Gender Masculine
Scripts שַׁבְּתַי(Ancient Hebrew)
Other Forms FormsSabbataios (Hellenized)
Meaning & History
Shabbethai, a Levite who helped Ezra in the matter of the foreign marriages (Ezra 10:15), probably the one present at Ezra's reading of the law (Nehemiah 8:7), and possibly the Levite chief and overseer (Nehemiah 11:16). The name might mean "one born on Sabbath", but more probably is a modification of the ethnic Zephathi (Zephathite), from Zarephathi (Zarephathite). Meshullam and [Jozabad[, with which Shabbethai's name is combined, both originate in ethnic names.שבתאי is also the Hebrew name of the planet Saturn.