πατήρ
father
‘father’ is one of 3 main senses fuller range ↓
Full lexicon entry — Thayer's Greek Lexicon
From Thayer's Greek Lexicon
Where this word appears
See every Nominative-case word in the Greek New Testament →
Grammar key — what these labels mean
Part of speech
- Noun
- A naming word — a person, place, thing, or idea.
Case
- Nominative
- The case of the subject (and the predicate nominative).
- Genitive
- The case of source, possession, or “of” — answers “whose / from what.”
- Accusative
- The case of the direct object and of extent.
- Dative
- The case of the indirect object, means, or location — “to / for / with / in.”
- Vocative
- The case of direct address (“O Lord”).
Gender
- Masculine
- Grammatically masculine.
Number
- Singular
- One.
- Plural
- More than one.
31 verses where G3962 appears in the Accusative case in the Book of John. Filtered view — show all forms. Click any verse to open its interlinear word-by-word view. Verse text shown in the World English Bible for context — . Each verse’s Greek form is shown with its reference; the English is not keyword-highlighted, since the data carries no word-level English alignment. Use “Compare translations” on any verse to read it across multiple English versions. This concordance covers the Greek New Testament; Septuagint (Greek Old Testament) occurrences of this word are not indexed here.
John
- John 5:18 πατέρα n acc sg masc For this cause therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill him, because he not only broke the Sabbath, but also called God his own Father, making himself equal with God.
- John 5:19 πατέρα n acc sg masc Jesus therefore answered them, "Most assuredly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing of himself, but what he sees the Father doing. For whatever things he does, these the Son also does likewise.
- John 5:23 πατέρα πατέρα n acc sg masc n acc sg masc that all may honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He who doesn't honor the Son doesn't honor the Father who sent him.
- John 5:45 πατέρα n acc sg masc "Don't think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you, even Moses, on whom you have set your hope.
- John 6:42 πατέρα n acc sg masc They said, "Isn't this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How then does he say, 'I have come down out of heaven?'"
- John 6:46 πατέρα n acc sg masc Not that anyone has seen the Father, except he who is from God. He has seen the Father.
- John 6:57 πατὴρ πατέρα n nom sg masc n acc sg masc As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father; so he who feeds on me, he will also live because of me.
- John 8:19 πατήρ πατέρα πατέρα n nom sg masc n acc sg masc n acc sg masc They said therefore to him, "Where is your Father?" Jesus answered, "You know neither me, nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also."
- John 8:27 πατέρα n acc sg masc They didn't understand that he spoke to them about the Father.
- John 8:41 πατρὸς πατέρα n gen sg masc n acc sg masc You do the works of your father." They said to him, "We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father, God."
- John 8:49 πατέρα n acc sg masc Jesus answered, "I don't have a demon, but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me.
- John 10:15 πατὴρ πατέρα n nom sg masc n acc sg masc even as the Father knows me, and I know the Father. I lay down my life for the sheep.
- John 13:1 πατέρα n acc sg masc Now before the feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that his time had come that he would depart from this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.
- John 14:6 πατέρα n acc sg masc Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me.
- John 14:7 πατέρα n acc sg masc If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on, you know him, and have seen him."
- John 14:8 πατέρα n acc sg masc Philip said to him, "Lord, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us."
- John 14:9 πατέρα πατέρα n acc sg masc n acc sg masc Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you such a long time, and do you not know me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father. How do you say, 'Show us the Father?'
- John 14:12 πατέρα n acc sg masc Most assuredly I tell you, he who believes in me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these will he do; because I am going to my Father.
- John 14:16 πατέρα n acc sg masc I will pray to the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, that he may be with you forever,--
- John 14:28 πατέρα πατὴρ n acc sg masc n nom sg masc You heard how I told you, 'I go away, and I come to you.' If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I said 'I am going to my Father;' for the Father is greater than I.
- John 14:31 πατέρα πατήρ n acc sg masc n nom sg masc But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father commanded me, even so I do. Arise, let us go from here.
- John 15:16 πατέρα n acc sg masc You didn't choose me, but I chose you, and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain; that whatever you will ask of the Father in my name, he may give it to you.
- John 15:23 πατέρα n acc sg masc He who hates me, hates my Father also.
- John 15:24 πατέρα n acc sg masc If I hadn't done among them the works which no one else did, they wouldn't have had sin. But now have they seen and also hated both me and my Father.
- John 16:3 πατέρα n acc sg masc They will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me.
- John 16:10 πατέρα n acc sg masc about righteousness, because I am going to my Father, and you won't see me any more;
- John 16:17 πατέρα n acc sg masc Some of his disciples therefore said to one another, "What is this that he says to us, 'A little while, and you won't see me, and again a little while, and you will see me;' and, 'Because I go to the Father?'"
