Aramaic word · H5632

סָרֵךְ

sarekhin

chief

A high supervisory official, 'chief, overseer'. It is generally explained as a loanword from Old Persian (a word for 'head' or 'chief'). Daniel 6 is the only place it occurs, for the three officials over the 120 satraps, with Daniel among them (6:2).

A Biblical Aramaic word, from the parts of the Old Testament written in Aramaic. Why Aramaic?

Appears 5 times in 5 verses of the Aramaic of the Old Testament. ·

What it means

chief, overseer

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 Daniel 6:6

Range of meaning

A high supervisory official, 'chief, overseer'. It is generally explained as a loanword from Old Persian (a word for 'head' or 'chief'). Daniel 6 is the only place it occurs, for the three officials over the 120 satraps, with Daniel among them (6:2).

Against the English

KJV/WEB 'presidents', BSB 'administrators', ESV 'high officials', NASB 'commissioners'. 'Presidents' is the misleading one (see drift).

How it drifted

In 1611 'president' meant one who presides over or supervises a body (Latin praesidens). Since the 18th century it has come to mean an elected head of state.

Used elsewhere in the period

Found only in Daniel 6. The Greek of Theodotion uses taktikoi, 'officers who keep order'. It matches the Persian practice of putting senior officials over the satraps to report to the king (compare the 'king's eyes' inspectors mentioned by Greek writers).

From the study of Daniel 6:3

Range of meaning

Sārēk: a 'chief, high official', found only in Daniel 6 (vv. 2–7). It is probably a Persian loanword, though the exact source is debated. ʾĂḥašdarpən: 'satrap', from Old Persian xšaçapāvan, 'protector of the kingdom', a governor of a province. The Hebrew form also appears in Esther and Ezra.

Against the English

KJV 'presidents and princes'; WEB 'presidents and the local governors'; BSB 'administrators and satraps'; ESV 'high officials and satraps'. KJV's 'princes' suggests royal sons today, which these men were not; they were appointed provincial officials.

How it drifted

'Prince' once had the general sense of 'chief ruler' (Latin princeps, 'first man'); today it means a royal son.

Used elsewhere in the period

Persian loanwords run all through Daniel's Aramaic, as they do in Ezra's Aramaic and in the Elephantine papyri (5th-century BC Aramaic documents from a Jewish colony in Egypt). The satrapy system is described in the Behistun inscription of Darius I and in Herodotus 3.89 (20 satrapies under Darius I).

Where it appears

Daniel · 5

  1. Daniel 6:2 סָרְכִ֣ין overseers

    and over them three administrators, including Daniel, to whom these satraps were accountable so that the king would not suffer loss.

  2. Daniel 6:3 סָרְכַיָּ֖א overseers the

    Soon, by his extraordinary spirit, Daniel distinguished himself among the administrators and satraps. So the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom.

    Here: 'The chiefs': the top tier of three officials set over the satraps in v. 2, of whom Daniel was one. A loanword probably taken from Persian, found only in Daniel 6.

  3. Daniel 6:4 סָֽרְכַיָּ֜א overseers the

    Thus the administrators and satraps sought a charge against Daniel concerning the kingdom, but they could find no charge or corruption, because he was trustworthy, and no negligence or corruption was found in him.

    Here: The three top administrators set over the 120 satraps (6:2). The word appears only in Daniel 6 and is probably a Persian loanword. Daniel was one of the three, so his own colleagues are among the plotters.

  4. Daniel 6:6 סָרְכַיָּ֤א overseers the

    So the administrators and satraps went together to the king and said, “O King Darius, may you live forever!

    Here: The top administrators. 6:2 says there were three of them, and Daniel was one. A Persian loanword found only in Daniel 6. So the delegation that goes to the king is made up of Daniel's own colleagues.

  5. Daniel 6:7 סָרְכֵ֣י [the] overseers of

    All the royal administrators, prefects, satraps, advisers, and governors have agreed that the king should establish an ordinance and enforce a decree that for thirty days anyone who petitions any god or man except you, O king, will be thrown into the den of lions.

    Here: The top tier of administrators, the three set over the satraps in 6:2, one of whom was Daniel. A Persian-era loanword found in the Bible only in Daniel 6.

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