יוֹאָב
Joab
BDB lists 4 entries for ‘Joab’ fuller range ↓
Full lexicon entry — Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
From Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
Where this word appears
Grammar key — what these labels mean
Part of speech
- Noun
- A naming word — a person, place, thing, or idea.
Noun type
- Proper
- A name of a specific person, place, or people (e.g. Abraham, Zion, Israel).
Every verse where H3097 appears in the Book of 1 Chronicles — 22 distinct verses. 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.
1 Chronicles
- 1 Chronicles 2:16 וְ/יוֹאָ֥ב conj + n Proper and their sisters were Zeruiah and Abigail. The sons of Zeruiah: Abishai, and Joab, and Asahel, three.
- 1 Chronicles 4:14 יוֹאָב֙ n Proper Meonothai became the father of Ophrah: and Seraiah became the father of Joab the father of Ge Harashim; for they were craftsmen.
- 1 Chronicles 11:6 יוֹאָ֥ב n Proper David said, Whoever strikes the Jebusites first shall be chief and captain. Joab the son of Zeruiah went up first, and was made chief.
- 1 Chronicles 11:8 וְ/יוֹאָ֕ב conj + n Proper He built the city round about, from Millo even round about; and Joab repaired the rest of the city.
- 1 Chronicles 11:20 יוֹאָ֗ב n Proper Abishai, the brother of Joab, he was chief of the three; for he lifted up his spear against three hundred and killed them, and had a name among the three.
- 1 Chronicles 11:26 יוֹאָ֔ב n Proper Also the mighty men of the armies: Asahel the brother of Joab, Elhanan the son of Dodo of Bethlehem,
- 1 Chronicles 11:39 יוֹאָ֥ב n Proper Zelek the Ammonite, Naharai the Berothite, the armor bearer of Joab the son of Zeruiah,
- 1 Chronicles 18:15 וְ/יוֹאָ֥ב conj + n Proper Joab the son of Zeruiah was over the host; and Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was recorder;
- 1 Chronicles 19:8 יוֹאָ֔ב n Proper When David heard of it, he sent Joab, and all the host of the mighty men.
- 1 Chronicles 19:10 יוֹאָ֗ב n Proper Now when Joab saw that the battle was set against him before and behind, he chose of all the choice men of Israel, and put them in array against the Syrians.
- 1 Chronicles 19:14 יוֹאָ֜ב n Proper So Joab and the people who were with him drew near before the Syrians to the battle; and they fled before him.
- 1 Chronicles 19:15 יוֹאָ֖ב n Proper When the children of Ammon saw that the Syrians were fled, they likewise fled before Abishai his brother, and entered into the city. Then Joab came to Jerusalem.
- 1 Chronicles 20:1 יוֹאָב֩ יוֹאָ֛ב n Proper n Proper It happened, at the time of the return of the year, at the time when kings go out [to battle], that Joab led forth the army, and wasted the country of the children of Ammon, and came and besieged Rabbah. But David stayed at Jerusalem. Joab struck Rabbah, and overthrew it.
- 1 Chronicles 21:2 יוֹאָב֙ n Proper David said to Joab and to the princes of the people, Go, number Israel from Beersheba even to Dan; and bring me word, that I may know the sum of them.
- 1 Chronicles 21:3 יוֹאָ֗ב n Proper Joab said, Yahweh make his people a hundred times as many as they are: but, my lord the king, aren't they all my lord's servants? why does my lord require this thing? why will he be a cause of guilt to Israel?
- 1 Chronicles 21:4 יוֹאָ֑ב יוֹאָ֗ב n Proper n Proper Nevertheless the king's word prevailed against Joab. Therefore Joab departed, and went throughout all Israel, and came to Jerusalem.
- 1 Chronicles 21:5 יוֹאָ֛ב n Proper Joab gave up the sum of the numbering of the people to David. All those of Israel were one million one hundred thousand men who drew sword: and in Judah were four hundred seventy thousand men who drew sword.
- 1 Chronicles 21:6 יוֹאָֽב n Proper But he didn't count Levi and Benjamin among them; for the king's word was abominable to Joab.
- 1 Chronicles 26:28 וְ/יוֹאָ֖ב conj + n Proper All that Samuel the seer, and Saul the son of Kish, and Abner the son of Ner, and Joab the son of Zeruiah, had dedicated, whoever had dedicated anything, it was under the hand of Shelomoth, and of his brothers.
