Hebrew word · H7224

רִאשֹׁנִי

harishonit

first

First, former. This is a rare adjective form of rishon ("first"), related to rosh ("head"), and it occurs only here.

Appears once in the Hebrew Old Testament. · Updated November 07, 2026

What it means

first

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

Range of meaning: First, former. This is a rare adjective form of rishon ("first"), related to rosh ("head"), and it occurs only here.
Against the English: All versions simply say "first year". That is correct. What English cannot show is the unusual word form, or the question of which "first year" is meant.
Used elsewhere in the period: Babylonian scribes counted a king's "accession year" (the months left after he took the throne) separately and began "year 1" at the next New Year (Nisan). The Babylonian Chronicle (ABC 5) records that Nebuchadnezzar took the throne on 1 Elul (September) 605 BC, so his official year 1 began in spring 604 BC. Jeremiah 52:28–30 seems to use this Babylonian count, while 25:1, 32:1 and 52:12 count one year higher.

Jeremiah · 1

Jeremiah 25:1 הָרִ֣אשֹׁנִ֔ית <the> first

This is the word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, which was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.

Here: "The first" in an unusual form found only here in the Hebrew Bible; the ordinary word is rishonah. It marks the very start of Nebuchadnezzar's reign, which fits his coming to the throne in late 605 BC.

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