Hebrew word · H7916

שָׂכִיר

sakhir

hired

A hired worker or wage-earner, often paid by the day or for a fixed term ("the years of a hired worker," Isa 16:14, means years counted exactly). The word comes from śāḵar, "to hire," and is related to śāḵār, "wage." He is legally free but economically fragile.

Appears 17 times in 17 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) hired

1a) hired (of animal)

1b) hireling, hired labourer (subst)

1b1) mercenary

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 Deuteronomy 24:14

Range of meaning

A hired worker or wage-earner, often paid by the day or for a fixed term ("the years of a hired worker," Isa 16:14, means years counted exactly). The word comes from śāḵar, "to hire," and is related to śāḵār, "wage." He is legally free but economically fragile.

Against the English

KJV, WEB and NASB's "hired servant" can make modern readers think of a household servant or a slave. The Hebrew means a free laborer who sells his work for pay. BSB's "hired hand" and "hired worker" are better.

How it drifted

In 1611 "servant" covered any employee. Today it suggests domestic service or bondage.

Used elsewhere in the period

Lev 19:13 and Mal 3:5 deal with his wages. Job 7:1–2 describes the hired worker longing for his pay at the end of the day. Lev 25:39–40 says an Israelite who falls into debt-service is to be treated "like a hired worker," not a slave. The Laws of Hammurabi (§§257–258, 273–274) set daily pay rates for hired field-hands and craftsmen, which shows that day-labor for set wages was normal across the ancient Near East.

From the study of Leviticus 19:13

Range of meaning

A hired worker or wage-laborer, from śākar, 'to hire'. A free person working for pay, by the day or for a fixed term (Isa 16:14; 21:16, 'the years of a hired worker'; Job 7:1–2; 14:6). Legally distinct from the ʿebed (slave or bondservant), and often listed with the tôšāb (resident foreigner).

Against the English

BSB 'hired hand', NIV/ESV 'hired worker', NASB 'hired man' and YLT 'hireling' are all accurate. WEB's 'hired servant' (and KJV's usage elsewhere) can suggest a household servant or a slave, which a śākîr was not.

How it drifted

'Servant' in older English could mean any employee, but modern readers hear domestic service or servitude. 'Hireling' has picked up a contemptuous tone (from John 10:12–13) that the Hebrew legal term does not carry.

Used elsewhere in the period

Lev 22:10 (a priest's hired worker may not eat holy food); 25:6 (may eat sabbath-year produce); 25:39–40 (an impoverished Israelite is to be treated 'as a hired worker', not a slave); 25:50, 53; Deut 15:18; 24:14; Mal 3:5. Job 7:2 pictures 'a hired man who waits for his wages'.

From the study of Jeremiah 46:21

Range of meaning

Someone working for wages (from the verb sakhar, 'to hire'). It is used of the hired day-labourer whose pay must not be held back overnight (Lev 19:13; Deut 24:14), and of a hired worker's set term ('the years of a hireling', Isa 16:14; 21:16). In a military setting it means soldiers hired for pay.

Against the English

KJV and WEB 'hired men' is literally right, but a modern reader thinks of farmhands. BSB, ESV, NASB and NIV say 'mercenaries' or 'hired soldiers', which names the actual role. YLT's 'hired ones' keeps the Hebrew's flatness, with a slight sneer.

How it drifted

'Hired man' in English came to mean an agricultural or domestic labourer, so the military sense is lost in older translations.

Used elsewhere in the period

The verb is used of hiring troops in 2 Sam 10:6, where the Ammonites hire Aramean soldiers, and 2 Chr 25:6, where Amaziah hires 100,000 Israelite fighters. Herodotus (Histories 2.152–154, 2.163) describes how the Saite pharaohs relied on Ionian and Carian Greek mercenaries. Greek graffiti left at Abu Simbel by mercenaries of Psammetichus II (c. 591 BC) confirm their presence. Jer 46:9 itself lists foreign contingents: Cush, Put and Lud.

Where it appears

Exodus · 2

  1. Exodus 12:45 וְשָׂכִ֖יר and a hired laborer

    A temporary resident or hired hand shall not eat the Passover.

