עָתַר
a.tar
to pray
Lexicon Entry
Lexicon data from STEPBible TIPNR, Tyndale House, Cambridge. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
What Original Readers Understood
ExploredThe Hebrew word עָתַר (a.tar) is defined as "to pray." With 20 occurrences in the Bible, this verb is used across various contexts to convey the act of seeking communication with God. The instances of a.tar are not limited to formal or ritualistic settings but appear in everyday situations, emphasizing its significance as a common practice in personal life. The range of usage extends beyond just praying to God, as it is also used in relation to the community, suggesting a communal aspect to the act of prayer. This verb highlights the importance of prayer as a vital means of communication with God, emphasizing its role in the daily lives of individuals and communities. Its presence in multiple situations underscores the idea that prayer is not confined to special occasions but is a regular and integral part of Jewish life, particularly during the biblical period.
Source data & methodology
Occurrences in Scripture
20 total occurrences across the text
He prayed to him; and he was entreated by him, and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that Yahweh was God.
2 Chronicles 33:19His prayer also, and how God was entreated of him, and all his sin and his trespass, and the places in which he built high places, and set up the Asherah poles and the engraved images, before he humbled himself: behold, they are written in the history of Hozai.
Ezra 8:23So we fasted and begged our God for this: and he granted our request.
Job 22:27You will make your prayer to him, and he will hear you. You will pay your vows.
Job 33:26He prays to God, and he is favorable to him, so that he sees his face with joy. He restores to man his righteousness.
Isaiah 19:22Yahweh will strike Egypt, striking and healing. They will return to Yahweh, and he will be entreated by them, and will heal them.
Genesis 25:21Isaac entreated Yahweh for his wife, because she was barren. Yahweh was entreated by him, and Rebekah his wife conceived.
Genesis 25:21Isaac entreated Yahweh for his wife, because she was barren. Yahweh was entreated by him, and Rebekah his wife conceived.
Exodus 9:28Pray to Yahweh; for there has been enough of mighty thunderings and hail. I will let you go, and you shall stay no longer.”
Exodus 8:8Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron, and said, “Entreat Yahweh, that he take away the frogs from me and from my people; and I will let the people go, that they may sacrifice to Yahweh.”
Exodus 8:9Moses said to Pharaoh, “I give you the honor of setting the time that I should pray for you, and for your servants, and for your people, that the frogs be destroyed from you and your houses, and remain in the river only.”
Exodus 8:28Pharaoh said, “I will let you go, that you may sacrifice to Yahweh your God in the wilderness, only you shall not go very far away. Pray for me.”
Exodus 8:29Moses said, “Behold, I am going out from you. I will pray to Yahweh that the swarms of flies may depart from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people, tomorrow; only don’t let Pharaoh deal deceitfully any more in not letting the people go to sacrifice to Yahweh.”
Exodus 8:30Moses went out from Pharaoh, and prayed to Yahweh.
Exodus 10:17Now therefore please forgive my sin again, and pray to Yahweh your God, that he may also take away from me this death.”
Exodus 10:18Moses went out from Pharaoh, and prayed to Yahweh.
Judges 13:8Then Manoah entreated Yahweh, and said, “Oh, Lord, please let the man of God whom you sent come again to us, and teach us what we should do to the child who shall be born.”
2 Samuel 21:14They buried the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son in the country of Benjamin in Zela, in the tomb of Kish his father: and they performed all that the king commanded. After that, God answered prayer for the land.
2 Samuel 24:25David built an altar to Yahweh there, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So Yahweh was entreated for the land, and the plague was removed from Israel.
1 Chronicles 5:20They were helped against them, and the Hagrites were delivered into their hand, and all who were with them; for they cried to God in the battle, and he answered them, because they put their trust in him.