אָב
father
‘father’ is one of 9 main senses fuller range ↓
Full lexicon entry — Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
From Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
Where this word appears
See every Construct-state word in the Hebrew Bible →
Grammar key — what these labels mean
Part of speech
- Noun
- A naming word — a person, place, thing, or idea.
- Particle
- A short function word — article, negation, interrogative, the sign of the direct object, and the like.
Noun type
- Common
- A common noun — a general class of person, place, or thing (“king,” “city,” “water”), not a specific name.
- Proper
- A name of a specific person, place, or people (e.g. Abraham, Zion, Israel).
State
- Construct
- A noun bound to a following noun in a possessive / “of” relationship (the construct chain).
- Absolute
- The independent form of a noun, not bound to a following word.
Gender
- Masculine
- Grammatically masculine.
Number
- Singular
- One.
- Plural
- More than one (in Hebrew, generally three or more).
6 verses where H1 appears in the Construct state in the Book of Job. 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 Hebrew 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 Hebrew Bible; Septuagint (Greek Old Testament) occurrences are not indexed here.
Job
- Job 8:8 אֲבוֹתָֽ/ם n c mp cs + sfx pers 3mp "Please inquire of past generations, Find out about the learning of their fathers.
- Job 15:10 מֵ/אָבִ֣י/ךָ prep + n c ms cs + sfx pers 2ms With us are both the gray-headed and the very aged men, Much elder than your father.
- Job 15:18 מֵ/אֲבוֹתָֽ/ם prep + n c mp cs + sfx pers 3mp (Which wise men have told From their fathers, and have not hidden it;
- Job 17:14 אָ֣בִ/י n c ms cs + sfx pers 1cs If I have said to corruption, 'You are my father;' To the worm, 'My mother,' and 'my sister;'
- Job 30:1 אֲבוֹתָ֑/ם n c mp cs + sfx pers 3mp "But now those who are younger than I, have me in derision, Whose fathers I would have disdained to put with my sheep dogs.
- Job 42:15 אֲבִי/הֶ֛ם n c ms cs + sfx pers 3mp In all the land were no women found so beautiful as the daughters of Job. Their father gave them an inheritance among their brothers.
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.
“father” is the headline sense of the Hebrew noun אב (ʼâb). Its meaning spans more than one sense — see its full sense range. It turns up in 1,060 verses across 31 books, one of the most common footprint. Its earliest occurrence is Genesis 2:24. It clusters with אב, אוב and אבי under a shared root. The sections below give every sense, occurrence, and version rendering.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's H1 catalogs a Hebrew word from the Hebrew Old Testament.
These counts are not copied from any lexicon or concordance. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged Hebrew Old Testament. What Lemma adds →
- 1,060
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 1,060 distinct verses.
- 31 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 31 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #30
- by frequency
- Top 50 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 30 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 1,060 occurrences in the concordance →
Most concentrated in
- Genesis 170 verses 16%
- 2 Chronicles 110 verses 10%
- 1 Chronicles 87 verses 8%
By section of the Old Testament
By traditional corpus
Conventional, traditional groupings — biblical authorship is debated, so this is a traditional corpus grouping, not an authorship claim. Each share is this word’s portion of its verses in that division of the Hebrew canon. Each figure is a share of the word’s 1,060 distinct verses.
- Prophets (Nevi'im) 413 verses · 39%
- Torah (Pentateuch) 351 verses · 33%
- Writings (Ketuvim) 296 verses · 28%
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).
BDB lists this Strong’s number as 2 distinct words (homographs). Each count above pools all of them and is not split by sense — see the Senses section below. A low-frequency rendering may belong to a different one of those words, not the primary meaning.
- King James Version†: Father 517×, Fathers 417×, Father's 93×
- American Standard Version†: Father 532×, Fathers 397×, According to their fathers 12×
- Berean Standard Bible†: Father 482×, Fathers 327×, Father’s 120×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text†: Father 608×, Fathers 443×, Father of 68×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H1 across 1,212† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 117 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.
American Standard Version Public Domain
Renders H1 across 1,212† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 172 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 H1 across 1,165† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 77 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 46 further occurrences.
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders H1 across 1,203† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 25 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
9 senses and sub-senses in the full BDB
What do BDB’s symbols mean?
