<strong>NOBLE</strong> (<span class="hebrew">חֹרִ֣ים</span>, <span class="hebrew">אָדִּֽיר</span>, <span class="hebrew">נָדִיב</span>, <span class="gknumber">H5618</span>, <span class="hebrew">נָגִיד</span>; <span class="greek">εὐγενής, βασίλικος, κράτιστος</span>).<br /><br />

<span class="hebrew">חוֹרִים</span> is the common OT word for “noble.” It is strictly a noun and occurs only in the pl. It contains the ideas of free birth and freedom and is esp. frequent in late Heb. (<bibleref ref="Neh.2.16">Neh 2:16</bibleref>; <bibleref ref="Neh.4.14">4:14</bibleref>, <bibleref ref="Neh.4.19">19</bibleref>; <bibleref ref="Neh.5.7">5:7</bibleref>; <bibleref ref="Neh.6.17">6:17</bibleref>; <bibleref ref="Neh.7.5">7:5</bibleref>; and <bibleref ref="Neh.13.17">13:17</bibleref>).

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<h2>International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915)</h2>

no’-b’-l, no’-b’-lz, no’-b’-l-man (chorim, ’addir; eugenes, Kratistos, basilikos): "Nobles" is the translation of the Hebrew chorim (occurring only in the plural), "free-born," "noble" (<bibleref ref="1Kgs.21.8">1Ki 21:8</bibleref>,<bibleref ref="1Kgs.21.11">11</bibleref>; <bibleref ref="Neh.2.16">Ne 2:16</bibleref>; <bibleref ref="Neh.6.17">6:17</bibleref>, etc.); of ’addir, "begirded," "mighty," "illustrious" or "noble" (<bibleref ref="Judg.5.13">Jud 5:13</bibleref>; <bibleref ref="2Chr.23.20">2Ch 23:20</bibleref>, etc.); of nadhibh, "liberal," "a noble" (<bibleref ref="Num.21.18">Nu 21:18</bibleref>; <bibleref ref="Prov.8.16">Pr 8:16</bibleref>, etc.).

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The Apocrypha, the <span class="auto-link">[[King James Version]]</span> and the <span class="auto-link">[[Revised Version]]</span> (British and American), still further enlarges the list. In the Revised Version (British and American) we have megistanes, "great ones" (1 Esdras 1:38; 8:26, with entimos, "in honor"; <span class="auto-link">[[The Wisdom of Solomon]]</span> 18:12). Otherwise the Revised Version’s uses of "noble," and "nobleness" are for words containing the root genitive and referring to birth (compare The <span class="auto-link">[[Wisdom of Solomon]]</span> 8:3; 2 Macc 6:27,31; 12:42; 14:42 twice). The King James Version’s uses are wider (Judith 2:2, etc.).

Nobleman is, in <bibleref ref="Luke.19.12">Lu 19:12</bibleref>, the translation of eugenes anthropos, "a man well born," and in <bibleref ref="John.4.46">Joh 4:46</bibleref>,<bibleref ref="John.4.49">49</bibleref> of basilikos, "kingly," "belonging to a king," a designation extended to the officers, courtiers, etc., of a king, the Revised Version margin "king’s officer"; he was probably an official, civil or military, of Herod Antipas, who was styled "king" (basileus).<br /><br />

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