Hebrew word · H4522

מַס

mas

taskworker

Corvée: compulsory, unpaid labor owed to a state or overlord, and by extension the labor gang itself ('mas ʿōbēd', 'a toiling labor gang', Genesis 49:15; 1 Kings 9:21). Only in late texts (Esther 10:1) does it move toward 'tribute, levy' in the sense of payment.

Appears 23 times in 22 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) gang or body of forced labourers, task-workers, labour band or gang, forced service, task-work, serfdom, tributary, tribute, levy, taskmasters, discomfited

1a) labour-band, labour-gang, slave gang

1b) gang-overseers

1c) forced service, serfdom, tribute, enforced payment

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 Proverbs 12:24

Range of meaning

Corvée: compulsory, unpaid labor owed to a state or overlord, and by extension the labor gang itself ('mas ʿōbēd', 'a toiling labor gang', Genesis 49:15; 1 Kings 9:21). Only in late texts (Esther 10:1) does it move toward 'tribute, levy' in the sense of payment.

Against the English

KJV 'under tribute' reflects the later, monetary sense. Modern readers hear 'tribute' as a payment or an honor. BSB, NIV, ESV and NASB rightly say 'forced labor'. WEB and NLT's 'slave' goes slightly beyond the word: corvée workers were drafted laborers, not necessarily owned slaves.

How it drifted

The late meaning of 'tax/tribute' (Esther) and the Latin 'tributum' (Vulgate 'tributis serviet') shaped the KJV wording.

Used elsewhere in the period

Related to Late Bronze Age Canaanite and Akkadian 'massu', labor-gang workers (Alalakh and Amarna texts). In the Bible: Canaanites 'put to mas' (Joshua 16:10; Judges 1:28–35); Solomon's levy of 30,000 men for Lebanon (1 Kings 5:13–14); Adoram 'over the mas', stoned by the protesting northern tribes (1 Kings 12:18); Jerusalem 'has become lāmas', 'a forced laborer' (Lamentations 1:1).

From the study of Exodus 1:11

Range of meaning

Mas means compulsory labor for the state: people drafted into work gangs to build, haul or farm for the crown. It can mean the labor itself, the gang doing it, or the people subject to it. Śārê missîm are the 'chiefs over the labor gangs', the officials who ran the system.

Against the English

KJV and ESV have 'taskmasters'. NIV and NLT have 'slave masters' or 'slave drivers'. BSB's contextual gloss is 'slave gangs'. 'Taskmaster' today suggests a demanding boss, while 'slave' suggests chattel ownership. The Hebrew phrase is an administrative title for running a labor draft. Exodus does go on to call this 'slavery' (ʿavodah, vv. 13–14), but this verse uses the language of state forced labor.

How it drifted

'Taskmaster' (16th century) once meant simply the person who assigned the tasks. It has since softened into a word for a strict supervisor and lost the sense of a government officer over conscripted workers.

Used elsewhere in the period

The word is used for Canaanites made into labor gangs (Josh 16:10; Judg 1:28–35). David and Solomon had an official 'over the mas', Adoram/Adoniram (2 Sam 20:24; 1 Kgs 4:6; 5:13–14). It describes Solomon's labor draft that built the temple, Millo, Hazor, Megiddo, Gezer and his store cities (1 Kgs 9:15–21), and Jeroboam was put over 'the sevel of the house of Joseph' (1 Kgs 11:28). In Akkadian texts from Alalakh, the cognate massu means a labor-gang worker. Exodus 1:11 is the only place the exact phrase śārê missîm occurs. Rainey (IEJ 1970) and HALOT treat it as a technical term.

From the study of 1 Kings 9:15

Range of meaning

In the monarchy period, mas means compulsory labor for the state (a corvée, meaning unpaid work owed to the crown), or the gang of workers drafted for it. Related phrases: 'to become mas' means to be put to forced labor (e.g. Canaanites in Josh 16:10; Judg 1:28–35). 'Mas ʿoved' means 'slave labor', permanent bondage (1 Kgs 9:21). 'The one over the mas' is the official in charge of the draft: Adoram/Adoniram (2 Sam 20:24; 1 Kgs 4:6; 12:18). Only in late books (Esth 10:1) does mas mean a monetary tribute or tax.

Against the English

BSB, WEB, NIV, ESV and NASB: 'forced labor'. KJV: 'levy', which in 1611 meant a body of men raised by levying but today usually suggests a tax. YLT: 'tribute', which sounds like money paid to an overlord.

How it drifted

The later Hebrew sense 'tax, tribute' and the English sense of 'levy' as a charge of money pull modern readers away from what is meant here: bodies, sweat and months away from home.

Used elsewhere in the period

The word is borrowed from the Late Bronze Age Canaanite and Akkadian administrative term massu, 'corvée worker(s)'. In Amarna letter EA 365, Biridiya, ruler of Megiddo, boasts that he alone supplied corvée workers to plow land at Shunem for Pharaoh. So the word and the practice were at home at Megiddo, one of the cities named in this verse, centuries before Solomon. Alalakh texts also use massu for labor gangs.

Where it appears

Genesis · 1

  1. Genesis 49:15 לְמַס־ <into> forced labor of

    He saw that his resting place was good and that his land was pleasant, so he bent his shoulder to the burden and submitted to labor as a servant.

Exodus · 1

  1. Exodus 1:11 מִסִּ֔ים slave gangs

    So the Egyptians appointed taskmasters over the Israelites to oppress them with forced labor. As a result, they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh.

