אָרַב
a.rav
to ambush
Lexicon Entry
Lexicon data from STEPBible TIPNR, Tyndale House, Cambridge. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
What Original Readers Understood
ExploredThe Hebrew word "a.rav" (Strong's number H0693) means "to ambush." This verb is most commonly associated with warfare and conflict, indicating a surprise attack on an enemy from an unexpected position. Its semantic domain focuses specifically on the tactics and strategies of battle. In the Bible, "a.rav" appears 41 times, showcasing its importance in the description of battles and military campaigns. This word likely refers to the actions of both attackers and defenders, as it implies a prepared and strategic assault. The word's range of usage spans various narratives in the Hebrew Bible, including accounts of the wars of Israelite kings and other leaders. This verb offers insight into the military tactics and technologies of the time.
Source data & methodology
Occurrences in Scripture
41 total occurrences across the text
When they began to sing and to praise, Yahweh set ambushers against the children of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; and they were struck.
Ezra 8:31Then we departed from the river Ahava on the twelfth day of the first month, to go to Jerusalem. The hand of our God was on us, and he delivered us from the hand of the enemy and the bandit by the way.
Job 31:9“If my heart has been enticed to a woman, and I have laid wait at my neighbor’s door,
Psalms 10:9He lurks in secret as a lion in his ambush. He lies in wait to catch the helpless. He catches the helpless when he draws him in his net.
Psalms 10:9He lurks in secret as a lion in his ambush. He lies in wait to catch the helpless. He catches the helpless when he draws him in his net.
Psalms 59:3For, behold, they lie in wait for my soul. The mighty gather themselves together against me, not for my disobedience, nor for my sin, Yahweh.
Proverbs 1:11If they say, “Come with us. Let’s lay in wait for blood. Let’s lurk secretly for the innocent without cause.
Proverbs 1:18but these lay in wait for their own blood. They lurk secretly for their own lives.
Proverbs 7:12Now she is in the streets, now in the squares, and lurking at every corner.
Proverbs 12:6The words of the wicked are about lying in wait for blood, but the speech of the upright rescues them.
Proverbs 23:28Yes, she lies in wait like a robber, and increases the unfaithful among men.
Proverbs 24:15Don’t lay in wait, wicked man, against the habitation of the righteous. Don’t destroy his resting place;
Jeremiah 51:12Set up a standard against the walls of Babylon! Make the watch strong! Set the watchmen, and prepare the ambushes; for Yahweh has both purposed and done that which he spoke concerning the inhabitants of Babylon.
Lamentations 3:10He is to me as a bear lying in wait, as a lion in secret places.
Lamentations 4:19Our pursuers were swifter than the eagles of the sky. They chased us on the mountains. They set an ambush for us in the wilderness.
Micah 7:2The godly man has perished out of the earth, and there is no one upright among men. They all lie in wait for blood; every man hunts his brother with a net.
Deuteronomy 19:11But if any man hates his neighbor, lies in wait for him, rises up against him, strikes him mortally so that he dies, and he flees into one of these cities;
Joshua 8:2You shall do to Ai and her king as you did to Jericho and her king, except you shall take its goods and its livestock for yourselves. Set an ambush for the city behind it.”
Joshua 8:4He commanded them, saying, “Behold, you shall lie in ambush against the city, behind the city. Don’t go very far from the city, but all of you be ready.
Joshua 8:7and you shall rise up from the ambush, and take possession of the city; for Yahweh your God will deliver it into your hand.
Joshua 8:12He took about five thousand men, and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of the city.
Joshua 8:14When the king of Ai saw it, they hurried and rose up early, and the men of the city went out against Israel to battle, he and all his people, at the time appointed, before the Arabah; but he didn’t know that there was an ambush against him behind the city.
Joshua 8:19The ambush arose quickly out of their place, and they ran as soon as he had stretched out his hand and entered into the city and took it. They hurried and set the city on fire.
Joshua 8:21When Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had taken the city, and that the smoke of the city ascended, then they turned back and killed the men of Ai.
Judges 9:25The men of Shechem set an ambush for him on the tops of the mountains, and they robbed all who came along that way by them; and Abimelech was told about it.
Judges 9:32Now therefore, go up by night, you and the people who are with you, and lie in wait in the field.
Judges 9:34Abimelech rose up, and all the people who were with him, by night, and they laid wait against Shechem in four companies.
Judges 9:43He took the people and divided them into three companies, and laid wait in the field; and he looked, and behold, the people came out of the city. So, he rose up against them and struck them.
Judges 16:2The Gazites were told, “Samson is here!” They surrounded him and laid wait for him all night in the gate of the city, and were quiet all the night, saying, “Wait until morning light; then we will kill him.”
Judges 16:9Now she had an ambush waiting in the inner room. She said to him, “The Philistines are on you, Samson!” He broke the cords as a flax thread is broken when it touches the fire. So his strength was not known.
Judges 16:12So Delilah took new ropes and bound him with them, then said to him, “The Philistines are on you, Samson!” The ambush was waiting in the inner room. He broke them off his arms like a thread.
Judges 20:29Israel set ambushes all around Gibeah.
Judges 20:33All the men of Israel rose up out of their place and set themselves in array at Baal Tamar. Then the ambushers of Israel broke out of their place, even out of Maareh Geba.
Judges 20:36So the children of Benjamin saw that they were struck, for the men of Israel yielded to Benjamin because they trusted the ambushers whom they had set against Gibeah.
Judges 20:37The ambushers hurried, and rushed on Gibeah; then the ambushers spread out, and struck all the city with the edge of the sword.
Judges 20:37The ambushers hurried, and rushed on Gibeah; then the ambushers spread out, and struck all the city with the edge of the sword.
Judges 20:38Now the appointed sign between the men of Israel and the ambushers was that they should make a great cloud of smoke rise up out of the city.
Judges 21:20They commanded the children of Benjamin, saying, “Go and lie in wait in the vineyards,
1 Samuel 15:5Saul came to the city of Amalek, and set an ambush in the valley.
1 Samuel 22:8that all of you have conspired against me, and there is no one who discloses to me when my son makes a treaty with the son of Jesse, and there is none of you who is sorry for me, or discloses to me that my son has stirred up my servant against me, to lie in wait, as it is today?”
1 Samuel 22:13Saul said to him, “Why have you conspired against me, you and the son of Jesse, in that you have given him bread, and a sword, and have inquired of God for him, that he should rise against me, to lie in wait, as it is today?”