- 1 Chronicles 27:7 יוֹאָ֔ב n Proper The fourth [captain] for the fourth month was Asahel the brother of Joab, and Zebadiah his son after him: and in his division were twenty-four thousand.
- 1 Chronicles 27:24 יוֹאָ֨ב n Proper Joab the son of Zeruiah began to number, but didn't finish; and there came wrath for this on Israel; neither was the number put into the account in the chronicles of king David.
- 1 Chronicles 27:34 יוֹאָֽב n Proper and after Ahithophel was Jehoiada the son of Benaiah, and Abiathar: and the captain of the king's host was Joab.
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.
יואב (Yôwʼâb) is a Hebrew name most often rendered “Joab.” It clusters heavily in 2 Samuel, which alone accounts for 68% of its uses. It turns up in 124 verses across 7 books, a common footprint. It first appears in 1 Samuel 26:6. For the data behind this summary, explore 124-verse concordance and the renderings breakdown below.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's H3097 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 →
- 124
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 124 distinct verses.
- 7 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 7 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #309
- by frequency
- Top 500 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 309 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 124 occurrences in the concordance →
Most concentrated in
- 2 Samuel 84 verses 68%
- 1 Chronicles 22 verses 18%
- 1 Kings 13 verses 10%
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 124 distinct verses.
- Prophets (Nevi'im) 98 verses · 79%
- Writings (Ketuvim) 26 verses · 21%
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: Joab 120×, Joab's 7×, Against joab 2×
- American Standard Version: Joab 117×, Now joab 3×, Against joab 2×
- Berean Standard Bible: Joab 123×, Joab’s 6×, Now joab 3×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text: Joab 140×, Now joab 3×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H3097 across 145 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 14 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 H3097 across 144 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 H3097 across 139 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. Not rendered by a distinct English word in 6 further occurrences.
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders H3097 across 144 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 1 rendering that appears only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
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 3 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. David’s sister’s son & captain of his host (𝔊 Ἰωαβ) 1 S 26:6; 2 S 2:13 + 100 times 2 S (also 2 S 20:6 for MT אֲבִישַׁי cf. 𝔖 We Dr); 1 K 1:7 + 14 times 1 K.; 1 Ch 2:16 + 22 times 1 Ch; ψ 60:2. e.g. 1 Samuel 26:6
- 2. a descendant of Judah 1 Ch 4:14 (but 𝔊B 𝔊L Ἰωβαβ). e.g. 1 Chronicles 4:14
- 3. a familyname after the exile Ezr 2:6 = Ne 7:11 (𝔊 Ἰωβαβ, Ἰωαβ) Ezr 8:9 (𝔊 Ἰωαβ). e.g. Ezra 2:6
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.pr.m. (י׳ is father; cf. אֲבִיָּהוּ, אֱלִיאָב, אֲבִיאֵל & reff.)—
— Brown-Driver-Briggs (Oxford 1906, public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). See Sources.
Derived from יהוה (Yᵉhôvâh) (H3068) — LORD.
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.
יוֹאָב
- (b. h.) pr. n. m. Joab, general of king David. B. Bath. 116ᵃ. Snh. 48ᵇ; a. fr.
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 30 distinct written forms H3097 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.
