StrongerBible

tabbaḥ

טַבָּח

HebrewH2876cook, guard, ...

Appears 32 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Gen 37:36Gen 39:1Gen 40:3Gen 40:4Gen 41:10Gen 41:121Sa 9:231Sa 9:242Ki 25:82Ki 25:102Ki 25:112Ki 25:122Ki 25:152Ki 25:182Ki 25:20Jer 39:9Jer 39:10Jer 39:11Jer 39:13
Root family
Word studytab-BAKHnoun

What tabbaḥ means

a slaughterer: one whose work is killing, whether butchering animals for the table or putting prisoners to death for the king

TranslatabilityPartialCertaintyStrong

This is an agent noun built from the ordinary word for slaughtering an animal. At its root it names the person who does the killing. In everyday life that is the palace kitchen worker who slaughters and dresses the meat, so English Bibles reasonably call him the cook.

Far more often the word appears in a fixed royal title, literally the chief of the slaughterers, which English versions render captain of the guard. Two famous officials carry it: Potiphar in Egypt, into whose custody Joseph is handed, and Nebuzaradan, the Babylonian officer who oversees the destruction of Jerusalem. These were not merely bodyguards. Their corps carried out the king's executions, and the same underlying idea of killing runs through both the kitchen and the court.

So the two uses are not two unrelated words but one word applied in two settings. Whether the victim is an animal for the feast or a condemned prisoner, the person named is the one who does the slaughtering.

Nuances

1aa cook: the palace servant who slaughters and prepares the meat for the table
TranslatabilityApproximate
1Sa 9:231Sa 9:24
1ba royal guardsman and executioner, almost always in the title captain of the guard
Gen 37:36Gen 39:1Gen 40:3Gen 40:4Gen 41:10Gen 41:122Ki 25:82Ki 25:102Ki 25:112Ki 25:122Ki 25:152Ki 25:18

What scholars say about tabbaḥ

Standard lexica take טַבָּח as an agent noun from the root טבח (to slaughter), with the core sense slaughterer, hence cook (1 Sam 9:23-24) and, in the frozen phrase רַב־טַבָּחִים / שַׂר־הַטַּבָּחִים, the chief of a royal guard whose duties included executions. HALOT and BDB gloss it slaughterer, cook, executioner/bodyguard; the title is borne by Potiphar (Gen 37:36; 39:1) and by the Babylonian Nebuzaradan (2 Kgs 25:8-20; Jer 39-52). TWOT (786) and TDOT (s.v. טָבַח) treat the guardsman usage as a functional extension of slaughtering to the dispatching of prisoners rather than a separate root. The LXX renders the title with ἀρχιμάγειρος (chief cook), preserving the kitchen etymology of the office.

Sources

  • HALOT, s.v. טַבָּחlexicon
  • BDB, s.v. טַבָּחlexicon
  • TWOT 786, s.v. טָבַחdictionary
  • TDOT, s.v. טָבַחdictionary

All attested forms of טַבָּח

m p absolute

טַבָּחִים, טַּבָּחִים

Gen 40:3, 2Ki 25:8, 2Ki 25:10, 2Ki 25:11, 2Ki 25:12, 2Ki 25:15, 2Ki 25:18, 2Ki 25:20

m s absolute

טַּבָּח

1Sa 9:23, 1Sa 9:24