SOPHERETH

(So·pheʹreth) [from a root meaning “count; number”].

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