Hebrew word · H1373

גַּבַּי

gabai

"men"

A personal name found only here in the Bible. Where the name comes from is uncertain. It may be connected to the root g-b-b, 'to be curved or high', or it may be a shortened form of a longer name. (Gabbai, 'collector', is a later rabbinic word with no clear link to this name.)

Appears once in the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

A man living at the time of Exile and Return, only mentioned at Neh.11.8; also translated "men";

§ Gabbai = "my back"

the head of an important Benjamite family living in Jerusalem in the time of Nehemiah

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Nehemiah 11:8

Range of meaning

A personal name found only here in the Bible. Where the name comes from is uncertain. It may be connected to the root g-b-b, 'to be curved or high', or it may be a shortened form of a longer name. (Gabbai, 'collector', is a later rabbinic word with no clear link to this name.)

Against the English

Most English versions keep it as a name. Versions that correct the text drop it and read 'men of valor' or 'mighty men' instead.

Used elsewhere in the period

The Greek Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate both seem to treat the words as names, which suggests the present Hebrew reading is old. The parallel list in 1 Chronicles 9:7–9 names Sallu but has no Gabbai or Sallai, and gives a total of 956 'kinsmen'.

Where it appears

Nehemiah · 1

  1. Nehemiah 11:8 גַּבַּ֣י Gabbai

    and his followers Gabbai and Sallai—928 men.

    Here: As the Hebrew text stands, this is the name of a Benjaminite leader, or possibly of a clan. The name appears nowhere else in the Bible, and what it means is uncertain. Some scholars think the letters were originally part of the word for 'mighty men' (see the debate below).

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.