Hebrew word · H7248

רַב־מָג

rav-

Rab-mag

Hebrew form of Akkadian rab mugi / rab mungi, a senior Babylonian office. Its exact duties are uncertain; it may have been military (some connect it with the chariotry) or a high court post.

Appears 4 times in 2 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

A man living at the time of Divided Monarchy, first mentioned at Jer.39.3

1) soothsayer, magician, chief soothsayer

2) Rab-mag, chief soothsayer, or chief of princes, an official of Babylonia

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 39:3

Range of meaning

Hebrew form of Akkadian rab mugi / rab mungi, a senior Babylonian office. Its exact duties are uncertain; it may have been military (some connect it with the chariotry) or a high court post.

Against the English

KJV: 'Rab-mag' as a name. YLT: 'chief of the Mages'. BSB, WEB, ESV and NASB keep 'Rab-mag/Rabmag'. NIV 'a high official' and NLT's adviser-type rendering give a general job description.

How it drifted

Because māḡ looks like 'magus', older interpreters read it as 'chief of the magi'. But the magi were a Median and Persian priestly caste, and the Persians came to power almost fifty years after 587 BC. The resemblance is coincidence.

Used elsewhere in the period

Rab mugi is attested in Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian administrative texts (see CAD and HALOT s.v.). It appears in the Bible only here and in 39:13.

Where it appears

Jeremiah · 4

  1. Jeremiah 39:3 רַב־ מָ֔ג [the] Rab-, mag

    Then all the officials of the king of Babylon entered and sat in the Middle Gate: Nergal-sharezer of Samgar, Nebo-sarsekim the Rabsaris, Nergal-sharezer the Rabmag, and all the rest of the officials of the king of Babylon.

    Here: 'Chief', first part of the second title.

  2. Jeremiah 39:13 רַב־ מָ֑ג [the] Rab-, mag

    So Nebuzaradan captain of the guard, Nebushazban the Rabsaris, Nergal-sharezer the Rabmag, and all the captains of the king of Babylon

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