שַׂר
sar
ruler
Lexicon Entry
Lexicon data from STEPBible TIPNR, Tyndale House, Cambridge. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
What Original Readers Understood
Supported# The Hebrew Word "Sar" (שַׂר): Ruler The Hebrew term *sar*, appearing 421 times throughout the Bible, carries the primary meaning of "ruler" and denotes individuals who exercise authority over others. This is one of the most frequently occurring words for leadership in biblical texts, reflecting the central importance of hierarchical governance in ancient Israelite society and the ancient Near East more broadly. The sheer number of occurrences suggests that discussions of rule, authority, and leadership were fundamental to biblical discourse. The word's high frequency of use indicates it functioned as a standard, general term for various types of leaders rather than a specialized technical designation. The 421 biblical occurrences span diverse contexts—from military commanders to administrative officials to household overseers—suggesting the term encompassed a range of authority figures across different institutional settings. This semantic breadth made *sar* a versatile vocabulary choice for biblical authors describing anyone who held power over a defined group or domain. Given its prevalence in biblical literature, the term *sar* represents how ancient Hebrew-speaking communities conceptualized and discussed power structures and leadership. The frequency of the word reflects a society preoccupied with questions of who held authority and how it was exercised, making it essential vocabulary for understanding the political and social dimensions of biblical narratives.
Source data & methodology
Occurrences in Scripture
421 total occurrences across the text — showing 50
Now when Jehoram had risen up over the kingdom of his father, and had strengthened himself, he killed all his brothers with the sword, and also some of the princes of Israel.
2 Chronicles 21:9Then Jehoram went there with his captains and all his chariots with him. He rose up by night and struck the Edomites who surrounded him, along with the captains of the chariots.
2 Chronicles 21:9Then Jehoram went there with his captains and all his chariots with him. He rose up by night and struck the Edomites who surrounded him, along with the captains of the chariots.
2 Chronicles 22:8When Jehu was executing judgment on Ahab’s house, he found the princes of Judah and the sons of the brothers of Ahaziah, serving Ahaziah, and killed them.
2 Chronicles 23:1In the seventh year, Jehoiada strengthened himself, and took the captains of hundreds, Azariah the son of Jeroham, Ishmael the son of Jehohanan, Azariah the son of Obed, Maaseiah the son of Adaiah, and Elishaphat the son of Zichri, into a covenant with him.
2 Chronicles 23:9Jehoiada the priest delivered to the captains of hundreds the spears, and bucklers, and shields, that had been king David’s, which were in God’s house.
2 Chronicles 23:13Then she looked, and, behold, the king stood by his pillar at the entrance, and the captains and the trumpets by the king. All the people of the land rejoiced, and blew trumpets. The singers also played musical instruments, and led the singing of praise. Then Athaliah tore her clothes, and said, “Treason! treason!”
2 Chronicles 23:14Jehoiada the priest brought out the captains of hundreds who were set over the army, and said to them, “Bring her out between the ranks; and whoever follows her, let him be slain with the sword.” For the priest said, “Don’t kill her in Yahweh’s house.”
2 Chronicles 23:20He took the captains of hundreds, the nobles, the governors of the people, and all the people of the land, and brought the king down from Yahweh’s house. They came through the upper gate to the king’s house, and set the king on the throne of the kingdom.
2 Chronicles 24:10All the princes and all the people rejoiced, and brought in, and cast into the chest, until they had filled it.
2 Chronicles 24:17Now after the death of Jehoiada, the princes of Judah came, and bowed down to the king. Then the king listened to them.
2 Chronicles 24:23At the end of the year, the army of the Syrians came up against him: and they came to Judah and Jerusalem, and destroyed all the princes of the people from among the people, and sent all their plunder to the king of Damascus.
2 Chronicles 25:5Moreover Amaziah gathered Judah together, and ordered them according to their fathers’ houses, under captains of thousands and captains of hundreds, even all Judah and Benjamin. He counted them from twenty years old and upward, and found that there were three hundred thousand chosen men, able to go out to war, who could handle spear and shield.
2 Chronicles 25:5Moreover Amaziah gathered Judah together, and ordered them according to their fathers’ houses, under captains of thousands and captains of hundreds, even all Judah and Benjamin. He counted them from twenty years old and upward, and found that there were three hundred thousand chosen men, able to go out to war, who could handle spear and shield.
2 Chronicles 26:11Moreover Uzziah had an army of fighting men, who went out to war by bands, according to the number of their reckoning made by Jeiel the scribe and Maaseiah the officer, under the hand of Hananiah, one of the king’s captains.
2 Chronicles 28:14So the armed men left the captives and the plunder before the princes and all the assembly.
2 Chronicles 28:21For Ahaz took away a portion out of Yahweh’s house, and out of the house of the king and of the princes, and gave it to the king of Assyria; but it didn’t help him.
2 Chronicles 29:20Then Hezekiah the king arose early, gathered the princes of the city, and went up to Yahweh’s house.
2 Chronicles 29:30Moreover Hezekiah the king and the princes commanded the Levites to sing praises to Yahweh with the words of David, and of Asaph the seer. They sang praises with gladness, and they bowed their heads and worshiped.
2 Chronicles 30:2For the king had taken counsel with his princes and all the assembly in Jerusalem to keep the Passover in the second month.