- John 16:23 πατέρα n acc sg masc "In that day you will ask me no questions. Most assuredly I tell you, whatever you may ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you.
- John 16:26 πατέρα n acc sg masc In that day you will ask in my name; and I don't say to you, that I will pray to the Father for you,
- John 16:28 πατρὸς πατέρα n gen sg masc n acc sg masc I came out from the Father, and have come into the world. Again, I leave the world, and go to the Father."
- John 20:17 πατέρα πατέρα πατέρα n acc sg masc n acc sg masc n acc sg masc Jesus said to her, "Don't touch me, for I haven't yet ascended to my Father; but go to my brothers, and tell them, 'I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'"
About this entry
At a glance — auto-summarized from this page’s data, not written by a person. Every figure links to its source below. This summary describes the numbers; it doesn’t interpret them.
πατηρ (patḗr) is a Greek noun most often rendered “father.” Scripture first uses it in Matthew 2:22. Spanning 365 verses in 26 books, it ranks among the common words of the Greek New Testament. John dominates its distribution — 111 of 365 verses. Ranging over 3 senses, it is not a single-sense word. The sections below give every sense, occurrence, and version rendering.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's G3962 catalogs a Greek word from the Greek New Testament.
These counts are not copied from any lexicon or concordance. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged Greek New Testament. What Lemma adds →
- 365
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 365 distinct verses.
- 26 / 27
- NT books
- The word appears in 26 of 27 New Testament books.
- #46
- by frequency
- Top 50 most frequent Greek words (rank 46 of 5,347 Greek words by occurrence).
View all 365 occurrences in the concordance →
By section of the New Testament
By traditional corpus
Conventional, traditional groupings — biblical authorship is debated, so this is a traditional corpus grouping, not an authorship claim. Some books belong to more than one corpus (Luke is in both the Gospels and the Lukan corpus, and so on), so these shares overlap and need not total 100%. Each figure is a share of the word’s 365 distinct verses.
- Gospels 232 verses · 64%
- Johannine 131 verses · 36%
- Lukan (Luke–Acts) 81 verses · 22%
- Pauline corpus 62 verses · 17%
- General (Catholic) Epistles 25 verses · 7%
- Hebrews 8 verses · 2%
- Revelation 5 verses · 1%
How translations render this word
Counts come from each version’s own published word-to-Strong’s tagging or interlinear alignment — an approximate guide to how each version renders this word, not a word-level alignment the data otherwise carries. Because each total is that version’s own tagged count, the per-version totals vary from one another and need not match the appearance or distinct-verse counts above. These counts may also differ from a printed concordance because Lemma counts each distinctly tagged rendering and does not collapse phrase taggings into a single head-word total. This is a fixed set of word-tagged versions (KJV, ASV, BSB, ULT) and does not change with the reading translation you choose elsewhere. Each version’s license is shown beside its name below (and on Sources).
- King James Version: Father 347×, Fathers 49×, Father's 16×
- American Standard Version: Father 339×, Fathers 50×, Of 18×
- Berean Standard Bible: Father 339×, Fathers 46×, Father’s 18×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text: Father 358×, Fathers 51×, Of 38×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders G3962 across 419 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 7 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
American Standard Version Public Domain
Renders G3962 across 439 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 18 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
Berean Standard Bible Public Domain
Renders G3962 across 411 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 4 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings. Not rendered by a distinct English word in 3 further occurrences.
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders G3962 across 464 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 6 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
Senses in Thayer's
The 3 senses Thayer's distinguishes for this word, in lexicon order (not ranked by frequency or importance). The full entry — with sub-senses — is in the Lexicon Entry tab.
- generator or male ancestor
- metaph.
- God is called the Father
Word origin
Origin: apparently a root word
Apparently a primary word; a father (literally or figuratively near or more remote): - father parent.
— Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance (1890), public domain.
Forms in the corpus
The 13 distinct written forms G3962 takes in the Greek New Testament, most frequent first — each parse links to that case’s occurrences in the concordance.
