Hebrew word · H4640

מַעֲשַׂי

uma'sai

Maasai

A personal name found only here, probably a short form of Maaseiah, 'work of Yahweh'.

Appears once in the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

A man of the tribe of Levi living at the time of Exile and Return, first mentioned at 1Ch.9.12;

son of: Adiel (H5717H); also called Amashsai (KJV: Amashai) at Neh.11.13;

Also named: a.mash.say (עֲמַשְׁסַי "Amashsai" H6023)

§ Maasiai = "work of the Lord"

a priest who returned from exile

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 1 Chronicles 9:12

Range of meaning

A personal name found only here, probably a short form of Maaseiah, 'work of Yahweh'.

Against the English

BSB, WEB, YLT and NIV have Maasai. The KJV has Maasiai, which follows an older way of reading the vowels.

Used elsewhere in the period

Nehemiah 11:13 has Amashsai (עֲמַשְׁסַי) in the same place, with an ancestry that clearly matches this one: Immer, Meshillemoth/Meshillemith, Ahzai/Jahzerah, Azarel/Adiel. The Hebrew letters of the two names are close enough that copying errors are the usual explanation.

Where it appears

1 Chronicles · 1

  1. 1 Chronicles 9:12 וּמַעְשַׂ֨י and Maasai

    Adaiah son of Jeroham, the son of Pashhur, the son of Malchijah; Maasai son of Adiel, the son of Jahzerah, the son of Meshullam, the son of Meshillemith, the son of Immer;

    Here: Starts a second priestly family line. The name probably shortens Maaseiah, 'work of Yah'. Nehemiah 11:13 has Amashsai at this point.

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