| Form | Parsing | Example | Uses |
|---|---|---|---|
| יוֹאָ֔ב | Noun, Proper | Ezra 8:9 | 27 |
| יוֹאָב֙ | Noun, Proper | 1 Chronicles 4:14 | 21 |
| יוֹאָ֗ב | Noun, Proper | 1 Chronicles 11:20 | 15 |
| יוֹאָ֖ב | Noun, Proper | 1 Chronicles 19:15 | 13 |
| יוֹאָ֛ב | Noun, Proper | 1 Chronicles 20:1 | 9 |
| יוֹאָ֣ב | Noun, Proper | 1 Kings 1:7 | 7 |
| יוֹאָ֑ב | Noun, Proper | Ezra 2:6 | 6 |
| יוֹאָֽב | Noun, Proper | 1 Chronicles 21:6 | 6 |
| יוֹאָ֜ב | Noun, Proper | 1 Chronicles 19:14 | 5 |
| יוֹאָ֥ב | Noun, Proper | 1 Chronicles 11:6 | 5 |
| וְ/יוֹאָ֥ב | Noun, Proper | 1 Chronicles 2:16 | 3 |
| וְ/יוֹאָב֙ | Noun, Proper | 2 Samuel 3:22 | 3 |
| יוֹאָ֡ב | Noun, Proper | 2 Samuel 3:29 | 3 |
| וְ/יוֹאָ֕ב | Noun, Proper | 1 Chronicles 11:8 | 2 |
| וְ/יוֹאָ֛ב | Noun, Proper | 2 Samuel 3:23 | 2 |
| יוֹאָ֨ב | Noun, Proper | 1 Chronicles 27:24 | 2 |
| יוֹאָב֩ | Noun, Proper | 1 Chronicles 20:1 | 2 |
| לְ/יוֹאָ֑ב | Noun, Proper | 2 Samuel 18:10 | 2 |
| בְּ/יוֹאָ֛ב | Noun, Proper | 2 Samuel 20:11 | 1 |
| וְ/יוֹאָ֑ב | Noun, Proper | Nehemiah 7:11 | 1 |
| וְ/יוֹאָ֖ב | Noun, Proper | 1 Chronicles 26:28 | 1 |
| וְ/יוֹאָ֗ב | Noun, Proper | 2 Samuel 2:30 | 1 |
| וְ/יוֹאָ֞ב | Noun, Proper | 2 Samuel 20:8 | 1 |
| וְ/יוֹאָ֨ב | Noun, Proper | 2 Samuel 2:13 | 1 |
| וּ/לְ/יֹאָ֖ב | Noun, Proper | 1 Kings 1:19 | 1 |
| וּ/לְ/יוֹאָ֖ב | Noun, Proper | 1 Kings 2:22 | 1 |
| י֠וֹאָב | Noun, Proper | 2 Samuel 18:5 | 1 |
| יוֹאָ֤ב | Noun, Proper | 2 Samuel 14:30 | 1 |
| לְ/יוֹאָ֖ב | Noun, Proper | 2 Samuel 18:21 | 1 |
| לְ/יוֹאָב֙ | Noun, Proper | 2 Samuel 3:23 | 1 |
Same root — word family
Other BDB entries built from the same root as H3097, 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.
Derives from
Proper names from this root
People and places named from this root — a name, not an additional meaning of the word.
- הושמע Hôwshâmâʻ H1953 Hoshama
- יה Yâhh H3050 Jah
- יהוא Yêhûwʼ H3058 Jehu
- יהואחז Yᵉhôwʼâchâz H3059 Jehoahaz
- יהואש Yᵉhôwʼâsh H3060 Jehoash
- יהוה Yᵉhôvih H3069 LORD
- יהוה יראה Yᵉhôvâh yirʼeh H3070 Jehovah-jireh
- יהוה נסי Yᵉhôvâh niççîy H3071 Jehovah-nissi
- יהוה צדקנו Yᵉhôvâh tsidqênûw H3072 a sacred name symbolically applied to
- יהוה שלום Yᵉhôvâh shâlôwm H3073 Jehovah-shalom
- יהוה שמה Yᵉhôvâh shâmmâh H3074 Jehovahshammah
- יהוזבד Yᵉhôwzâbâd H3075 Jehozabad
- יהוחנן Yᵉhôwchânân H3076 Jehohanan
- יהוידע Yᵉhôwyâdâʻ H3077 Jehoiada
- יהויכין Yᵉhôwyâkîyn H3078 Jehoiachin
- יהויקים Yᵉhôwyâqîym H3079 Jehoiakim
- יהויריב Yᵉhôwyârîyb H3080 Jehoiarib
- יהונדב Yᵉhôwnâdâb H3082 Jehonadab
- יהונתן Yᵉhôwnâthân H3083 Jonathan
- יהועדה Yᵉhôwʻaddâh H3085 Jehoadah
- יהועדין Yᵉhôwʻaddîyn H3086 Jehoaddan
- יהוצדק Yᵉhôwtsâdâq H3087 Jehozadak
- יהורם Yᵉhôwrâm H3088 Jehoram
- יהושבע Yᵉhôwshebaʻ H3089 Jehosheba
+11 more proper names from this root (not shown).
