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Quick answer: The Hebrew word for father is av (אָב, pronounced ahv), Strong’s H1 – literally the first entry in the Hebrew dictionary. It appears roughly 1,200 times in the Old Testament. It means a biological father, but it also means an ancestor, a founder, a protector, a mentor, and the source or originator of something. When a Hebrew speaker called someone “father,” they were often saying “this is where it starts” as much as “this is who raised me.”
Word Study: Where It Comes From
Av is one of the oldest words in the Semitic family. Akkadian has abu, Arabic has ab, Aramaic has abba – all the same word. Most scholars treat it as a primary noun rather than something built from a verb, probably rooted in one of the first sounds a baby makes. Some older lexicons tried to connect it to the verb avah, “to be willing” or “to desire,” but that link is generally regarded as a guess rather than a real etymology. The simpler truth is the more beautiful one: av is a word that children helped invent.
What makes av interesting is not where it came from but how far it travelled. In the Old Testament it stretches well beyond the man in your house:
- Ancestor. The plural avot (“fathers”) almost always means the generations behind you. “The God of our fathers” is not about one family’s dad – it is about Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
- Founder or originator. Genesis calls Jabal “the father of such as dwell in tents” and his brother Jubal “the father of all such as handle the harp and organ” (Genesis 4:20-21). Neither man fathered every musician or herder. They started something. In Hebrew, the person who begins a thing is its av.
- Protector of the vulnerable. Job, defending his life, says, “I was a father to the poor” (Job 29:16). He means he took responsibility for people who had no one.
- Mentor and counsellor. Joseph tells his brothers that God has made him “a father to Pharaoh” (Genesis 45:8) – a trusted adviser to a man who was not his son. And when Elijah is taken up, Elisha cries, “My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof” (2 Kings 2:12).
The word also organised all of Israel’s social life. The basic family unit was the beit av, “the father’s house” – an extended household of several generations living under one name. That is why God’s first call to Abram is so costly: “Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house” (Genesis 12:1). Leaving your beit av meant leaving your protection, your inheritance and your identity all at once.
Even names carry it. Abram means “exalted father.” When God renames him Abraham, the text explains it directly: “for a father of many nations have I made thee” (Genesis 17:5). Dozens of Hebrew names begin with Avi- (“my father is…”) – Abigail, Abiel, Abijah – each one a small statement about where a family believed its life came from.
Where This Word Appears in the Bible
| Reference | KJV Text | What the word is doing |
|---|---|---|
| Genesis 4:20 | “And Adah bare Jabal: he was the father of such as dwell in tents, and of such as have cattle.” | Av as founder – the one who started a way of life |
| Genesis 17:5 | “Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee.” | Fatherhood as a calling and a promise, built into a name |
| Exodus 20:12 | “Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.” | The first commandment with a promise attached |
| Isaiah 64:8 | “But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.” | God called Father as Maker – the source of a people |
| Malachi 2:10 | “Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us? why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, by profaning the covenant of our fathers?” | One shared Father as the reason to treat each other well |
Verse Deep Dive: Isaiah 9:6, “The Everlasting Father”
“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” Most of us hear this verse in December, sung by a choir, and the four titles blur into one long, glorious phrase. Slow down on the fourth.
In Hebrew, “everlasting Father” is two words fused together: Avi-ad. Avi is the “father of” form of av, and ad means perpetuity, forever, time without end. So the phrase is literally “Father of forever.”
Now remember Genesis 4:20. In Hebrew idiom, the “father of” something is its source, the one it belongs to, the one who characterises it. Jabal was the “father of” tent-dwellers. So Avi-ad carries two meanings at once. It describes a fatherhood that never ends – care that does not die, retire or move away. And it describes one who is the source and owner of eternity itself.
That is a startling thing to say about a child. The verse opens with a birth and closes by calling that newborn the Father of forever. Christians read this as a prophecy of Jesus – and it is worth being careful here. Isaiah is not confusing the Son with the Father. It is describing how the promised King would relate to God’s people: with a father’s protective, providing, never-ending care. Every human av eventually fails or dies. Israel had lived through generations of kings who did both. Isaiah promises a ruler whose fatherly care would have no expiry date.
