אָב
av
father
Lexicon Entry
Lexicon data from STEPBible TIPNR, Tyndale House, Cambridge. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
What Original Readers Understood
Supported# The Hebrew Word אָב (av): Father The Hebrew word אָב (av) is one of the most frequently occurring words in the Hebrew Bible, appearing 1,209 times. Its primary meaning is "father," referring to a male parent. This straightforward definition masks the word's considerable importance in biblical literature, as its sheer frequency indicates that concepts of paternity, lineage, and familial relationship were central concerns in ancient Hebrew texts. The high frequency of occurrence suggests that אָב functioned as more than a simple kinship term. Given that it appears over 1,200 times across biblical narratives, legal codes, genealogies, and wisdom literature, the word clearly served multiple communicative purposes in Hebrew discourse. While the lexicon data provided establishes only the basic definition, the volume of usage points to the word's foundational role in how ancient Hebrews organized family structures, traced inheritance, and conceptualized authority and responsibility within households and communities. Without access to contextual breakdowns or extended definitions in the provided data, the full semantic range of אָב remains bounded by what can be directly inferred: it is the core Hebrew term for male parenthood and paternal relationship, and its prevalence indicates this concept was woven throughout biblical literature in ways that shaped how ancient Hebrew speakers understood family, succession, covenant obligation, and social order.
Source data & methodology
Occurrences in Scripture
1,209 total occurrences across the text — showing 50
and he said, “Yahweh, the God of our fathers, aren’t you God in heaven? Aren’t you ruler over all the kingdoms of the nations? Power and might are in your hand, so that no one is able to withstand you.
2 Chronicles 20:32He walked in the way of Asa his father, and didn’t turn away from it, doing that which was right in Yahweh’s eyes.
2 Chronicles 20:33However the high places were not taken away, and the people had still not set their hearts on the God of their fathers.
2 Chronicles 21:1Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in David’s city, and Jehoram his son reigned in his place.
2 Chronicles 21:1Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in David’s city, and Jehoram his son reigned in his place.
2 Chronicles 21:3Their father gave them great gifts of silver, of gold, and of precious things, with fortified cities in Judah; but he gave the kingdom to Jehoram, because he was the firstborn.
2 Chronicles 21:4Now when Jehoram had risen up over the kingdom of his father, and had strengthened himself, he killed all his brothers with the sword, and also some of the princes of Israel.
2 Chronicles 21:10So Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah to this day. Then Libnah revolted at the same time from under his hand, because he had forsaken Yahweh, the God of his fathers.
2 Chronicles 21:12A letter came to him from Elijah the prophet, saying, “Yahweh, the God of David your father, says, ‘Because you have not walked in the ways of Jehoshaphat your father, nor in the ways of Asa king of Judah,
2 Chronicles 21:12A letter came to him from Elijah the prophet, saying, “Yahweh, the God of David your father, says, ‘Because you have not walked in the ways of Jehoshaphat your father, nor in the ways of Asa king of Judah,
2 Chronicles 21:13but have walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and have made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to play the prostitute like Ahab’s house did, and also have slain your brothers of your father’s house, who were better than yourself,
2 Chronicles 21:19In process of time, at the end of two years, his bowels fell out by reason of his sickness, and he died of severe diseases. His people made no burning for him, like the burning of his fathers.
2 Chronicles 22:4He did that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight, as did Ahab’s house, for they were his counselors after the death of his father, to his destruction.
2 Chronicles 23:2They went around in Judah, and gathered the Levites out of all the cities of Judah, and the heads of fathers’ households of Israel, and they came to Jerusalem.
2 Chronicles 24:18They abandoned the house of Yahweh, the God of their fathers, and served the Asherah poles and the idols, so wrath came on Judah and Jerusalem for this their guiltiness.
2 Chronicles 24:22Thus Joash the king didn’t remember the kindness which Jehoiada his father had done to him, but killed his son. When he died, he said, “May Yahweh look at it, and repay it.”
2 Chronicles 24:24For the army of the Syrians came with a small company of men; and Yahweh delivered a very great army into their hand, because they had forsaken Yahweh, the God of their fathers. So they executed judgment on Joash.
2 Chronicles 25:3Now when the kingdom was established to him, he killed his servants who had killed his father the king.
2 Chronicles 25:4But he didn’t put their children to death, but did according to that which is written in the law in the book of Moses, as Yahweh commanded, saying, “The fathers shall not die for the children, neither shall the children die for the fathers; but every man shall die for his own sin.”
2 Chronicles 25:4But he didn’t put their children to death, but did according to that which is written in the law in the book of Moses, as Yahweh commanded, saying, “The fathers shall not die for the children, neither shall the children die for the fathers; but every man shall die for his own sin.”
2 Chronicles 25:5Moreover Amaziah gathered Judah together, and ordered them according to their fathers’ houses, under captains of thousands and captains of hundreds, even all Judah and Benjamin. He counted them from twenty years old and upward, and found that there were three hundred thousand chosen men, able to go out to war, who could handle spear and shield.
