Biblica Analytica
H0693 Hebrew

אָרַב

a.rav

to ambush

Lexicon Entry

Definition
to ambush
Transliteration
a.rav
Strong's Number
H0693
Occurrences
41
Semantic Domain
Warfare & Conflict

Lexicon data from STEPBible TIPNR, Tyndale House, Cambridge. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.

What Original Readers Understood

Explored

The 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
Strong's
H0693
Lemma
אָרַב
Transliteration
a.rav
Definition
to ambush
Occurrences
41
Model
groq
Prompt version
1

AI synthesis uses only the lexicon data above as context — never training knowledge.

Occurrences in Scripture

41 total occurrences across the text

2 Chronicles 20:22

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 8:31

Then 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 10:9

He 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 10:9

He 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 59:3

For, 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 1:11

If they say, “Come with us. Let’s lay in wait for blood. Let’s lurk secretly for the innocent without cause.

Proverbs 1:18

but these lay in wait for their own blood. They lurk secretly for their own lives.

Proverbs 7:12

Now she is in the streets, now in the squares, and lurking at every corner.

Proverbs 12:6

The words of the wicked are about lying in wait for blood, but the speech of the upright rescues them.

Proverbs 23:28

Yes, she lies in wait like a robber, and increases the unfaithful among men.

Proverbs 24:15

Don’t lay in wait, wicked man, against the habitation of the righteous. Don’t destroy his resting place;

Jeremiah 51:12

Set 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 3:10

He is to me as a bear lying in wait, as a lion in secret places.

Lamentations 4:19

Our 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 7:2

The 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 19:11

But 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 8:2

You 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 8:4

He 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 8:7

and you shall rise up from the ambush, and take possession of the city; for Yahweh your God will deliver it into your hand.

Joshua 8:12

He took about five thousand men, and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of the city.

Joshua 8:14

When 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 8:19

The 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 8:21

When 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 9:25

The 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 9:32

Now therefore, go up by night, you and the people who are with you, and lie in wait in the field.

Judges 9:34

Abimelech rose up, and all the people who were with him, by night, and they laid wait against Shechem in four companies.

Judges 9:43

He 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 16:2

The 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 16:9

Now 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 16:12

So 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 20:29

Israel set ambushes all around Gibeah.

Judges 20:33

All 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 20:36

So 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 20:37

The ambushers hurried, and rushed on Gibeah; then the ambushers spread out, and struck all the city with the edge of the sword.

Judges 20:37

The ambushers hurried, and rushed on Gibeah; then the ambushers spread out, and struck all the city with the edge of the sword.

Judges 20:38

Now 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 21:20

They commanded the children of Benjamin, saying, “Go and lie in wait in the vineyards,

1 Samuel 15:5

Saul came to the city of Amalek, and set an ambush in the valley.

1 Samuel 22:8

that 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 22:13

Saul 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?”