    Here: "Of the labor gangs": mas is the technical word for compulsory state labor, where people are drafted in work crews to build for the crown. Israel later used the same word for Solomon's labor draft.

Deuteronomy · 1

  1. Deuteronomy 20:11 לָמַ֖ס <into> forced labor

    If they accept your offer of peace and open their gates, all the people there will become forced laborers to serve you.

Joshua · 2

  1. Joshua 16:10 לְמַס־ <into> a slave gang of

    But they did not drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer. So the Canaanites dwell among the Ephraimites to this day, but they are forced laborers.

    Here: Mas is the corvée: work that a ruling power required people to do for it without pay, as a labour gang. It does not mean money tribute. The 'into' (lə-) shows the group being turned into such a work gang.

  2. Joshua 17:13 לָמַ֑ס <into> forced labor

    However, when the Israelites grew stronger, they put the Canaanites to forced labor; but they failed to drive them out completely.

    Here: "Into the corvée." A corvée is compulsory unpaid labor owed to an overlord: work gangs for fields, building and public projects. It is not a money tax. The Canaanites stayed in the land but were put under obligation.

Judges · 4

  1. Judges 1:28 לָמַ֑ס into forced labor

    When Israel became stronger, they pressed the Canaanites into forced labor, but they never drove them out completely.

  2. Judges 1:30 לָמַֽס׃ ס <into> forced labor

    Zebulun failed to drive out the inhabitants of Kitron and Nahalol; so the Canaanites lived among them and served as forced laborers.

  3. Judges 1:33 לָמַֽס׃ ס <into> forced labor

    Naphtali failed to drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh and Beth-anath. So the Naphtalites also lived among the Canaanite inhabitants of the land, but the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh and Beth-anath served them as forced laborers.

  4. Judges 1:35 לָמַֽס׃ <into> forced labor

    And the Amorites were determined to dwell in Mount Heres, Aijalon, and Shaalbim. But when the house of Joseph grew in strength, they pressed the Amorites into forced labor.

2 Samuel · 1

  1. 2 Samuel 20:24 הַמַּ֑ס the forced labor

    Adoram was in charge of the forced labor; Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was the recorder;

1 Kings · 7

  1. 1 Kings 4:6 הַמַּֽס׃ ס the forced labor

    Ahishar was in charge of the palace; and Adoniram son of Abda was in charge of the forced labor.

  2. 1 Kings 5:13 מַ֖ס הַמַּ֔ס forced labor, the forced labor

    Then King Solomon conscripted a labor force of 30,000 men from all Israel.

  3. 1 Kings 5:14 הַמַּֽס׃ ס the forced labor

    He sent them to Lebanon in monthly shifts of 10,000 men, so that they would spend one month in Lebanon and two months at home. And Adoniram was in charge of the forced labor.

    Here: 'The mas': the conscripted labor gang, meaning both the obligation of unpaid service owed to the king and the body of men doing it. It is not a money tax. The ס after the verse is a scribal paragraph marker, not a word.

  4. 1 Kings 9:15 הַמַּ֜ס the forced labor

    This is the account of the forced labor that King Solomon imposed to build the house of the LORD, his own palace, the supporting terraces, and the wall of Jerusalem, as well as Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer.

    Here: The state labor draft: men called up to work for the crown without pay for set periods. In this period it means work gangs, not a money tax.

  5. 1 Kings 9:21 לְמַס־ to forced labor of

    their descendants who remained in the land, those whom the Israelites were unable to devote to destruction—Solomon conscripted these people to be forced laborers, as they are to this day.

  6. 1 Kings 12:18 הַמַּ֔ס the forced labor

    Then King Rehoboam sent out Adoram, who was in charge of the forced labor, but all Israel stoned him to death. And King Rehoboam mounted his chariot in haste and escaped to Jerusalem.

2 Chronicles · 2

  1. 2 Chronicles 8:8 לְמַ֔ס to forced labor

    their descendants who remained in the land, those whom the Israelites had not destroyed—Solomon conscripted these people to be forced laborers, as they are to this day.

  2. 2 Chronicles 10:18 הַמַּ֔ס the forced labor

    Then King Rehoboam sent out Hadoram, who was in charge of the forced labor, but the Israelites stoned him to death. And King Rehoboam mounted his chariot in haste and escaped to Jerusalem.

Esther · 1

  1. Esther 10:1 מַ֛ס a tax

    Now King Xerxes imposed tribute throughout the land, even to its farthest shores.

Proverbs · 1

  1. Proverbs 12:24 לָמַֽס׃ <into> forced labor

    The hand of the diligent will rule, but laziness ends in forced labor.

    Here: 'Into the labor gang.' Mas is compulsory, unpaid work owed to a king or overlord, the labor drafts that built Solomon's projects. The exact phrase 'became lāmas' is used of conquered peoples (Joshua 16:10) and of fallen Jerusalem (Lamentations 1:1).

Isaiah · 1

  1. Isaiah 31:8 לָמַ֥ס <into> forced labor

    “Then Assyria will fall, but not by the sword of man; a sword will devour them, but not one made by mortals. They will flee before the sword, and their young men will be put to forced labor.

Lamentations · 1

  1. Lamentations 1:1 לָמַֽס׃ ס <into> forced labor

    How lonely lies the city, once so full of people! She who was great among the nations has become a widow. The princess of the provinces has become a slave.

    Here: "Into forced labor": she now belongs to the conscripted work-gang that a ruler drafts for building projects. The noblewoman who had ruled others now does compulsory labor for a foreign master.

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