נָשִׂיא
nâsîyʼ · H5387 · Hebrew · 134 occurrences
Meanings
-
chief, ruler, leader
Someone in a position of high authority in a clan, tribe, or nation
ExamplesGenesis 17:20 “As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I will bless him, and make him fruitful and multiply him exceedingly. He shall father twelve princes, and I will make him into a great nation.
Genesis 23:6 “Hear us, my lord: you are a mighty prince among us; bury your dead in the choicest of our graves; none of us will refuse you his grave for burying your dead.”
Genesis 25:16 These are the sons of Ishmael and these are their names, by their villages, and by their camps; twelve princes according to their tribes.
-
cloud
Mass of visible, condensed watery vapor floating in the air, producing rain
ExamplesPsalm 135:7 He causes the mist to ascend from the ends of the earth, He makes lightning for the rain; He brings forth the wind from His treasuries.
Proverbs 25:14 Like clouds and wind without rain Is a person who boasts of his gifts falsely.
Jeremiah 10:13 When He utters His voice, there is a roar of waters in the heavens, And He makes the clouds ascend from the end of the earth; He makes lightning for the rain, And brings out the wind from His storehouses.
How it’s used In 10 roles
Every occurrence, grouped by the words it is grammatically related to.
the word studied the word it goes with
Whose, or of whatGenitive or possessive
43 occurrences in 18 groups
- יִשְׂרָאֵלIsrael 9
- עֵדָהcongregation, community 8
- בַּיִתhouse, household 4
- רֹאשׁhead, top, chief 3
- Other words · 14 groups that occur once or twice (19) 19
Words describing itAdjectives, demonstratives, participles
15 occurrences in 6 groups
- אֶחָדone 8
- שְׁנַיִםtwo 3
- נָתַןto give, to put, to set 1
- עֶשֶׂרten 1
- תָּוֶךְmiddle 1
- בּוֹאto come, to go in, to bring 1
Named alongside itApposition
34 occurrences in 34 groups
- רֹאשׁhead, top, chief 4
- גּוֹגGog 3
- אִישׁman, person, each 3
- Other words · 31 groups that occur once or twice (31) 31
What it doesIt is the subject
34 occurrences in 19 groups
- בּוֹאto come, to go in, to bring 5
- קָרַבto come near, to offer 4
- פָּקַדto number, to punish 3
- Other words · 16 groups that occur once or twice (22) 22
What is done to itIt is the object
9 occurrences in 6 groups
- עָלָהto go up 3
- לָקַחto take, to receive 2
- יָלַדto bear 1
- נָכָהto strike, to strike down 1
- קָהַלto assemble, to gather 1
- אָרַרto curse 1
Second object ofSecond object
1 occurrences in 1 groups
- שִׁיתto set, to put, to make 1
What it is said to bePredicate
27 occurrences in 19 groups
- מַטֶּהtribe, staff, rod 7
- Other words · 18 groups that occur once or twice (20) 20
What is said to be itIt is the predicate
11 occurrences in 10 groups
- Other words · 10 groups that occur once or twice (11) 11
After prepositionsPrepositional phrases
16 occurrences in 4 groups
- לto/for 13
- עַלon, upon, over, against 5
- אֵלto, toward 3
- בin/on/with 1
In phrases “… of it”It is the genitive
8 occurrences in 6 groups
- פָּנִיםface, presence, before 3
- בַּתdaughter 1
- דָּםblood 1
- נָשִׂיאchief 1
- רֹאשׁhead, top, chief 1
- תָּוֶךְmiddle 1
When two words share a role, as in “Paul and Barnabas said”, the verse appears under each, so a section’s counts can add up to more than the number of occurrences.
MACULA Greek Linguistic Datasets, available at https://github.com/Clear-Bible/macula-greek/, licensed CC BY 4.0; MACULA Hebrew Linguistic Datasets © 2022-2024 by Biblica, Inc., CC BY 4.0. Westminster Leningrad Codex (tanach.us). OpenScriptures Hebrew Bible morphology (hb.openscriptures.org), CC BY 4.0.
In the other Testament 1 word
- ἄρχων árchōn · G758 · ruler, governor, official
- Greek ἄρχων (archōn, 'ruler, magistrate, authority') serves as the standard Septuagint rendering of Hebrew נָשִׂיא (nāśî', 'prince, leader, chief'), capturing the core sense of one who holds governing authority or leadership position over a people or domain; both terms denote institutional political or tribal leadership rather than royal kingship per se, though they overlap with royal vocabulary in broader contexts.