BDB uses these scholarly abbreviations:
| Symbol | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 𝔊 | the Septuagint (the ancient Greek translation, LXX) |
| 𝔙 | the Vulgate (the Latin translation) |
| 𝔖 | the Syriac version (the Peshitta) |
| 𝔗 | the Targum (the Aramaic translation) |
| ψ | the Psalms |
| √ | root (the underlying root or stem) |
| ‖ | parallel passage (a synonymous or contrasted parallel) |
| † | the dagger: every passage where the word occurs is cited |
The 9 senses and sub-senses the full Brown-Driver-Briggs lexicon distinguishes for this word, in lexicon order (not ranked by frequency), with BDB’s own verbatim wording and sub-sense lettering. Shown in Hebrew script with BDB’s own scholarly abbreviations. The condensed entry is in the Lexicon Entry tab. See also the Forms in the corpus table below.
- 1. father of individual Gn 2:24 (+ אֵם) 11:28, 29(×2); 19:31, 32, 33, + often (mostly JED); of father as commanding Gn 50:16 (J) Je 35:6 f Pr 6:20 (cf. Gn 18:19 J 28:1, 6 P 1 S 17:20 1 K 2:1); instructing מוסר Pr 1:8; 4:1 (cf. Dt 8:5); specif. as begetter, genitor Pr 23:22 Zc 13:3(×2) (+ אֵם) Is 45:10; cf. Gn 49:4 (J) Lv 18:7, 8, 11 (P); rebuking Gn 37:10; loving Gn 37:4; 44:20 (JE; cf. 22:2; 25:28; 37:3 2 S 14:1); pitying ψ 103:13 (in sim. cf. 2 S 18:5); blessing Gn 27:41 (JE cf. 27:4 also 28:1 P +); as glad Pr 10:1; 15:20 cf. 29:3; grieving Gn 37:35 (JE; cf. 2 S 12:22; 19:1, 2 f) etc. Also as obj. of honour, obedience, love Ex 20:12 (E) = Dt 5:16; Ex 21:15, 17 (E) Dt 21:18, 19 Gn 28:7 (P), 50:1, 5 1 K 19:20 (all + אֵם) (J) Mal 1:6 etc. Hence metaph. of intimate connection Jb 17:14 to corruption I cry, My father art thou (‖ אִמִּי וַאֲחֹתִי לָֽרִמָּה). e.g. Genesis 2:24
- 2. of God as father of his people (v. RSSem 42), who constituted, controls, guides and lovingly watches over it: Dt 32:6 Je 3:4, 19; 31:9 Is 63:16(×2); 64:7 Mal 1:6; 2:10 (cf. Ex 4:22; 19:4 (JE) Dt 32:11 Ho 11:1); cf. Je 2:27 (of idolatr. Isr.) אֹמְרִים לָעֵץ אָבִי אַתָּה וְלָאֶבֶן אַתְּ ילדתני׃; especially God as father of Davidic line 2 S 7:14 ψ 89:27; f. of needy (late) ψ 68:6 (cf. 103:13) (in n.pr., f. of individ., cf. infr.) e.g. Deuteronomy 32:6
- 3. head of household, family or clan; בֵּית אָבִי as abode Gn 38:11(×2) Lv 22:13 +; = family Gn 24:40 (‖ מִשְׁפַחְתִּי) 41:51; 46:31 + cf. Nu 18:1, 2 Jos 2:12, 18; 6:25; especially techn. of divisions of Isr. בֵּית אָב לְמִשְׁפָּחוֹת Nu 3:30, 35 = a father’s house, i.e. a family or clan; more often pl. (אבותם, אבותיו) בֵית אָבוֹת = fathers’ houses = families, clans (cf. Di on Ex 6:14) Ex 6:14; 12:3 Nu 1:2, 18 ff. (often in Nu) Jos 22:14(×2) without בית Jos 14:1; 19:51; 21:1(×2) (always P in Hex.); also 1 Ch 5:13, 15 + often in Ch; cf. רָאשֵׁי אבות הלוים (= ר׳ בית א׳) Ex 6:25 cf. 1 K 8:1 1 Ch 6:4; 7:11 + often Ch Ezr Ne. e.g. Genesis 38:11
