BIBLE DICTIONARY + WORD STUDY
How to read this: there is rarely one magic “true meaning” hidden behind an English word. A lexicon records a word’s semantic range. The intended meaning is narrowed by grammar, sentence, author, historical usage and context.
GREEK · G4519
sabaōth — hosts
σαβαώθ indecl., [in LXX for צָבָא, chiefly in Isaiah (in other places, the phrase is also rendered by κύριος παντοκράτωρ, κ. τῶν δυνάμεων; see DB, iii, 137 f.) ;] Sabaoth, i.e. hosts or armies (see DB, l.with): Rom.9:29 (LXX), Ja 54.† (AS)
2 tagged verse occurrences · see every occurrence →The transliteration of the Hebrew word tsebha’oth, meaning “hosts,” “armies” (Rom. 9:29; James 5:4). In the LXX. the Hebrew word is rendered by “Almighty.” (See Rev. 4:8; comp. Isa. 6:3.) It may designate Jehovah as either (1) God of the armies of earth, or (2) God of the armies of the stars, or (3) God of the unseen armies of angels; or perhaps it may include all these ideas.
Source: Easton’s Bible Dictionary (1897). Historical dictionary wording reflects the scholarship and language of its era.
