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PASHHUR

(Pashʹhur).

1. Father of the Gedaliah who was one of the princes of Judah responsible for having Jeremiah thrown into a cistern.​—Jer 38:1, 4, 6.

2. A prince in the delegation King Zedekiah sent to inquire of Jeremiah concerning the future of Jerusalem. (Jer 21:1, 2) Pashhur also petitioned the king for Jeremiah to be put to death. (Jer 38:1, 4, 6) Pashhur is called in these two passages “the son of Malchijah.” The family of priests returning from Babylonian exile contains a similar link in their genealogy, “Pashhur the son of Malchijah.” (1Ch 9:12; Ne 11:12) If prince Pashhur was indeed a priest, he may be the one from whom “the sons of Pashhur” (No. 4) draw their name.

3. A priest, “the son [or descendant] of Immer, . . . the leading commissioner in the house of Jehovah.” Pashhur, objecting to Jeremiah’s prophecies, struck him and put him into the stocks and released him the following day. As a result Jehovah, through Jeremiah, foretold exile and death in Babylon for Pashhur and, accordingly, changed his name from Pashhur to “Fright all around” (Heb., Ma·ghohrʹ mis·sa·vivʹ) (Jer 20:1-6), an expression occurring several times in the book of Jeremiah.​—Jer 6:25; 20:3, 10; 46:5; 49:29.

4. “The sons of Pashhur” were a paternal house of priests, 1,247 of whom returned from the exile with priest Jeshua in 537 B.C.E. (Ezr 2:1, 2, 36, 38; Ne 7:41) Six of these married foreign wives but sent them away after Ezra arrived in 468 B.C.E.​—Ezr 10:22, 44; see No. 2.

5. A priest or the forefather of one who, in the time of Governor Nehemiah, supported the covenant not to take foreign wives.​—Ne 9:38; 10:1, 3, 8.