seren · ruler, axle

What it means

seren (סֶרֶן) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “ruler, axle”.

Ruler: the title proper to the five rulers of the Philistine cities; the same word also means the axle of a wheel.

How to say it

Approximate pronunciation. Vowels sound as in Spanish (a as in father, e as in bed, i as in machine, o as in note, u as in rule); the syllable in bold is stressed. The voice is your device's.

Its senses in the Bible

1. One of the five chiefs of the Philistine cities.
2. The metal bar that passes through a wheel and on which it turns.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

How it is translated

The words this translation uses for it, most frequent first.

• lords ×20
• axles ×1
• rulers ×1

Where it appears

• Joshua×1
• Judges×8
• 1 Samuel×11
• 1 Kings×1
• 1 Chronicles×1

• Joshua 13:3

  (from the Shihor, which is east of Egypt, and as far as the border of Ekron to the north, it is counted as Canaanite); the five rulers of the Philistines: the Gazite, the Ashdodite, the Ashkelonite, the Gittite, and the Ekronite; and the Avvites

• Judges 3:3

  the five lords of the Philistines, all the Canaanite, the Sidonian, and the Hivite who lived on Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal-hermon as far as the entrance of Hamath.

• Judges 16:5

  And the lords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her, “Seduce him, and see in what his great strength lies, and by what means we may prevail against him, so that we may bind him to afflict him; and we will give you, each one, eleven hundred pieces of silver.”

• Judges 16:8

  And the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven fresh bowstrings that had not been dried, and she bound him with them.

• Judges 16:18

  When Delilah saw that he had opened to her all his heart, she sent and called the lords of the Philistines, “Come up this time, for he has opened to me all his heart.” And the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought up the silver in their hand.

• Judges 16:23

  Now the lords of the Philistines gathered to sacrifice a great sacrifice to Dagon their god and to rejoice, and they said, “Our god has given into our hand Samson our enemy.”

• Judges 16:27

  Now the house was full of men and women, and there were all the lords of the Philistines; and on the roof were about three thousand men and women who were watching Samson entertain them.

• Judges 16:30

  And Samson said, “Let my soul die with the Philistines!” And he pushed with force, and the house fell on the lords and on all the people who were in it. So the dead whom he put to death at his death were more than those he had put to death in his life.

• 1 Samuel 5:8

  So they sent and gathered all the lords of the Philistines to them and said, “What shall we do with the ark of the Elohim of Israel?” And they said, “Let the ark of the Elohim of Israel be moved around to Gath.” So they moved the ark of the Elohim of Israel.

• 1 Samuel 5:11

  So they sent and gathered all the lords of the Philistines and said, “Send away the ark of the Elohim of Israel, and let it return to its place, so that it does not put me to death, and my people.” For there was a deathly confusion throughout the city; the hand of Elohim was very heavy there.

• 1 Samuel 6:4

  And they said, “What is the guilt offering that we shall restore to him?” And they said, “By the number of the lords of the Philistines, five gold tumors and five gold mice, for one plague was on all of them and on your lords.

• 1 Samuel 6:12

  And the cows went straight on the road, on the road to Beth-shemesh; along one highway they went, going and lowing, and they did not turn aside to the right or to the left; and the lords of the Philistines were walking after them as far as the border of Beth-shemesh.

• 1 Samuel 6:16

  And the five lords of the Philistines saw it and returned to Ekron that day.

• 1 Samuel 6:18

  and the gold mice, by the number of all the cities of the Philistines belonging to the five lords, from fortified city to unwalled village, and as far as the great Abel on which they set down the ark of YHWH; it is there to this day in the field of Joshua of Beth-shemesh.

• 1 Samuel 7:7

  And the Philistines heard that the sons of Israel had gathered at Mizpah, and the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel. And the sons of Israel heard it and were afraid because of the Philistines.

• 1 Samuel 29:2

  The lords of the Philistines were passing on by hundreds and by thousands, and David and his men were passing on at the rear with Achish.

• 1 Samuel 29:6

  Achish called to David and said to him, “As YHWH lives, you are upright, and your going out and your coming in with me in the camp is good in my eyes, for I have not found evil in you from the day you came to me until this day; but in the eyes of the lords you are not good.

• 1 Samuel 29:7

  Now turn back and go in peace, and do not do what is evil in the eyes of the lords of the Philistines.”

• 1 Kings 7:30

  And four wheels of bronze belonged to each base, and axles of bronze; and its four corners had supports; below the basin were the supports, cast, with wreaths beside each.

• 1 Chronicles 12:19

  And from Manasseh some went over to David when he came with the Philistines against Saul for war; but they did not help them, for after taking counsel the lords of the Philistines sent him away, saying, “With our heads he will go over to his lord Saul.”

And 2 more times.