Sheriff

The term appears in the UPDV only in the roll of Babylonian officials Nebuchadnezzar summons to the dedication of his golden image. It names one rank within a longer administrative list rather than a standalone office of sustained narrative interest.

The Officials Summoned to the Plain of Dura

The king sends out a comprehensive call for his provincial leadership: "Then Nebuchadnezzar the king sent to gather together the satraps, the deputies, and the governors, the judges, the treasurers, the counselors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, to come to the dedication of the image which Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up" (Dan 3:2). The sheriffs stand seventh in a list of seven named ranks before the catch-all "all the rulers of the provinces," placing them among the lower civil officers rather than the senior satraps and governors that head the catalog.

The summons takes effect: "Then the satraps, the deputies, and the governors, the judges, the treasurers, the counselors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, were gathered together to the dedication of the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up; and they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up" (Dan 3:3). The same list is repeated word-for-word in the same order, signaling the completeness of the response — every tier of the empire's administrative apparatus, sheriffs included, presents itself before the image on the plain of Dura.

The repetition is the whole textual footprint of the office. Beyond this paired roll-call, the sheriffs do not appear again as actors in the narrative; they are part of the empire-wide audience the dedication scene is engineered to assemble.