- 4. ancestor (a) of individual; grandfather (instead of precise term) Gn 28:13; 32:10 (J; where used of Abr. & Isaac); greatgr. 1 K 15:3; gr.-greatgr. 1 K 15:11, 24 etc.; cf. 2 K 14:3; 15:38; 16:2; 18:3; 22:2; often pl. (= fathers, forefathers) Gn 15:15; 46:34 (JE) 1 K 19:4; 21:3, 4 2 K 19:12; 20:17 +; particularly שׁכב עם אבותיו 1 K 1:21; 2:10; 11:21; 22:40 +; joined with ויקבר עם אב׳ 1 K 14:31; 15:24; 22:51 2 K 8:24; 15:38 cf. v 7, 16:20 + (all of kings of Judah); intens., אֲבֹתֶיךָ וַאֲבוֹת אֲבֹתֶיךָ Ex 10:6 cf. Dn 11:24; (b) of people Gn 10:21 (J) 17:4, 5 (P) 19:37, 38 (J) 36:9, 43 (P) Dt 26:5 Is 51:2; 43:27 (where אביך הראשׁון thy first father, v. Che) cf. also Ez 16:3, 45 + often; pl. Ex 3:13, 15, 16 (E) Dt 1:8 Jos 1:6 Ju 2:1 1 S 12:6 +; 1 S 12:15 ad fin read וּבְמַלְכְּכֶם 𝔊 We Dr. e.g. Genesis 28:13
- 5. originator or patron of a class, profession, or art Gn 4:20, 21. e.g. Genesis 4:20
- 6. fig. of producer, generator Jb 38:28 הֲיֵשׁ לַמָּטָר אָ֑ב (‖ מִי־הוֹלִיד אֶגְלֵי־טָֽל׃). e.g. Job 38:28
- 7. fig. of benevolence & protection Jb 29:16 אָב אָֽנֹכִי לָֽאֶבְיוֹנִים, cf. 31:18; of Eliakim Is 22:21; perhaps also of gracious Mess. king אֲבִי עַד Is 9:5 everlasting father (Ge Ew De Che Brd Di)—others divider of spoil (Abarb Hi Kn KueBrMP). e.g. Job 29:16
- 8. term of respect & honour (Abbas, Pater, Papa, Pope); appl. to master 2 K 5:13; priest Ju 17:10; 18:19; prophet 2 K 2:12(×2); 6:21; 13:14(×2) cf. 8:9; counsellor Gn 45:8 (E; cf. δευτέρου πατρός 𝔊 add. Est 3:13; τῷ πατρί 1 Mac 11:32); king 1 S 24:12; artificer 2 Ch 2:12; 4:16. e.g. 2 Kings 5:13
- 9. specif., ruler, chief (late) 1 Ch 2:24, 42(×2) etc. (cf. Ew§ 273b). See also EwGesch. i. 524 H i. 365. On the force of אָב in proper names (in many prob. a divine title), v. CheEncy. Bib., abi, names with Nöib., names, §§ 44, 45. e.g. 1 Chronicles 2:24
Senses from the full Brown-Driver-Briggs lexicon (Brown, Driver, Briggs; Oxford 1906 — public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). Full attribution on Sources.
Word origin
n.m. father (Ph. אב, Assyrian abu, Arabic أَبٌ, Sab. אב CISiv, 1. 37 1. 2 al. Ethiopic አብ Aramaic אַבָּא, ܐܰܒܳܐ )—abs. אָב Gn 44:19 + 47 times; cstr. אַב Gn 17:4, 5 (cf. in אַבְרָהָם ib. & elsewhere in n.pr. On Hal’s proposes אֲבִר v. אברהם); אֲבִי (cf. Ge§§ 90, 3b, 96) Gn 4:20 +; sf. אָבִי Gn 19:34 + (MI אבי); אָבִיךָ Gn 12:1 +; אָבִיו Gn 2:24 +; אָבִ֫יהוּ Ju 14:10 + 6 times; pl. אָבוֹת Ex 12:3 +; cstr. אֲבוֹת Ex 6:25 + 7 times; sf. אֲבוֹתַי (אֲבֹתַי, אֲבוֹתָ֑י) Gn 47:9 + 15 times; אֲבוֹתֵיהֶם 1 Ch 4:38 + 32 times (late); אֲבוֹתָם Ex 4:5 + 106 times etc.;—
— Brown-Driver-Briggs (Oxford 1906, public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). See Sources.
