NOBLE (חֹרִ֣ים, אָדִּֽיר, נָדִיב, H5618, נָגִיד; εὐγενής, βασίλικος, κράτιστος).

חוֹרִים 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. (Neh 2:16; 4:14, 19; 5:7; 6:17; 7:5; and 13:17).

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International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915)

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" (1Ki 21:8,11; Ne 2:16; 6:17, etc.); of ’addir, "begirded," "mighty," "illustrious" or "noble" (Jud 5:13; 2Ch 23:20, etc.); of nadhibh, "liberal," "a noble" (Nu 21:18; Pr 8:16, etc.).

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The Apocrypha, the King James Version and the Revised Version (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"; The Wisdom of Solomon 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 Wisdom of Solomon 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 Lu 19:12, the translation of eugenes anthropos, "a man well born," and in Joh 4:46,49 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).

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