שָׂרֵ֥י	Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Construct	Esther 1:3	10
הַ/שָּׂרִ֖ים	Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Absolute	Esther 3:1	9
הַ/שָּׂרִים֙	Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Absolute	Esther 1:16	7
שַֽׂר	Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct	Daniel 8:11	6
הַ/שָּׂ֔ר	Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute	1 Chronicles 15:5	5
שַׂ֤ר	Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct	Daniel 1:10	4
הַ/שָּׂרִ֔ים	Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Absolute	Jeremiah 26:11	4
וְ/הַ/שָּׂרִים֙	Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Absolute	Esther 1:11	4
שַׂ֕ר	Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct	Nehemiah 3:9	4
שָׂ֣רֵי	Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Construct	Isaiah 19:11	4
שָׂ֭רִים	Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Absolute	Job 3:15	4
שָׂרִ֖ים	Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Absolute	Hosea 7:5	4
שָׂרֵ֖י	Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Construct	Ezekiel 11:1	4
שָׂרֵ֧י	Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Construct	1 Chronicles 13:1	4
שָׂרֵֽי	Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Construct	2 Chronicles 12:6	4
וְ/שָׂרֵ֤י	Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Construct	Deuteronomy 1:15	3
לְ/שָׂ֑ר	Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute	1 Chronicles 11:21	3
לְ/שָׂרֵ֣י	Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Construct	1 Chronicles 15:16	3
שַׂ֖ר	Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct	Genesis 37:36	3
שָׂרִ֣ים	Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Absolute	1 Chronicles 12:34	3
שָׂרָ֑י/ו	Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Construct	Daniel 11:5	3
שָׂרָי/ו֙	Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Construct	Esther 2:18	3
הַ/שַּׂ֣ר	Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute	Daniel 12:1	2
הַ/שָּׂ֑ר	Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute	2 Chronicles 17:15	2
הַ/שָּׂ֖ר	Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute	1 Chronicles 15:8	2
הַ/שָּׂרִ֜ים	Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Absolute	Jeremiah 36:14	2
הַ/שָּׂרִ֣ים	Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Absolute	Ezra 9:2	2
הַ/שָּׂרִֽים	Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Absolute	Jeremiah 36:12	2
וְ/הַ/שָּׂרִ֑ים	Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Absolute	Esther 1:21	2
וְ/הַ/שָּׂרִ֔ים	Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Absolute	Esther 1:16	2
וְ/שַׂר	Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct	1 Chronicles 27:34	2
וְ/שָׂרֵ֨י	Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Construct	Esther 8:9	2
וְ/שָׂרָ֑י/ו	Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Construct	2 Chronicles 36:18	2
וְ/שָׂרָ֖י/ו	Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Construct	Jeremiah 48:7	2
וְ/שָׂרָ֛י/ו	Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Construct	Amos 1:15	2
וְ/שָׂרָ֣י/ו	Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Construct	1 Kings 9:22	2
מִ/שָּׂרֵ֥י	Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Construct	Ezra 8:24	2
שָֽׂרֵי	Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Construct	1 Chronicles 24:5	2
שָֽׂרֵי/הֶ֔ם	Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Construct	Jeremiah 2:26	2
שָׂרִ֔ים	Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Absolute	Isaiah 23:8	2
שָׂרִ֗ים	Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Absolute	Job 34:19	2
שָׂרִֽים	Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Absolute	Hosea 7:3	2
שָׂרִים֙	Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Absolute	Daniel 8:25	2
שָׂרֵי/הֶ֖ם	Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Construct	Hosea 7:16	2
שָׂרֵי֩	Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Construct	Ezra 10:5	2
שָׂרֶ֑י/הָ	Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Construct	Jeremiah 25:18	2
שָׂרֶ֖י/הָ	Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Construct	Isaiah 34:12	2
שָׂרֶ֣י/הָ	Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Construct	Ezekiel 22:27	2
שָׂרָ֖י/ו	Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Construct	Esther 1:3	2
בְּ/שָׂרִֽים	Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Absolute	Proverbs 19:10	1
הַ/שַּׂ֖ר	Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute	1 Chronicles 27:8	1
הַ/שַּׂ֥ר	Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute	1 Chronicles 15:27	1

The 60 most common forms are shown; 74 rarer forms follow in the full concordance.

Same root — word family

Other BDB entries built from the same root as H8269, grouped by Strong’s listed origin. These share a root / origin per the lexicon — not necessarily a shared meaning. Each links to that word’s own entry.

Derives from

שרר sârar H8323 to rule

Derived from this word

שרה sârâh H8282 princess

Proper names from this root

People and places named from this root — a name, not an additional meaning of the word.

שרי Sâray H8297 Sarai

Compare all same-root words → 1 of the same-root words is a proper name (a person or place). They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.

Septuagint verse parallels

This word appears in 335 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 368 Hebrew verses it occurs in. You can read those verses in Greek by switching the Old Testament edition to the Septuagint.

Read these verses in the Septuagint

This is a verse-level parallel only — the same verses exist in both the Hebrew and Greek Old Testaments. No word-level Hebrew↔Greek correspondence is claimed: the data carries no such alignment, so no Greek word is shown as this Hebrew word’s translation. Coverage is not total — the Septuagint omits the deuterocanon and renumbers the Psalms, so some Hebrew verses have no direct Greek parallel.