Origin: a root
Jastrow Dictionary
A second Hebrew/Aramaic lexicon for comparison, covering Aramaic and post-biblical (Talmudic, Targumic, Midrashic) usage that the biblical-Hebrew BDB does not. Matched by lemma rather than by Strong’s number, so a lemma may carry more than one Jastrow headword (shown separately below), and the entries cover usage well beyond the Bible.
אַב־
- a prefix of words of Greek origin answering to αὐ-, au-, e.g. אבטומטוס = αὐτόματος; or to εὐ, e.g. אבגינוס = εὐγενής.
אָב I
- (Assyr. A-bu, Schr. K. A. T., p. 247) Ab, the fifth month of the Jewish calendar (of thirty days) beginning between the eighth of July and the seventh of August, and ending between the sixth of August and the fifth of September. R. Hash. I, 3, על אב וכ׳ for announcing the beginning of Ab messengers are sent out, for the sake of the fast. Ib. 18ᵇ ט׳ באב the ninth of Ab, anniversary of Temple destruction. Taan. IV, 6 משנכנס אב with the beginning of Ab. Ib. 29ᵇ לישתמיט מיניה באב let him try to be relieved of (the law-suit) in Ab. Meg. 5ᵇ; a. e.
אָב II
- , const. אֲבִי, אַב [embracer], father, ancestor, progenitor; teacher; chief, leader; author, originator. Ex. R. s. 46 end המגדל אב the educator is the real father. Lev. R. s. 1 אבי החכמה וכ׳, the father of all wisdom, … the father of prophets. Y. Ned. V, 39ᵇ; a. fr.—אַב בית דין (abbr. אב"ד) president of the Court (Great Sanhedrin), next in dignity to the Nassi. Taan. II, 1; a. fr.—Metaph. origin, cause. Num. R. s. 10 (play on אֲבוֹי, Prov. XXIII, 29) א׳ אוי the cause of woe (sin).—אב מלאכה (for which also עיקר) one of the chief labors forbidden on the Sabbath, opp. תולדה a labor the prohibition of which is based on the ground of its being a species of the former, or derived from the former. Sabb. VII, 1 sq.; a. fr.—[Y. Sabb. II, 5ᵃ, אב שלה, sub. מלאכה.]—אב הטומאה one of the original or direct causes of levitical uncleanness, opp. ולד (child) secondary cause. Toh. I, 5; a. fr.—א׳ הנזק v. Pl.—בנין א׳ creation of a class, i.e. a conclusion, by analogy, from a case explicitly stated in the bibl. law on all similar cases not specified in detail. Sifra introd.—Ib. K’doshim, end, ch. 11 (ref. to Lev. XX, 27) זה ב׳ א׳ לכל דמיהם בם this forms the rule for all cases in which the Bible uses the word d’mēhem bam (that the penalty is stoning to death); a. fr.; v. also בֵּית אב.—Pl. אָבוֹת־, const. אֲבוֹת, e.g. Proverbs 23:29
- 1. fathers, ancestors, patriarchs &c. Ber. 26ᵇ prayers א׳ תקנום have been instituted by the Patriarchs; a. fr.—אבות בתי דינין, v. supra. Ḥag. II, 2.—בת א׳ a woman of noble descent. Num. R. s. 1; a. e.—Metaph. principal, chief א׳ מלאכות, v. supra. א׳ הטומא׳ Kel. I, 1; v. supra.—א׳ נזיקין (sing. אב הנזק) the chief actionable injuries or damages, from which the subordinate are deduced (תולדות). B. Kam. I, 1; a. e.
- 2. Aboth, the first section of the Prayer of Benedictions (v. תְּפִלָּה), so called because it alludes to the Patriarchs. R. Hash. IV, 5; a. fr.
- 3. Aboth, name of a treatise of the Mishnah, containing sayings of Talmudic authorities and belonging to the fourth section, נזיקין, of the Mishnah collection (משניות); also styled פִּרְקֵי א׳ a. מְסֶכֶת א׳. A similar collection of a later date is contained in Talmud Babli editions, named א׳ דרבי נתן Aboth d’Rabbi Nathan. [Y. Yoma VIII, 44ᵈ top אב בית נפש v. אֲבֵידָה.]
