7916. sakir
Lexical Summary
sakir: Hired worker, hireling, laborer

Original Word: שָׂכִיר
Part of Speech: Adjective
Transliteration: sakiyr
Pronunciation: sah-KEER
Phonetic Spelling: (saw-keer')
KJV: hired (man, servant), hireling
NASB: hired man, hired servant, hired, man hired, wage earner
Word Origin: [from H7936 (שָׂכַר סָכַר - hired)]

1. a man at wages by the day or year

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance
hired man, servant, hireling

From sakar; a man at wages by the day or year -- hired (man, servant), hireling.

see HEBREW sakar

NAS Exhaustive Concordance
Word Origin
from sakar
Definition
hired
NASB Translation
hired (1), hired man (11), hired servant (2), man hired (1), wage earner (1).

Brown-Driver-Briggs
שָׂכִיר adjective hired; — absolute ׳שׂ Exodus 14:45 +, feminine שְׂכִירָה Isaiah 7:20; construct שְׂכֹיר Leviticus 25:53; suffix שְׂכִירְךָ Leviticus 25:6; plural suffix שְׂכִרֶיהָ Jeremiah 46:21; —

1 hired, of beast Exodus 22:14 (E), razor Isaiah 7:20 (figurative).

2 usually as substantive hireling, hired labourer Deuteronomy 15:18; Deuteronomy 24:14; Leviticus 19:13; Leviticus 22:10; Leviticus 25:6,40,53 (all H), Exodus 12:45; Leviticus 25:50 (both P), Malachi 3:5; Job 7:1,2; Job 14:6; ׳כִּשְׁנֵי שׂ Isaiah 16:14 years like a hireling's years (reckoned strictly), so Isaiah 21:16; mercenaries Jeremiah 46:21.

יִשָּׂשׂכָר see above

Topical Lexicon
Scope of the Term

שָׂכִיר designates a person temporarily engaged for wages. The word does not describe a lifelong slave or a covenant household servant but someone whose relationship is contractual and time-bound. Scripture presents this figure in civil, cultic, economic, and prophetic settings, allowing the reader to trace how Israel’s law, worship, and worldview intersected with the concept of paid labor.

Civic and Household Employment

The Torah assumes that ordinary households will at times need outside help. When a borrowed animal dies under a renter’s care, “the fee covers the loss” (Exodus 22:15), illustrating that a hireling operates under agreed terms rather than permanent ownership. Harvest laws likewise anticipate day-laborers (Deuteronomy 24:14). The presence of such workers in the community demonstrates that Israel’s economy was not entirely subsistence-based; it included a cash-wage sector that demanded clear regulation.

Ethical Mandates Concerning Wages

Covenant law insists on prompt, full payment: “Do not defraud your neighbor… Do not hold back the wages of a hired man overnight” (Leviticus 19:13). Failure to pay becomes grounds for divine litigation: “those who oppress the hired worker in his wages” are among the accused when the LORD “comes to you in judgment” (Malachi 3:5). By linking wage injustice with sorcery and adultery, the prophets elevate economic exploitation to a spiritual offense, reminding the covenant community that love of neighbor stands beside ritual fidelity.

Access to Sacred Privileges

Although valued, the hireling is not automatically granted family status. “A temporary resident or a hired worker may not eat the Passover” (Exodus 12:45), nor may he share in priestly food (Leviticus 22:10). These exclusions underscore the distinction between contractual association and covenant membership. Participation in holy meals requires either birthright or full incorporation; mere wage-based presence is insufficient.

Servitude, Jubilee, and the Value of a Life

Leviticus 25 employs שָׂכִיר to set humane limits on debt bondage. An Israelite who sinks into servitude “is to be treated as a hired worker or a temporary resident” (Leviticus 25:40). His redemption price is calculated “based on the wages of a hired worker” (Leviticus 25:50), and in any case he goes free at Jubilee (25:53). The same term that defines an employee thereby becomes a protective category, preventing the reduction of a brother to chattel status. Jubilee theology reframes hired labor as a safeguard of dignity during economic distress.

Wisdom Literature: The Toil of Mortality

Job likens human existence to that of a hireling: limited, strenuous, and hoping for payday. “Are not his days like the days of a hired man? … like a hired servant awaiting his wages” (Job 7:1-2; cf. 14:6). Here the term captures the transient, goal-oriented nature of life under the curse: one works until the allotted time expires, yearning for rest. The imagery resonates with Psalmist and Pauline reflections that view believers as laborers awaiting reward (though the Hebrew term itself appears mainly in Job).

