Aramaic word · H5673
עֲבִידָה
la'avidat
service
Work, labor, task. It can also mean administration or official service (Ezra 2:69 in Hebrew uses the related ʿăbôdâ; Daniel 2:49 and 3:12 use the Aramaic ʿăbîdâ for administering a province). It matches Hebrew ʿăbôdâ, which covers manual labor, service to a master, and service at the sanctuary.
A Biblical Aramaic word, from the parts of the Old Testament written in Aramaic. Why Aramaic?
Appears 6 times in 6 verses of the Aramaic of the Old Testament. ·
What it means
1) work, service, ritual, worship
1a) work, administration
1b) ritual, service
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
- Range of meaning
Work, labor, task. It can also mean administration or official service (Ezra 2:69 in Hebrew uses the related ʿăbôdâ; Daniel 2:49 and 3:12 use the Aramaic ʿăbîdâ for administering a province). It matches Hebrew ʿăbôdâ, which covers manual labor, service to a master, and service at the sanctuary.
- Against the English
Most versions have 'work', 'construction' or 'building'. YLT's 'service' copies the overlap with Hebrew ʿăbôdâ, and a modern reader could take it to mean that worship services stopped.
- How it drifted
'Service' in church English has come to mean a worship gathering. The context here is building work (compare 'the work of this house of God', 6:7; 'this work is being done diligently', 5:8).
- Used elsewhere in the period
In Imperial Aramaic documents of the Persian period, words from the root ʿbd are used for work projects and official tasks. In Ezra's Aramaic, ʿăbîdâ is used for the building project in 5:8, 6:7, 6:18 (there for the priestly 'service') and here.
- Range of meaning
Work, labour or service. It covers physical work (building), administrative work (running a province) and the work of worship. It is the Aramaic cognate of Hebrew ʿăbōdāh, which ranges from slave labour to the Levites' sacred duties.
- Against the English
All supplied versions have "service." That is correct, but a modern reader tends to hear "a church service," meaning a meeting one attends. The word means labour that is done.
- How it drifted
In modern English "service" in a religious setting usually means a scheduled gathering for worship. That sense developed in Christian liturgical usage ("divine service") long after this text.
- Used elsewhere in the period
In the Aramaic chapters of Ezra the same word means the construction: "the work on the house of God in Jerusalem stopped" (4:24); "this work is being done diligently" (5:8); "leave the work on this house of God alone" (6:7). In Daniel it means provincial administration (Dan 2:49; 3:12). The Hebrew equivalent ʿăbōdāh is the key term for the Levites' duties in Num 4 (carrying and maintaining the tabernacle) and Num 8.
- Range of meaning
Work, labour, service; the doing of a task; by extension, the administration or management of an enterprise. It comes from the root ʿbd, "to do, make, serve", which also gives the words for servant and worship in related languages.
- Against the English
KJV/WEB "affairs"; YLT "work"; BSB "to manage"; NIV "administrators". All are fair. "Work" sounds too much like manual labour, and "affairs" sounds vague. The sense is hands-on governance.
- Used elsewhere in the period
Biblical Aramaic uses the same word for the "work on the house of God" in Jerusalem (Ezra 4:24; 5:8; 6:7) and for the temple "service" (Ezra 6:18). Daniel 3:12 repeats this verse's exact phrase: the Jews "whom you appointed over the administration of the province of Babylon".
Where it appears
Ezra · 4
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Ezra 4:24 עֲבִידַ֣ת [the] work of
Thus the construction of the house of God in Jerusalem ceased, and it remained at a standstill until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia.
Here: 'The work of'. Here this means the building work on the temple, as in 5:8 and 6:7. It does not mean worship, because sacrifices on the rebuilt altar had been going on since 3:3–6.
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Ezra 5:8 וַעֲבִ֥ידְתָּא and work the
Let it be known to the king that we went into the province of Judah, to the house of the great God. The people are rebuilding it with large stones and placing timbers in the walls. This work is being carried out diligently and is prospering in their hands.
Here: 'And the work': the construction project as a whole. The same word is used of the 'work on the house of God' in 4:24 and 6:7.
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Ezra 6:7 לַעֲבִידַ֖ת <obj.> [the] work of
Leave this work on the house of God alone. Let the governor and elders of the Jews rebuild this house of God on its original site.
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Ezra 6:18 עֲבִידַ֥ת [the] service of
They also appointed the priests by their divisions and the Levites by their groups to the service of God in Jerusalem, according to what is written in the Book of Moses.
Here: Work or labour. Earlier in this same Aramaic section the word means the building work on the temple (4:24; 5:8; 6:7). Now it means the cult: the ongoing labour of sacrifice and temple upkeep.
Daniel · 2
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Daniel 2:49 עֲבִֽידְתָּא֙ administration the
And at Daniel’s request, the king appointed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to manage the province of Babylon, while Daniel remained in the king’s court.
Here: Literally "the work" or "the service". Here it means the practical, everyday business of governing the province: taxes, labour, order, record-keeping. The KJV's "affairs" and the NIV's "administrators" both catch this.
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Daniel 3:12 עֲבִידַת֙ [the] administration of
But there are some Jews you have appointed to manage the province of Babylon—Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego—who have ignored you, O king, and have refused to serve your gods or worship the golden statue you have set up.”
Here: The work or business of government: civil administration, labour, revenue. They do the king's work; what they refuse comes later in the sentence, which is cultic 'service' to his god.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.