Compare all same-root words → Showing 4 of 37 — not the complete family. 36 of the same-root words are proper names (people or places). They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.
Bible dictionary
Public-domain dictionary articles matched to this entry by name (Joab). A biblical name can be shared by more than one person or place, so an article may treat several.
Easton's Bible Dictionary · M. G. Easton, 1897
Jehovah is his father. (1.) One of the three sons of Zeruiah, David's sister, and "captain of the host" during the whole of David's reign (2 Sam. 2:13; 10:7; 11:1; 1 Kings 11:15). His father's name is nowhere mentioned, although his sepulchre at Bethlehem is mentioned (2 Sam. 2:32). His two brothers were Abishai and Asahel, the swift of foot, who was killed by Abner (2 Sam. 2:13-32), whom Joab afterwards treacherously murdered (3:22-27). He afterwards led the assault at the storming of the fortress on Mount Zion, and for this service was raised to the rank of "prince of the king's army" (2 Sam. 5:6-10; 1 Chr. 27:34). His chief military achievements were, (1) against the allied forces of Syria and Ammon; (2) against Edom (1 Kings 11:15, 16); and (3) against the Ammonites (2 Sam. 10:7-19; 11:1, 11). His character is deeply stained by the part he willingly took in the murder of Uriah (11:14-25). He acted apparently from a sense of duty in putting Absalom to death (18:1-14). David was unmindful of the many services Joab had rendered to him, and afterwards gave the command of the army to Amasa, Joab's cousin (2 Sam. 20:1-13; 19:13). When David was dying Joab espoused the cause of Adonijah in preference to that of Solomon. He was afterwards slain by Benaiah, by the command of Solomon, in accordance with his father's injunction (2 Sam. 3:29; 20:5-13), at the altar to which he had fled for refuge. Thus this hoary conspirator died without one to lift up a voice in his favour. He was buried in his own property in the "wilderness," probably in the north-east of Jerusalem (1 Kings 2:5, 28-34). Benaiah succeeded him as commander-in-chief of the army.
(2.) 1 Chr. 4:14.
(3.) Ezra 2:6.
Smith's Bible Dictionary · William Smith, 1863
(whose father is Jehovah), the most remarkable of the three nephews of David, the children of Zeruiah, David's sister. (B.C. 1053-1012.) Joab first appears after David's accession to the throne at Hebron. Abner slew in battle Asahel, the youngest brother of Joab; and when David afterward received Abner into favor, Joab treacherously murdered him. [Abner] There was now no rival left in the way of Joab's advancement, and at the siege of Jebus he was appointed for his prowess commander-in-chief--"captain of the host." In the wide range of wars which David undertook, Joab was the acting general. He was called by the almost regal title of "lord," (2 Samuel 11:11) "the prince of the king's army." (1 Chronicles 27:34) In the entangled relations which grew up in David's domestic life he bore an important part, successfully reinstating Absalom in David's favor after the murder of Amnon. (2 Samuel 14:1-20) When the relations between father and son were reversed by the revolt of Absalom, Joab remained true to the king, taking the rebel prince's dangerous life in spite of David's injunction to spare him, and when no one else had courage to act so decisive a part. (2 Samuel 18:2,11-15) (B.C. 1023). The king transferred the command to Amasa, which so enraged Joab that he adroitly assassinated Amasa when pretending to welcome him as a friend. (2 Samuel 20:10) Friendly relations between himself and David seem to have existed afterward, (2 Samuel 24:2) but at the close of his long life, his loyalty, so long unshaken, at last wavered. "Though he had not turned after Absalom, he turned after Adonijah." (1 Kings 2:28) This probably filled up the measure of the king's long-cherished resentment. The revival of the pretensions of Adonijah after David's death was sufficient to awaken the suspicions of Solomon. Joab fled to the shelter of the altar at Gibeon, and was here slain by Benaiah. (B.C. about 1012.)
+ One of Kenaz's descendants. (1 Chronicles 4:14) + (Ezra 2:6; 8:9; Nehemiah 7:11)
Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary · Roswell D. Hitchcock, 1869
paternity; voluntary
Classic public-domain reference works; full attribution on Sources.
Septuagint verse parallels
This word appears in 123 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 124 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
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.