Prophetic Time-Frames and Mercenary Troops

Isaiah twice uses the phrase “as a hired worker would count” to mark precise, unalterable judgment periods (Isaiah 16:14; 21:16). A hired man works neither longer nor shorter than the contract, so the appointed years for Moab and Kedar will not be extended. Jeremiah applies the noun to Egypt’s “mercenaries” (46:21), soldiers motivated by pay rather than loyalty. Their swift desertion contrasts with covenant faithfulness, foreshadowing later warnings against shepherds who serve only for wages (John 10:12-13).

Eschatological Hints and Messianic Contrast

By Scripture’s close, the unpaid hireling becomes a marker of injustice awaiting final reckoning (Malachi 3:5). Against this backdrop stands the coming Shepherd who “lays down His life for the sheep,” not a wage-seeker (John 10:11). Thus the motif prepares the way for the Gospel’s distinction between mercenary caretakers and the self-giving Messiah.

Contemporary Ministry Insights

1. Fair Compensation: Congregations and ministries must honor contracts promptly, modeling Leviticus 19:13 in payroll practices and vendor relations.
2. Value Without Covenant: Volunteers and staff who have not yet come to faith should be respected but also invited beyond “hireling” status into the family of God, paralleling Exodus 12:45.
3. Sabbath Economics: The Sabbath-year provision (Leviticus 25:6) reminds leaders to budget time and resources so that employees, interns, and temporary staff share in seasons of rest.
4. Preaching Justice: Prophetic denunciations (Malachi 3:5) warrant regular teaching on economic righteousness, reminding believers that oppression of laborers provokes divine response.
5. Pastoral Care: Job’s portrayal of life as hireling toil legitimizes feelings of fatigue among workers; pastors can point sufferers to the promised “wages” of grace and eternal rest.

In sum, שָׂכִיר threads through the Law, Prophets, and Writings as a mirror of human labor, a measure for social justice, and a foil for covenant love, culminating in the New Testament revelation of the Good Shepherd who serves not for hire but for love.

Forms and Transliterations
וְלִשְׂכִֽירְךָ֙ וְשָׂכִ֖יר וּ֝כְשָׂכִ֗יר וכשכיר ולשכירך ושכיר כְּשָׂכִ֥יר כִּשְׂכִ֥יר כיר כשכיר שְׂכִרֶ֤יהָ שָׂ֠כִיר שָׂכִ֔יר שָׂכִ֖יר שָׂכִ֛יר שָׂכִ֣יר שכיר שכריה chir kə·śā·ḵîr kesaChir kəśāḵîr ḵîr kiś·ḵîr kisChir kiśḵîr śā·ḵîr saChir śāḵîr śə·ḵi·re·hā sechiReiha śəḵirehā ū·ḵə·śā·ḵîr uchesaChir ūḵəśāḵîr velischireCha vesaChir wə·liś·ḵî·rə·ḵā wə·śā·ḵîr wəliśḵîrəḵā wəśāḵîr
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Interlinear GreekInterlinear HebrewStrong's NumbersEnglishman's Greek ConcordanceEnglishman's Hebrew ConcordanceParallel Texts
Englishman's Concordance
Exodus 12:45
HEB: תּוֹשָׁ֥ב וְשָׂכִ֖יר לֹא־ יֹ֥אכַל־
NAS: A sojourner or a hired servant shall not eat
KJV: A foreigner and an hired servant shall not eat
INT: A sojourner A hired shall not eat

Exodus 22:15
HEB: יְשַׁלֵּ֑ם אִם־ שָׂכִ֣יר ה֔וּא בָּ֖א
NAS: if it is hired, it came
KJV: thereof [be] with it, he shall not make [it] good: if it [be] an hired [thing], it came
INT: make if is hired it came

Leviticus 19:13
HEB: תָלִ֞ין פְּעֻלַּ֥ת שָׂכִ֛יר אִתְּךָ֖ עַד־
NAS: [him]. The wages of a hired man are not to remain with you all night
KJV: [him]: the wages of him that is hired shall not abide
INT: to remain the wages of a hired for until

Leviticus 22:10
HEB: תּוֹשַׁ֥ב כֹּהֵ֛ן וְשָׂכִ֖יר לֹא־ יֹ֥אכַל
NAS: with the priest or a hired man shall not eat
KJV: of the priest, or an hired servant, shall not eat
INT: a sojourner the priest A hired No eat

