Hebrew word · H6583

פַּשְׁחוּר

fashchur

Pashhur

A personal name, probably of Egyptian origin. Proposed meanings include 'son/portion of Horus', but the etymology is uncertain. Several men in Jeremiah's time bore it.

Appears 14 times in 12 verses of 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: Malchijah (H4441H);

father of: Zechariah (H2148X)

§ Pashur = "freedom"

1) a priest, son of Malchiah and one of the chief princes in the reign of king Zedekiah of Judah

2) a priest, son of Immer, chief governor of the temple, and the one who struck and then put the prophet Jeremiah into the stocks in the reign of king Jehoiakim of Judah

3) son of Malchijah, father of Zechariah, and ancestor of Adaiah who did the work of the temple in the time of Nehemiah. Probably same as 1

4) father of Gedaliah; probably the same as 1

5) head of a family of returned exiles

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 Jeremiah 21:1

Range of meaning

A personal name, probably of Egyptian origin. Proposed meanings include 'son/portion of Horus', but the etymology is uncertain. Several men in Jeremiah's time bore it.

Against the English

KJV 'Pashur' and modern 'Pashhur' are the same name. The danger is mixing up the two men.

Used elsewhere in the period

Pashhur son of Immer, a priest and temple officer, beats and confines Jeremiah in 20:1–6. Pashhur son of Malchijah, this verse's envoy, reappears in 38:1–4 among the officials who demand Jeremiah's death. A Pashhur son of Malchijah also appears in a priestly genealogy (1 Chr 9:12; Neh 11:12), which may point to a priestly family. A clay seal impression reading 'Gedaliah son of Pashhur', found in Jerusalem's City of David in 2008, is often linked to the Gedaliah of Jer 38:1, but which Pashhur was his father is unknown.

Where it appears

1 Chronicles · 1

  1. 1 Chronicles 9:12 פַּשְׁח֖וּר Pashhur

    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;

Ezra · 2

  1. Ezra 2:38 פַשְׁח֔וּר Pashhur

    the descendants of Pashhur, 1,247;

  2. Ezra 10:22 פַּשְׁח֑וּר Pashhur

    From the descendants of Pashhur: Elioenai, Maaseiah, Ishmael, Nethanel, Jozabad, and Elasah.

Nehemiah · 3

  1. Nehemiah 7:41 פַשְׁח֔וּר Pashhur

    the descendants of Pashhur, 1,247;

  2. Nehemiah 10:3 פַּשְׁח֥וּר Pashhur

    Pashhur, Amariah, Malchijah,

  3. Nehemiah 11:12 פַּשְׁח֖וּר Pashhur

    and their associates who did the work at the temple—822 men; Adaiah son of Jeroham, the son of Pelaliah, the son of Amzi, the son of Zechariah, the son of Pashhur, the son of Malchijah;

Jeremiah · 8

  1. Jeremiah 20:1 פַּשְׁחוּר֙ Pashhur

    When Pashhur the priest, the son of Immer and the chief official in the house of the LORD, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things,

  2. Jeremiah 20:2 פַשְׁח֔וּר Pashhur

    he had Jeremiah the prophet beaten and put in the stocks at the Upper Gate of Benjamin, which was by the house of the LORD.

    Here: The priest from verse 1, son of Immer and chief overseer of the temple. His name is the subject of the verb, so the act is his responsibility, whether he struck Jeremiah himself or ordered it. In the next verse his name is mocked.

  3. Jeremiah 20:3 פַשְׁח֛וּר פַשְׁחוּר֙ Pashhur

    The next day, when Pashhur released Jeremiah from the stocks, Jeremiah said to him, “The LORD does not call you Pashhur, but Magor-missabib.

  4. Jeremiah 20:6 פַשְׁח֗וּר O Pashhur

    And you, Pashhur, and all who live in your house, will go into captivity. You will go to Babylon, and there you will die and be buried—you and all your friends to whom you have prophesied these lies.’”

    Here: The priest and senior temple officer who had Jeremiah beaten and locked in the stocks (vv. 1–2). Though v. 3 has just given him a new name of doom, he is addressed here by his own name, making the sentence personal.

  5. Jeremiah 21:1 פַּשְׁחוּר֙ Pashhur

    This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD when King Zedekiah sent to him Pashhur son of Malchijah and the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah. They said,

    Here: A royal official, not the same man as Pashhur son of Immer, the priest who beat Jeremiah in 20:1–6. The name probably comes from Egyptian, but its meaning is debated.

  6. Jeremiah 38:1 פַּשְׁח֔וּר וּפַשְׁח֖וּר Pashhur, and Pashhur

    Now Shephatiah son of Mattan, Gedaliah son of Pashhur, Jucal son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur son of Malchijah heard that Jeremiah had been telling all the people:

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