  2. Exodus 22:15 שָׂכִ֣יר [was] hired

    If the owner was present, no restitution is required. If the animal was rented, the fee covers the loss.

Leviticus · 6

  1. Leviticus 19:13 שָׂכִ֛יר a hired laborer

    You must not defraud your neighbor or rob him. You must not withhold until morning the wages due a hired hand.

    Here: A free person hired for pay, often by the day: legally not a slave, but usually poor and without land of his own.

  2. Leviticus 22:10 וְשָׂכִ֖יר and a hired laborer

    No one outside a priest’s family may eat the sacred offering, nor may the guest of a priest or his hired hand eat it.

  3. Leviticus 25:6 וְלִשְׂכִֽירְךָ֙ and to hired laborer your

    Whatever the land yields during the Sabbath year shall be food for you—for yourself, your manservant and maidservant, the hired hand or foreigner who stays with you,

  4. Leviticus 25:40 כְּשָׂכִ֥יר like a hired laborer

    Let him stay with you as a hired worker or temporary resident; he is to work for you until the Year of Jubilee.

  5. Leviticus 25:50 שָׂכִ֖יר a hired laborer

    He and his purchaser will then count the time from the year he sold himself up to the Year of Jubilee. The price of his sale will be determined by the number of years, based on the daily wages of a hired hand.

  6. Leviticus 25:53 כִּשְׂכִ֥יר like a hired laborer of

    He shall be treated like a man hired from year to year, but a foreign owner must not rule over him harshly in your sight.

Deuteronomy · 2

  1. Deuteronomy 15:18 שָׂכִ֔יר a hired laborer

    Do not regard it as a hardship to set your servant free, because his six years of service were worth twice the wages of a hired hand. And the LORD your God will bless you in all you do.

  2. Deuteronomy 24:14 שָׂכִ֖יר a hired laborer

    Do not oppress a hired hand who is poor and needy, whether he is a brother or a foreigner residing in one of your towns.

    Here: A free man who works for pay, often by the day. He is not a slave (ʿeved) and not a household member, and he is usually landless. The word shares its root with śāḵār, "wage" (v. 15), so the worker is defined by the pay he is owed.

Job · 3

  1. Job 7:1 שָׂכִ֣יר a hired laborer

    “Is not man consigned to labor on earth? Are not his days like those of a hired hand?

    Here: A free but landless worker hired by the day or for a set term. His time belonged to his employer, his work was hard, and the law insisted he be paid at sundown because he lived from day to day.

  2. Job 7:2 וּ֝כְשָׂכִ֗יר and like a hired laborer

    Like a slave he longs for shade; like a hireling he waits for his wages.

  3. Job 14:6 כְּשָׂכִ֥יר like a hired laborer

    look away from him and let him rest, so he can enjoy his day as a hired hand.

Isaiah · 2

  1. Isaiah 16:14 שָׂכִ֔יר a hired laborer

    And now the LORD says, “In three years, as a hired worker counts the years, Moab’s splendor will become an object of contempt, with all her many people. And those who are left will be few and feeble.”

  2. Isaiah 21:16 שָׂכִ֔יר a hired laborer

    For this is what the Lord says to me: “Within one year, as a hired worker would count it, all the glory of Kedar will be gone.

Jeremiah · 1

  1. Jeremiah 46:21 שְׂכִרֶ֤יהָ hired soldiers its

    Even the mercenaries among her are like fattened calves. They too will turn back; together they will flee, they will not stand their ground, for the day of calamity is coming upon them—the time of their punishment.

    Here: 'Her hired ones' means the foreign mercenaries on Egypt's payroll. The word normally means a hired day-labourer. Here it means soldiers who fight for wages, not for their homeland. 'Her' is Egypt, pictured as the heifer of v. 20.

Malachi · 1

  1. Malachi 3:5 שָׂ֠כִיר a hired laborer

    “Then I will draw near to you for judgment. And I will be a swift witness against sorcerers and adulterers and perjurers, against oppressors of the widowed and fatherless, and against those who defraud laborers of their wages and deny justice to the foreigner but do not fear Me,” says the LORD of Hosts.

    Here: A day-labourer without land of his own, who lived on each day's pay. He is legally and economically vulnerable.

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