Chief
סָרֵךְStrong’s H5632sarekh (sa-rekh)
Appears in 5 verses of the Old Testament
In short
Sarekh is the Aramaic word usually translated “overseers the”, “overseers” and “overseers of”. It appears in 5 verses of the Old Testament.
“And over these three presidents; of whom Daniel was first: that the princes might give accounts unto them, and the king should have no damage.”
Meaning
- Chief, overseer
How it's translated
- overseers the 3
- overseers 1
- overseers of 1
Word-by-word English from the STEPBible tagged text.
Where it's used most
- Daniel 5
1 book in all.
Explore in Scripture
- Daniel 6:3In contextThen this Daniel was preferred above the presidents and princes, because an excellent spirit was in him; and the king thought to set him over the whole realm.
- Daniel 6:4In contextThen the presidents and princes sought to find occasion against Daniel concerning the kingdom; but they could find none occasion nor fault; forasmuch as he was faithful, neither was there any error or fault found in him.
- Daniel 6:6In contextThen these presidents and princes assembled together to the king, and said thus unto him, King Darius, live for ever.
- Daniel 6:7In contextAll the presidents of the kingdom, the governors, and the princes, the counsellors, and the captains, have consulted together to establish a royal statute, and to make a firm decree, that whosoever shall ask a petition of any God or man for thirty days, save of thee, O king, he shall be cast into the den of lions.
Aramaic dictionary
סָרֵךְ sarekh · chief
chief, overseer
From STEPBible’s Hebrew lexicon (based on Brown-Driver-Briggs).
Webster's 1828 Dictionary
How the English word “chief” was understood when the King James Version was still the common Bible of English readers.
CHIEF, adjective
- Highest in office or rank; principal; as a chief priest; the chief butler. Genesis 40:9“Among the chief rulers, many believed on him” John 12:42
- Principal or most eminent, in any quality or action; most distinguished; having most influence; commanding most respect; taking the lead; most valuable; most important; a word of extensive use; as a country chief in arms.“The hand of the princes and rulers hath been chief in this trespass” Ezra 9:2
- First in affection; most dear and familiar.“A whisperer separateth chief friends” Proverbs 16:28
All definitions and other forms of “chief”
CHIEF, noun
- A commander; particularly a military commander; the person who heads an army; equivalent to the modern terms, commander or general in chief captain general, or generalissimo. 1 Chronicles 11:6
- The principal person of a tribe, family, or congregation, etc.
- In chief in English law, in capite.
- In heraldry, chief signifies the head or upper part of the escutcheon, from side to side, representing a mans head.
- In Spenser, it seems to signify something like achievement, a mark of distinction; as, chaplets wrought with a chief
- This word is often used, in the singular number, to express a plurality.“I took the chief of your tribes, wise men and known, and made them heads over you” Deuteronomy 1:15“These were the chief of the officers, that were over Solomons work” 1 Kings 9:23
- The principal part; the most or largest part, of one thing or of many.“The people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed” 1 Samuel 15:21“He smote the chief of their strength” Psalms 78:51
CHIEF, adverb
Chiefly.
Noah Webster, An American Dictionary of the English Language (1828). Verse references are checked against the KJV. Read the full entry.
Verses are from the King James Version. Word meanings come from the original Aramaic, not from any one translation.