Definition

to officiate as a priest; figuratively, to put on regalia

Etymology

a primitive root, apparently meaning to mediate in religious services; but used only as denominative from H3548 (כֹּהֵן);

Where the KJV renders it

• deck
• be (do the office of a
• execute the
• minister in the) priest('s office)

Every distinct English word the King James Version uses to translate this Hebrew term. The variety shows what readers in English receive across many different surface words — the same underlying word, scattered across the English Bible under different names.

What the first audience heard

A deep-dive treatment of this word is in the works. The featured chapter above carries the long form of what this word meant to its first audience.