Semantic domains 2 entries
- Leaders001001003005
- The word names a chief, prince, or tribal leader, as Ishmael fathers twelve princes (Genesis 17:20, 25:16) and Shechem is called the prince of the land (Genesis 34:2), tying the word to this rank of political or tribal authority.
- Clouds001002005004
- The word is also used, by a distinct sense sharing the same spelling, for a rising cloud or vapor, a meteorological sense unrelated to and broader than the leadership citations sampled here.
Word family 11 words
Words formed from the same root. They share a form, not always a meaning.
Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Lexicon H5387. nasiy ' I. נָשִׂיא128 noun masculine one lifted up, i.e. a chief prince; —…
' I. נָשִׂיא128 noun masculine one lifted up, i.e. a chief prince; — absolute ׳נ Exo 22:27 +; construct נְשִׂיא Gen 23:6 +; plural נְשִׂיאִים Jos 22:32 +, נְשִׂיאִים Jos 22:32 +, נְשִׂאִים Exo 34:31 Exo 34:7t., נְשִׂיאִם Gen 17:20 Gen 17:3t., נְשִׂאִם Exo 35:27; construct נְשִׂיאֵי Exo 16:22 +; suffix נְשִׂיאַי Eze 45:8, נְשִׂיאֶיהָ Eze 32:29, נְשִׂיאֵיהֶם Numbers 17:21, נְשִׂיאֵהֶם Numbers 17:17, etc.; — mostly in Israel:
1 ׳נ בְּעַמְּךָ of any chief man, Exo 22:27 (E; human ruler, over against אֱלֹהִים).
2 of Solomon 1Ki 11:34. Elsewhere only Ezekiel, P, Chronicles: —
3 of Abraham Gen 23:6, and heads of Ishmaelite tribes Gen 17:20; Gen 25:16.
4 rulers of the congregation, הָעֵדָה נְשִׂיאֵי Exo 16:22; Jos 9:15, Jos 9:18; Jos 22:30, ׳הַנּ בָּעֵדָה Exo 34:31, compare Exo 35:27; Lev 4:22; Jos 9:18b; Jos 9:19, Jos 9:21 (twice in verse); Jos 17:4; Jos 22:14 (3 t. in verse); Jos 22:32 (all P); especially
5 tribal chiefs and representatives, according to the religious organization of P, Num 1:16, Num 1:44; Num 2:3 57t. Numbers (especially chapters 2, 7, 34; note הַלֵּוִי נְשִׂיאֵי נְשִׂיא Num 3:32); compare 1Ch 2:10; 1Ch 4:38; 1Ch 5:6; 1Ch 7:40; 2Ch 1:2, also 1Ki 8:1 (probably gloss, omitted by ᵐ5 Benz), 2Ch 5:2.
6 in Ezekiel:
a. of Zedekiah (for מֶלֶךְ see Böhmer8K 1900, 112 ff.), Eze 7:27; Eze 12:10, Eze 12:12; Eze 21:30, + Eze 19:1 (read singular ᵐ5 Ew Hi Co Berthol Toy).
b. chief men of Judah Eze 21:17; Eze 22:6; Eze 45:8-9,.
c. future Davidic king Eze 34:24; Eze 37:25, compare Eze 44:3 (twice in verse) + 16 t. Ezekiel 45, 46, 48.
d. foreign princes Eze 26:16; Eze 27:21; Eze 30:13; Eze 32:29; Eze 38:2-3, Eze 39:1, Eze 39:18.
7 leader of exiles returning under Cyrus, according to Ezr 1:8.
8 non-Israel chiefs in P: Gen 34:2; Num 25:18; Jos 13:21.
II. [נָשִׂיא] noun [masculine] rising mist, vapour (Arabic , ); — only plural נְשִׂאִים vapours, forming clouds, and portending rain, Jer 10:13 = Jer 51:16, Psa 135:7, נְשִׂיאִים Pro 25:14.
Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), public domain
Topical studies with this word 2 entries
Meanings adapted from the UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament, © United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0 and the UBS Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew (from the Semantic Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew), © United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0; MACULA Greek Linguistic Datasets, available at https://github.com/Clear-Bible/macula-greek/, licensed CC BY 4.0; MACULA Hebrew Linguistic Datasets © 2022-2024 by Biblica, Inc., CC BY 4.0. Westminster Leningrad Codex (tanach.us). OpenScriptures Hebrew Bible morphology (hb.openscriptures.org), CC BY 4.0.
Sources
eRhema lexical overview, based on the UBS Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew and the UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament (© United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Macula Hebrew and Greek (Clear Bible, CC BY 4.0); released under CC BY-SA 4.0
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