אָב II ²
- ch., v. אַבָּא
אֵב
- swelling, spreading, whence
- 1. the young shoots of a tree, opp. to the branches growing directly from the trunk. B. Kam. 81ᵃ אִיבּוֹ של אילן ed. (Ar. a. Ms. חובו, v. חוֹב II, cmp. Rashi a. l.). [Y. Erub. III, 21ᵃ top איבו; Y. Succ. II, 53ᵃ צידו.]
- 2. pl. אִבִּין, אִיבִּין state of growth, development. Ḥull. 58ᵃ cascuta which became wormy באִבֶּיהָ during its growth. Ib. 127ᵇ figs which shrunk באִבֵּיהֶן during development. Y. Sabb. VII, 10ᶜ bot. he who presses olives מאִבֵּיהֶן from where they grow (before they are ripe to be taken off). [Tosef. Maasr. I, 4 איבין אדומים, Var. אובין, read אוּגִין, v. אוֹג.] Ib. 5 they differ על האיבין concerning the plants in their growing state (between ripening [גמר] and blossoming [הנץ]; Var. אוֹנין incorr.); cmp. יָבַן. Ch. v. אִיבָּא I.
A Dictionary of the Targumim, the Talmud Babli and Yerushalmi, and the Midrashic Literature (Marcus Jastrow; London, Luzac, 1903) — Public Domain. Digitized via Sefaria. Digitized via Sefaria. Full attribution on Sources.
Forms in the corpus
The 406 distinct written forms H1 takes in the Hebrew Bible, most frequent first — each parse links to that state’s occurrences in the concordance. Hebrew forms include their vowel points and cantillation, so a single lemma takes many written forms.
The 60 most common forms are shown; 346 rarer forms follow in the full concordance.
Same root — word family
Other BDB entries built from the same root as H1, 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
Proper names from this root
People and places named from this root — a name, not an additional meaning of the word.
- אבי ʼĂbîy H21 Abi
- אביאל ʼĂbîyʼêl H22 Abiel
- אביאסף ʼĂbîyʼâçâph H23 Abiasaph
- אבי גבעון ʼĂbîy Gibʻôwn H25 father of Gibeon
- אביגיל ʼĂbîygayil H26 Abigail
- אבידן ʼĂbîydân H27 Abidan
- אבידע ʼĂbîydâʻ H28 Abida
- אביה ʼĂbîyâh H29 Abijah
- אביהוא ʼĂbîyhûwʼ H30 Abihu
- אביהוד ʼĂbîyhûwd H31 Ahihud
- אביהיל ʼĂbîyhayil H32 Abihail
- אביטוב ʼĂbîyṭûwb H36 Abitub
- אביטל ʼĂbîyṭâl H37 Abital
- אבים ʼĂbîyâm H38 Abijam
- אבימאל ʼĂbîymâʼêl H39 Abimael
- אבימלך ʼĂbîymelek H40 Abimelech
- אבינדב ʼĂbîynâdâb H41 Abinadab
- אבינעם ʼĂbîynôʻam H42 Abinoam
- אביעזר ʼĂbîyʻezer H44 Abiezer
- אביעלבון ʼĂbîy-ʻalbôwn H45 Abialbon
- אבירם ʼĂbîyrâm H48 Abiram
- אבישג ʼĂbîyshag H49 Abishag
- אבישוע ʼĂbîyshûwaʻ H50 Abishua
- אבישור ʼĂbîyshûwr H51 Abishur
+7 more proper names from this root (not shown).
Compare all same-root words → Showing 4 of 34 — not the complete family. 31 of the same-root words are proper names (people or places). They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.
Septuagint verse parallels
This word appears in 1,020 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 1,060 Hebrew verses it occurs in. You can read those verses in Greek by switching the Old Testament edition to the Septuagint.
Read these verses in the Septuagint
- Genesis 2:24
- Exodus 2:16
- Leviticus 16:32
- Numbers 1:2
- Deuteronomy 1:8
- Joshua 1:6
- Judges 1:14
- Ruth 2:11
- 1 Samuel 2:25
- 2 Samuel 2:32
- 1 Kings 1:6
- 2 Kings 2:12
This is a verse-level parallel only — the same verses exist in both the Hebrew and Greek Old Testaments. No word-level Hebrew↔Greek correspondence is claimed: the data carries no such alignment, so no Greek word is shown as this Hebrew word’s translation. Coverage is not total — the Septuagint omits the deuterocanon and renumbers the Psalms, so some Hebrew verses have no direct Greek parallel.
