אָב

ʼâb · H1 · Hebrew · 1,210 occurrences

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Meanings

1. father

   A direct male progenitor who normally provides protection, care, instruction and discipline, usually regarded with respect and associated with wisdom, security and comfort

   Examples

   Genesis 2:24 For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh.

   Genesis 9:22 Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside.

   Genesis 9:23 But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it on both their shoulders and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were turned away, so that they did not see their father’s nakedness.

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2. grandfather, ancestor

   Indirect male progenitor

   Examples

   Genesis 9:18 Now the sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth; and Ham was the father of Canaan.

   Genesis 9:22 Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside.

   Genesis 10:21 Also to Shem, the father of all the children of Eber, and the older brother of Japheth, children were born.

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3. father as founder

   A person who founded a village, town or region and is usually the ancestor of most of its inhabitants

   Examples

   Genesis 33:19 He bought the plot of land where he had pitched his tent from the hand of the sons of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for a hundred pieces of money.

   Joshua 24:32 Now they buried the bones of Joseph, which the sons of Israel brought up from Egypt, at Shechem, in the plot of land which Jacob had bought from the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for a hundred pieces of money; and they became the inheritance of Joseph’s sons.

   Judges 9:28 Then Gaal the son of Ebed said, “Who is Abimelech, and who is Shechem, that we should serve him? Is he not the son of Jerubbaal, and is Zebul not his governor? Serve the men of Hamor the father of Shechem; but why should we serve him?

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4. the first person to do something

   A person who is the first to be engaged in a certain activity or pattern of behavior

   Examples

   Genesis 4:20 Adah gave birth to Jabal; he was the father of those who live in tents and have livestock.

   Genesis 4:21 His brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of all those who play the lyre and flute.

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5. father as creator

   A person, compared to a father, who is the originator of a certain process, said about God only

   Examples

   Deuteronomy 32:6 “Is this what you do to the LORD, You foolish and unwise people? Is He not your Father who has purchased you? He has made you and established you.

   Job 38:28 “Does the rain have a father? Or who has fathered the drops of dew?

   Jeremiah 2:27 Who say to a tree, ‘You are my father,’ And to a stone, ‘You gave me birth.’ For they have turned their backs to Me, And not their faces; But in the time of their trouble they will say, ‘Arise and save us!’

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6. adviser

   A person, compared to a father, who provides advice to someone in authority

   Examples

   Genesis 45:8 “Now, therefore, it was not you who sent me here, but God; and He has made me a father to Pharaoh and lord of all his household, and ruler over all the land of Egypt.

   Judges 17:10 Micah then said to him, “Stay with me and be a father and a priest to me, and I will give you ten pieces of silver a year, a supply of clothing, and your sustenance.” So the Levite went in.

   Judges 18:19 And they said to him, “Be silent, put your hand over your mouth, and go with us, and be to us a father and a priest. Is it better for you to be a priest to the house of one man, or to be priest to a tribe and a family in Israel?”

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7. father, protector or helper

   A person, compared to a father, who provides care for the people under his authority, often extended to refer to God

   Examples

   2 Samuel 7:14 “I will be a father to him and he will be a son to Me; when he does wrong, I will discipline him with a rod of men and with strokes of sons of mankind,

   1 Chronicles 17:13 “I will be his father and he shall be My son; and I will not take My favor away from him, as I took it from him who was before you.

   1 Chronicles 22:10 ‘He shall build a house for My name, and he shall be My son and I will be his Father; and I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel forever.’

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8. father, place of security, place of comfort

   A location, compared to a father, regarded as a source of security and comfort

   Examples

   Job 17:14 If I call to the grave, ‘You are my father’; To the maggot, ‘my mother and my sister’;

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9. father's house, family

   A group of people to which one traces one's ancestry; smallest unit within family group

   Examples

   Genesis 12:1 Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country, And from your relatives And from your father’s house, To the land which I will show you;

   Genesis 20:13 and it came about, when God caused me to wander from my father’s house, that I said to her, ‘This is the kindness which you will show to me: everywhere we go, say of me, “He is my brother.”’”

   Genesis 24:7 “The LORD, the God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and from the land of my birth, and who spoke to me and who swore to me, saying, ‘To your descendants I will give this land’—He will send His angel ahead of you, and you will take a wife for my son from there.

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10. ancestral tribe

    A group of people to which one traces one's ancestry; largest unit within family group

    Examples

    Numbers 1:16 “These are the men who were called from the congregation, the leaders of their fathers’ tribes; they were the heads of divisions of Israel.”

    Numbers 1:47 The Levites, however, were not counted among them by their fathers’ tribe.

    Numbers 13:2 “Send out men for yourself to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am going to give the sons of Israel; you shall send a man from each of their fathers’ tribes, every one a leader among them.”

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11. ancestry

    A group of people to which one traces one's ancestry

    Examples

    Exodus 6:25 Now Aaron’s son Eleazar married one of the daughters of Putiel, and she bore him Phinehas. These are the heads of the fathers’ households of the Levites according to their families.

    Joshua 14:1 Now these are the territories which the sons of Israel inherited in the land of Canaan, which Eleazar the priest, Joshua the son of Nun, and the heads of the fathers’ households of the tribes of the sons of Israel apportioned to them as inheritances,

    Joshua 21:1 Then the heads of fathers’ households of the Levites approached Eleazar the priest, Joshua the son of Nun, and the heads of fathers’ households of the tribes of the sons of Israel.

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12. family possessions, patrimony

    Possessions belonging to a group of people that share a common ancestry

    Examples

    Deuteronomy 18:8 “They shall eat equal portions, except for what they receive from the sale of their fathers’ estates.

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13. Literally: father; hence: a way of addressing a male person that one regards as one's superior because of his age, status, authority, etc (father (as title))

    Examples

    1 Samuel 24:11 “So, my father, look! Indeed, look at the edge of your robe in my hand! For by the fact that I cut off the edge of your robe but did not kill you, know and understand that there is no evil or rebellion in my hands, and I have not sinned against you, though you are lying in wait for my life, to take it.

    2 Kings 2:12 And Elisha was watching it and he was crying out, “My father, my father, the chariot of Israel and its horsemen!” And he did not see Elijah again. Then he took hold of his own clothes and tore them in two pieces.

    2 Kings 6:21 Then the king of Israel when he saw them, said to Elisha, “My father, shall I kill them? Shall I kill them?”

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Sources

eRhema lexical overview, based on the UBS Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew and the UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament (© United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Macula Hebrew and Greek (Clear Bible, CC BY 4.0); released under CC BY-SA 4.0

New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit http://www.lockman.org.