2 Chronicles 30:6So the couriers went with the letters from the king and his princes throughout all Israel and Judah, and according to the commandment of the king, saying, “You children of Israel, turn again to Yahweh, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, that he may return to the remnant of you that have escaped out of the hand of the kings of Assyria.
2 Chronicles 30:12Also the hand of God came on Judah to give them one heart, to do the commandment of the king and of the princes by Yahweh’s word.
2 Chronicles 30:24For Hezekiah king of Judah gave to the assembly for offerings one thousand bulls and seven thousand sheep; and the princes gave to the assembly a thousand bulls and ten thousand sheep: and a great number of priests sanctified themselves.
2 Chronicles 31:8When Hezekiah and the princes came and saw the heaps, they blessed Yahweh and his people Israel.
2 Chronicles 32:3he took counsel with his princes and his mighty men to stop the waters of the springs which were outside of the city, and they helped him.
2 Chronicles 32:6He set captains of war over the people, and gathered them together to him in the wide place at the gate of the city, and spoke encouragingly to them, saying,
2 Chronicles 32:21Yahweh sent an angel, who cut off all the mighty men of valor, and the leaders and captains, in the camp of the king of Assyria. So he returned with shame of face to his own land. When he had come into the house of his god, those who came out of his own body killed him there with the sword.
2 Chronicles 32:31However concerning the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon, who sent to him to inquire of the wonder that was done in the land, God left him, to try him, that he might know all that was in his heart.
2 Chronicles 33:11Therefore Yahweh brought on them the captains of the army of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh in chains, bound him with fetters, and carried him to Babylon.
2 Chronicles 33:14Now after this, he built an outer wall to David’s city, on the west side of Gihon, in the valley, even to the entrance at the fish gate. He encircled Ophel with it, and raised it up to a very great height; and he put valiant captains in all the fortified cities of Judah.
2 Chronicles 34:8Now in the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had purged the land and the house, he sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, and Maaseiah the governor of the city, and Joah the son of Joahaz the recorder, to repair Yahweh his God’s house.
2 Chronicles 35:8His princes gave for a free will offering to the people, to the priests, and to the Levites. Hilkiah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, the rulers of God’s house, gave to the priests for the Passover offerings two thousand six hundred small livestock, and three hundred head of cattle.
2 Chronicles 35:9Conaniah also, and Shemaiah and Nethanel, his brothers, and Hashabiah, Jeiel, and Jozabad, the chiefs of the Levites, gave to the Levites for the Passover offerings five thousand small livestock and five hundred head of cattle.
2 Chronicles 36:14Moreover all the chiefs of the priests, and the people, trespassed very greatly after all the abominations of the nations; and they polluted Yahweh’s house which he had made holy in Jerusalem.
2 Chronicles 36:18All the vessels of God’s house, great and small, and the treasures of Yahweh’s house, and the treasures of the king, and of his princes, all these he brought to Babylon.
Ezra 7:28and has extended loving kindness to me before the king and his counselors, and before all the king’s mighty princes. I was strengthened according to Yahweh my God’s hand on me, and I gathered together chief men out of Israel to go up with me.
Ezra 8:20and of the temple servants, whom David and the princes had given for the service of the Levites, two hundred twenty temple servants. All of them were mentioned by name.
Ezra 8:24Then I set apart twelve of the chiefs of the priests, even Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and ten of their brothers with them,
Ezra 8:25and weighed to them the silver, the gold, and the vessels, even the offering for the house of our God, which the king, his counselors, his princes, and all Israel there present, had offered.
Ezra 8:29Watch and keep them, until you weigh them before the chiefs of the priests and the Levites, and the princes of the fathers’ households of Israel, at Jerusalem, in the rooms of Yahweh’s house.”
Ezra 8:29Watch and keep them, until you weigh them before the chiefs of the priests and the Levites, and the princes of the fathers’ households of Israel, at Jerusalem, in the rooms of Yahweh’s house.”
Ezra 9:1Now when these things were done, the princes came near to me, saying, “The people of Israel, the priests, and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands, following their abominations, even those of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites.
Ezra 9:2For they have taken of their daughters for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy offspring have mixed themselves with the peoples of the lands. Yes, the hand of the princes and rulers has been chief in this trespass.”
Ezra 10:5Then Ezra arose, and made the chiefs of the priests, the Levites, and all Israel, to swear that they would do according to this word. So they swore.
Ezra 10:8and that whoever didn’t come within three days, according to the counsel of the princes and the elders, all his possessions should be forfeited, and himself separated from the assembly of the captivity.
Ezra 10:14Now let our princes be appointed for all the assembly, and let all those who are in our cities who have married foreign women come at appointed times, and with them the elders of every city, and its judges, until the fierce wrath of our God is turned from us, until this matter is resolved.”
Nehemiah 2:9Then I came to the governors beyond the River, and gave them the king’s letters. Now the king had sent captains of the army and horsemen with me.
Nehemiah 3:9Next to them, Rephaiah the son of Hur, the ruler of half the district of Jerusalem, made repairs.
Nehemiah 3:12Next to him, Shallum the son of Hallohesh, the ruler of half the district of Jerusalem, he and his daughters, made repairs.
Nehemiah 3:14Malchijah the son of Rechab, the ruler of the district of Beth Haccherem repaired the dung gate. He built it, and set up its doors, its bolts, and its bars.