2 Chronicles 25:28They brought him on horses, and buried him with his fathers in the City of Judah.
2 Chronicles 26:1All the people of Judah took Uzziah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in the place of his father Amaziah.
2 Chronicles 26:2He built Eloth, and restored it to Judah, after that the king slept with his fathers.
2 Chronicles 26:4He did that which was right in Yahweh’s eyes, according to all that his father Amaziah had done.
2 Chronicles 26:12The whole number of the heads of fathers’ households, even the mighty men of valor, was two thousand six hundred.
2 Chronicles 26:23So Uzziah slept with his fathers; and they buried him with his fathers in the field of burial which belonged to the kings, for they said, “He is a leper.” Jotham his son reigned in his place.
2 Chronicles 26:23So Uzziah slept with his fathers; and they buried him with his fathers in the field of burial which belonged to the kings, for they said, “He is a leper.” Jotham his son reigned in his place.
2 Chronicles 27:2He did that which was right in Yahweh’s eyes, according to all that his father Uzziah had done. However he didn’t enter into Yahweh’s temple. The people still acted corruptly.
2 Chronicles 27:9Jotham slept with his fathers, and they buried him in David’s city; and Ahaz his son reigned in his place.
2 Chronicles 28:1Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. He didn’t do that which was right in Yahweh’s eyes, like David his father,
2 Chronicles 28:6For Pekah the son of Remaliah killed in Judah one hundred twenty thousand in one day, all of them valiant men, because they had forsaken Yahweh, the God of their fathers.
2 Chronicles 28:9But a prophet of Yahweh was there, whose name was Oded; and he went out to meet the army that came to Samaria, and said to them, “Behold, because Yahweh, the God of your fathers, was angry with Judah, he has delivered them into your hand, and you have slain them in a rage which has reached up to heaven.
2 Chronicles 28:25In every city of Judah he made high places to burn incense to other gods, and provoked Yahweh, the God of his fathers, to anger.
2 Chronicles 28:27Ahaz slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city, even in Jerusalem, because they didn’t bring him into the tombs of the kings of Israel; and Hezekiah his son reigned in his place.
2 Chronicles 29:2He did that which was right in Yahweh’s eyes, according to all that David his father had done.
2 Chronicles 29:5and said to them, “Listen to me, you Levites! Now sanctify yourselves, and sanctify Yahweh, the God of your fathers’ house, and carry the filthiness out of the holy place.
2 Chronicles 29:6For our fathers were unfaithful, and have done that which was evil in Yahweh our God’s sight, and have forsaken him, and have turned away their faces from the habitation of Yahweh, and turned their backs.
2 Chronicles 29:9For, behold, our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons and our daughters and our wives are in captivity for this.
2 Chronicles 30:7Don’t be like your fathers and like your brothers, who trespassed against Yahweh, the God of their fathers, so that he gave them up to desolation, as you see.
2 Chronicles 30:7Don’t be like your fathers and like your brothers, who trespassed against Yahweh, the God of their fathers, so that he gave them up to desolation, as you see.
2 Chronicles 30:8Now don’t be stiff-necked, as your fathers were, but yield yourselves to Yahweh, and enter into his sanctuary, which he has sanctified forever, and serve Yahweh your God, that his fierce anger may turn away from you.
2 Chronicles 30:19who sets his heart to seek God, Yahweh, the God of his fathers, even if they aren’t clean according to the purification of the sanctuary.”
2 Chronicles 30:22Hezekiah spoke encouragingly to all the Levites who had good understanding in the service of Yahweh. So they ate throughout the feast for the seven days, offering sacrifices of peace offerings, and making confession to Yahweh, the God of their fathers.
2 Chronicles 31:17and those who were listed by genealogy of the priests by their fathers’ houses, and the Levites from twenty years old and upward, in their offices by their divisions;
2 Chronicles 32:13Don’t you know what I and my fathers have done to all the peoples of the lands? Were the gods of the nations of the lands in any way able to deliver their land out of my hand?
2 Chronicles 32:14Who was there among all the gods of those nations which my fathers utterly destroyed, that could deliver his people out of my hand, that your God should be able to deliver you out of my hand?
2 Chronicles 32:15Now therefore don’t let Hezekiah deceive you, nor persuade you in this way. Don’t believe him, for no god of any nation or kingdom was able to deliver his people out of my hand, and out of the hand of my fathers. How much less will your God deliver you out of my hand?”
2 Chronicles 32:33Hezekiah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the ascent of the tombs of the sons of David. All Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem honored him at his death. Manasseh his son reigned in his place.
2 Chronicles 33:3For he built again the high places which Hezekiah his father had broken down; and he raised up altars for the Baals, made Asheroth, and worshiped all the army of the sky, and served them.