| Form | Parsing | Example | Uses |
|---|---|---|---|
| πατέρα patéra | Noun, Accusative, Singular, Masculine | Matthew 3:9 | 93 |
| πατὴρ patḕr | Noun, Nominative, Singular, Masculine | Matthew 5:48 | 73 |
| πατρὸς patròs | Noun, Genitive, Singular, Masculine | Matthew 2:22 | 56 |
| πατρός patrós | Noun, Genitive, Singular, Masculine | Matthew 7:21 | 44 |
| πατήρ patḗr | Noun, Nominative, Singular, Masculine | Matthew 6:4 | 38 |
| πατέρες patéres | Noun, Nominative, Plural, Masculine | Luke 6:23 | 24 |
| πατρὶ patrì | Noun, Dative, Singular, Masculine | Matthew 6:1 | 23 |
| πάτερ páter | Noun, Vocative, Singular, Masculine | Matthew 6:9 | 21 |
| πατέρων patérōn | Noun, Genitive, Plural, Masculine | Matthew 23:30 | 14 |
| πατέρας patéras | Noun, Accusative, Plural, Masculine | Luke 1:55 | 12 |
| πατρί patrí | Noun, Dative, Singular, Masculine | Matthew 6:6 | 10 |
| πατράσιν patrásin | Noun, Dative, Plural, Masculine | Acts 7:44 | 3 |
| προπάτορα propátora | Noun, Accusative, Singular, Masculine | Romans 4:1 | 1 |
Same root — word family
Other Thayer's entries built from the same root as G3962, grouped by Strong’s listed origin. These share a root / origin per the lexicon — not necessarily a shared meaning. Each links to that word’s own entry.
Derived from this word
- πατραλωας patralṓias G3964 parricide
- πατρια patriá G3965 family
- πατρικος patrikós G3967 paternal
- πατροπαραδοτος patroparádotos G3970 traditional
- πατρωος patrōios G3971 inherited
Proper names from this root
People and places named from this root — a name, not an additional meaning of the word.
Compare all same-root words → Showing 4 of 7 — not the complete family. 1 of the same-root words is a proper name (a person or place). They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.
Septuagint usage
The same Greek word πατηρ appears 1,106 times in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), across 944 verses in 30 books.
- 1,106
- LXX occurrences
- Tagged occurrences of this Greek word in the Septuagint.
- 944
- verses
- Distinct Septuagint verses containing this word.
- 30 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 30 of the 39 Old Testament books.
Sample Septuagint occurrences
- Genesis 2:24 πατήρ
- Exodus 1:1 πατήρ
- Leviticus 10:4 πατήρ
- Numbers 3:4 πατήρ
- Deuteronomy 1:8 πατήρ
- Joshua 1:6 πατήρ
- Judges 1:14 πατήρ
- Ruth 2:11 πατήρ
- 1 Samuel 1:25 πατήρ
- 2 Samuel 2:32 πατήρ
- 1 Kings 1:6 πατήρ
- 2 Kings 1:18 πατήρ
Septuagint occurrences (same lexeme)
Every verse where the same Strong’s number (G3962) appears in the Greek Septuagint — showing the first 50 of 944. Verse text shown in the World English Bible for context; the Greek form is the matched word — the English is not keyword-highlighted.
- Genesis 2:24 πατήρ Therefore a man will leave his father and his mother, and will join with his wife, and they will be one flesh.
- Genesis 4:20 πατήρ Adah gave birth to Jabal, who was the father of those who dwell in tents and have cattle.
- Genesis 9:18 πατήρ The sons of Noah who went forth from the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Ham is the father of Canaan.
- Genesis 9:22 πατήρ Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside.
- Genesis 9:23 πατήρ Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it on both their shoulders, went in backwards, and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were backwards, and they didn't see their father's nakedness.
- Genesis 10:21 πατήρ To Shem, the father of all the children of Eber, the elder brother of Japheth, to him also were children born.
- Genesis 11:28 πατήρ Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldees.
- Genesis 11:29 πατήρ Abram and Nahor took wives. The name of Abram's wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor's wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran who was also the father of Iscah.
- Genesis 12:1 πατήρ Now Yahweh said to Abram, "Get out of your country, and from your relatives, and from your father's house, to the land that I will show you.
- Genesis 15:15 πατήρ But you will go to your fathers in peace. You will be buried in a good old age.
- Genesis 17:4 πατήρ "As for me, behold, my covenant is with you. You will be the father of a multitude of nations.
- Genesis 17:5 πατήρ Neither will your name any more be called Abram, but your name will be Abraham; for the father of a multitude of nations have I made you.
- Genesis 19:31 πατήρ The firstborn said to the younger, "Our father is old, and there is not a man in the earth to come in to us after the manner of all the earth.
- Genesis 19:32 πατήρ Come, let's make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve our father's seed."
- Genesis 19:33 πατήρ They made their father drink wine that night: and the firstborn went in, and lay with her father. He didn't know when she lay down, nor when she arose.
- Genesis 19:34 πατήρ It came to pass on the next day, that the firstborn said to the younger, "Behold, I lay last night with my father. Let us make him drink wine again, tonight. You go in, and lie with him, that we may preserve our father's seed."
- Genesis 19:35 πατήρ They made their father drink wine that night also. The younger arose, and lay with him. He didn't know when she lay down, nor when she arose.
- Genesis 19:36 πατήρ Thus both of Lot's daughters were with child by their father.
- Genesis 19:37 πατήρ The firstborn bore a son, and named him Moab. The same is the father of the Moabites to this day.