Leviticus 25:6
HEB: וּלְעַבְדְּךָ֣ וְלַאֲמָתֶ֑ךָ וְלִשְׂכִֽירְךָ֙ וּלְתוֹשָׁ֣בְךָ֔ הַגָּרִ֖ים
NAS: and female slaves, and your hired man and your foreign resident,
KJV: and for thy maid, and for thy hired servant, and for thy stranger
INT: and your male and female and your hired and your foreign live

Leviticus 25:40
HEB: כְּשָׂכִ֥יר כְּתוֹשָׁ֖ב יִהְיֶ֣ה
NAS: He shall be with you as a hired man, as if he were a sojourner;
KJV: [But] as an hired servant, [and] as a sojourner,
INT: A hired sojourner become

Leviticus 25:50
HEB: שָׁנִ֔ים כִּימֵ֥י שָׂכִ֖יר יִהְיֶ֥ה עִמּֽוֹ׃
NAS: [It is] like the days of a hired man [that] he shall be with him.
KJV: according to the time of an hired servant shall it be with him.
INT: of years the days of a hired shall correspond with

Leviticus 25:53
HEB: כִּשְׂכִ֥יר שָׁנָ֛ה בְּשָׁנָ֖ה
NAS: Like a man hired year by year
KJV: [And] as a yearly hired servant shall he be with him: [and the other] shall not rule
INT: A man year year

Deuteronomy 15:18
HEB: מִשְׁנֶה֙ שְׂכַ֣ר שָׂכִ֔יר עֲבָֽדְךָ֖ שֵׁ֣שׁ
NAS: the service of a hired man; so the LORD
KJV: a double hired servant [to thee], in serving
INT: double the service of a hired has given six

Deuteronomy 24:14
HEB: לֹא־ תַעֲשֹׁ֥ק שָׂכִ֖יר עָנִ֣י וְאֶבְי֑וֹן
NAS: You shall not oppress a hired servant [who is] poor
KJV: Thou shalt not oppress an hired servant [that is] poor
INT: shall not oppress A hired poor and needy

Job 7:1
HEB: ק) וְכִימֵ֖י שָׂכִ֣יר יָמָֽיו׃
NAS: like the days of a hired man?
KJV: also like the days of an hireling?
INT: and his days of a hired the days

Job 7:2
HEB: יִשְׁאַף־ צֵ֑ל וּ֝כְשָׂכִ֗יר יְקַוֶּ֥ה פָעֳלֽוֹ׃
NAS: for the shade, And as a hired man who eagerly waits
KJV: the shadow, and as an hireling looketh
INT: pants the shade A hired eagerly his wages

Job 14:6
HEB: עַד־ יִ֝רְצֶ֗ה כְּשָׂכִ֥יר יוֹמֽוֹ׃
NAS: he fulfills his day like a hired man.
KJV: till he shall accomplish, as an hireling, his day.
INT: Until fulfills A hired his day

Isaiah 16:14
HEB: שָׁנִים֙ כִּשְׁנֵ֣י שָׂכִ֔יר וְנִקְלָה֙ כְּב֣וֹד
NAS: years, as a hired man would count
KJV: as the years of an hireling, and the glory
INT: years count A hired will be degraded the glory

Isaiah 21:16
HEB: שָׁנָה֙ כִּשְׁנֵ֣י שָׂכִ֔יר וְכָלָ֖ה כָּל־
NAS: to me, In a year, as a hired man would count
KJV: according to the years of an hireling, and all the glory
INT: A year count A hired will terminate all

Jeremiah 46:21
HEB: גַּם־ שְׂכִרֶ֤יהָ בְקִרְבָּהּ֙ כְּעֶגְלֵ֣י
KJV: Also her hired men [are] in the midst
INT: Also men her midst calves

Malachi 3:5
HEB: וּבְעֹשְׁקֵ֣י שְׂכַר־ שָׂ֠כִיר אַלְמָנָ֨ה וְיָת֤וֹם
NAS: and against those who oppress the wage earner in his wages,
KJV: and against those that oppress the hireling in [his] wages,
INT: oppress his wages the wage the widow and the orphan

17 Occurrences

Strong's Hebrew 7916
17 Occurrences


ḵîr — 1 Occ.
kə·śā·ḵîr — 2 Occ.
kiś·ḵîr — 1 Occ.
śā·ḵîr — 8 Occ.
śə·ḵi·re·hā — 1 Occ.
ū·ḵə·śā·ḵîr — 1 Occ.
wə·liś·ḵî·rə·ḵā — 1 Occ.
wə·śā·ḵîr — 2 Occ.

7915
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