SOPHERETH

(So·pheʹreth) [scribe].

Apparently an ancestor of a family (“the sons of Sophereth”) among the “sons of the servants of Solomon” who returned from the Babylonian exile. (Ezra 2:55; Neh. 7:57) Ezra puts a definite article in front of So·pheʹreth, making it Has·so·pheʹreth, “the scribes.” Some suggest that the sons of Sophereth were a staff of scribes or copyists, as is suggested by the meaning of the name. The meanings of some of the other names in the list might allow for reference to an occupation, while others do not.