- Genesis 19:38 πατήρ The younger also bore a son, and called his name Ben Ammi. The same is the father of the children of Ammon to this day.
- Genesis 20:12 πατήρ Moreover she is indeed my sister, the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife.
- Genesis 20:13 πατήρ It happened, when God caused me to wander from my father's house, that I said to her, 'This is your kindness which you shall show to me. Everywhere that we go, say of me, "He is my brother."'"
- Genesis 22:7 πατήρ Isaac spoke to Abraham his father, and said, "My father?" He said, "Here I am, my son." He said, "Here is the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?"
- Genesis 22:21 πατήρ Uz his firstborn, Buz his brother, Kemuel the father of Aram,
- Genesis 24:7 πατήρ Yahweh, the God of heaven, who took me from my father's house, and from the land of my birth, who spoke to me, and who swore to me, saying, 'I will give this land to your seed.' He will send his angel before you, and you shall take a wife for my son from there.
- Genesis 24:23 πατήρ and said, "Whose daughter are you? Please tell me. Is there room in your father's house for us to lodge in?"
- Genesis 24:38 πατήρ but you shall go to my father's house, and to my relatives, and take a wife for my son.'
- Genesis 24:40 πατήρ He said to me, 'Yahweh, before whom I walk, will send his angel with you, and prosper your way. You shall take a wife for my son of my relatives, and of my father's house.
- Genesis 26:3 πατήρ Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you, and will bless you. For to you, and to your seed, I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath which I swore to Abraham your father.
- Genesis 26:5 πατήρ because Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws."
- Genesis 26:15 πατήρ Now all the wells which his father's servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines had stopped, and filled with earth.
- Genesis 26:18 πατήρ Isaac dug again the wells of water, which they had dug in the days of Abraham his father. For the Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham. He called their names after the names by which his father had called them.
- Genesis 26:24 πατήρ Yahweh appeared to him the same night, and said, "I am the God of Abraham your father. Don't be afraid, for I am with you, and will bless you, and multiply your seed for my servant Abraham's sake."
- Genesis 27:5 πατήρ Rebekah heard when Isaac spoke to Esau his son. Esau went to the field to hunt for venison, and to bring it.
- Genesis 27:6 πατήρ Rebekah spoke to Jacob her son, saying, "Behold, I heard your father speak to Esau your brother, saying,
- Genesis 27:9 πατήρ Go now to the flock, and get me from there two good kids of the goats. I will make them savory food for your father, such as he loves.
- Genesis 27:10 πατήρ You shall bring it to your father, that he may eat, so that he may bless you before his death."
- Genesis 27:12 πατήρ What if my father touches me? I will seem to him as a deceiver, and I would bring a curse on myself, and not a blessing."
- Genesis 27:14 πατήρ He went, and got them, and brought them to his mother. His mother made savory food, such as his father loved.
- Genesis 27:18 πατήρ He came to his father, and said, "My father?" He said, "Here I am. Who are you, my son?"
- Genesis 27:19 πατήρ Jacob said to his father, "I am Esau your firstborn. I have done what you asked me to do. Please arise, sit and eat of my venison, that your soul may bless me."
- Genesis 27:22 πατήρ Jacob went near to Isaac his father. He felt him, and said, "The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau."
- Genesis 27:26 πατήρ His father Isaac said to him, "Come near now, and kiss me, my son."
- Genesis 27:29 πατήρ Let peoples serve you, Nations bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers, Let your mother's sons bow down to you. Cursed be everyone who curses you, Blessed be everyone who blesses you."
- Genesis 27:30 πατήρ It happened, as soon as Isaac had made an end of blessing Jacob, and Jacob had just gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, that Esau his brother came in from his hunting.
- Genesis 27:31 πατήρ He also made savory food, and brought it to his father. He said to his father, "Let my father arise, and eat of his son's venison, that your soul may bless me."
- Genesis 27:32 πατήρ Isaac his father said to him, "Who are you?" He said, "I am your son, your firstborn, Esau."
- Genesis 27:34 πατήρ When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with an exceeding great and bitter cry, and said to his father, "Bless me, even me also, my father."
- Genesis 27:36 πατήρ He said, "Isn't he rightly named Jacob? For he has supplanted me these two times. He took away my birthright. See, now he has taken away my blessing." He said, "Haven't you reserved a blessing for me?"
- Genesis 27:38 πατήρ Esau said to his father, "Have you but one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, my father." Esau lifted up his voice, and wept.
These are occurrences of the same Greek lexeme (G3962) in the Septuagint — not a translation of any one Hebrew word. The store carries no word-level Hebrew↔Greek alignment, so no Hebrew original is asserted here. Counts come from the recovered LXX Strong's tagging — high-frequency vocabulary is well covered, while rare or late forms may be untagged — so they reflect tagged occurrences and may slightly undercount.