Isaiah returns to the word later, in a prayer from a people who feel abandoned: “Doubtless thou art our father, though Abraham be ignorant of us, and Israel acknowledge us not: thou, O LORD, art our father, our redeemer; thy name is from everlasting” (Isaiah 63:16). Abraham – the great human av of the nation – cannot help them. But God’s fatherhood is “from everlasting.” The human father runs out; this one does not.
Here is something that surprises many readers: across the whole Old Testament, God is directly called “Father” only a handful of times – around fifteen, by most counts – and almost always corporately, as our Father, the Father of the nation. Then Jesus teaches the disciples to open every prayer this way: “After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name” (Matthew 6:9). What had been a rare, reverent title in Isaiah becomes the very first word of ordinary prayer for anyone who follows Him.
Why the Original Word Changes the Meaning
In English, “father” is mostly a biological and household word. For many people it is also a painful one – a father who left, who hurt, who was simply absent. If that is all the word means, calling God “Father” can feel like an invitation to more disappointment.
Av is wider than that. It means source, founder, protector, the one a whole household is named after, the one who takes responsibility for those who have no one else. When Scripture calls God av, the point is not that God is male – God has no gender, and Isaiah can just as easily say, “As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you” (Isaiah 66:13). The point is relationship: God is where you came from, who you belong to, and who has taken responsibility for you. Isaiah 64:8 puts it in the plainest terms – “thou art our father; we are the clay.” Your life started in God’s hands.
That also redefines what human fatherhood is for. Job’s “I was a father to the poor” means anyone can be an av – an aunt, a coach, a neighbour, a pastor – simply by taking real responsibility for someone vulnerable.
Living It Out
This week, try opening your prayers the way Jesus taught – “Our Father” – and pause on what av actually means before moving on. You are not addressing a distant authority. You are speaking to your source, the one whose household you belong to, the Father of forever.
Then look outward. Job was “a father to the poor.” Is there one person in your life – a child without a steady adult, a younger coworker, a lonely neighbour – for whom you could be a small av this week: present, protective, and reliable?
Journal Prompts
- When you hear the word “father,” what is the first face or feeling that comes to mind? Write honestly about it – then write about how av as “source, founder, protector” either confirms or challenges that picture.
- Isaiah 9:6 calls the promised King Avi-ad, “Father of forever.” Where in your life have you been let down by care that ran out? What would it change to trust a fatherly care that has no expiry date?
- God called Abram to leave his “father’s house” (Genesis 12:1), the beit av that gave him protection and identity. What “father’s house” – a family pattern, a security, a name – might God be asking you to hold more loosely?
Prayer
Lord, You are my Av – the one my life came from and the one I belong to. Where human fathers have been absent or have hurt me, heal what that word has carried, and teach me what it was always meant to mean. Thank You that Your care is ad, forever, and never runs out. Make me a faithful source of protection and steadiness for the people You have placed near me. As Jesus taught, I come to You simply: Our Father, hallowed be Your name. Amen.
Share This
- The Hebrew word for father, “av,” is literally the first entry in Strong’s Hebrew dictionary – and it means source, founder and protector, not just dad. [Post URL]
- “Everlasting Father” in Isaiah 9:6 is one Hebrew word: Avi-ad, “Father of forever.” Every human father runs out. That one doesn’t. [Post URL]
FAQ
What is the Hebrew word for father?
The Hebrew word for father is av (אָב), Strong’s H1. It means father, but also ancestor, founder, originator, protector or mentor. The plural avot usually means “forefathers.”
Is “av” the same word as “abba”?
They are close relatives. Av is Hebrew; abba is the Aramaic form of the same word. Abba appears in the New Testament (Mark 14:36, Romans 8:15, Galatians 4:6), while the Hebrew Old Testament uses av.
What does “Everlasting Father” mean in Hebrew?
In Isaiah 9:6, “everlasting Father” is Avi-ad, literally “Father of forever.” In Hebrew idiom, the “father of” something is its source or owner, so the title describes both a fatherly care that never ends and one who is the source of eternity.
Does calling God “Father” mean God is male?
No. Av describes a relationship – source, protector, the head of a household people belong to – not a gender. Scripture also uses mother imagery for God, as in Isaiah 66:13: “As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you.”
