Dictionaries :: Principal

International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia

Principal:

prin'-si-pal: Appears in the King James Version as a translation of nine Hebrew words (fewer in the Revised Version (British and American)), in one case (Isa 28:25) being used quite wrongly and in 2Ki 25:19 (Jer 52:25); 1Ch 24:31 gives a wrong sense (all corrected in the Revised Version (British and American)). In 1Ki 4:5, "principal officer" (the American Standard Revised Version "chief minister") is an arbitrary translation of kohen to avoid "priest" (so the English Revised Version; compare 2Sa 8:18).

Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words

Principal:

"first," is translated "principal men" in the RV of Luk 19:47; Act 25:2.
See CHIEF, A.

Note: In Act 25:23 the phrase kat' exochen, lit., "according to eminence," is translated "principal (men);" exoche, primarily a projection (akin to execho, "to stand out"), is used here metaphorically of eminence. In the Sept., Job 39:28.