To ambush
אָרַבStrong’s H0693arav (a-rav)
Appears in 39 verses of the Old Testament
In short
Arav is the Hebrew word usually translated “ambush”, “ambushers” and “ambusher”. It appears in 39 verses of the Old Testament.
“But if any man hate his neighbour, and lie in wait for him, and rise up against him, and smite him mortally that he die, and fleeth into one of these cities:”
Meaning
- To lie in wait, ambush, lurk(Qal) · (Piel) ambushers, liers-in-wait (pl. participle) · (Hiphil) to lay an ambush
How it's translated
- an ambush 3
- ambushers 3
- and the ambusher 3
- the ambusher 3
- they lie in wait 3
- lying in wait 2
- and they lay in wait 2
- and he lay in wait 2
Word-by-word English from the STEPBible tagged text.
Where it's used most
- Judges 13
- Joshua 7
- Proverbs 6
- 1 Samuel 3
- Psalms 2
- Lamentations 2
12 books in all.
Explore in Scripture
- Joshua 8:2And thou shalt do to Ai and her king as thou didst unto Jericho and her king: only the spoil thereof, and the cattle thereof, shall ye take for a prey unto yourselves: lay thee an ambush for the city behind it.
- Joshua 8:4And he commanded them, saying, Behold, ye shall lie in wait against the city, even behind the city: go not very far from the city, but be ye all ready:
- Joshua 8:7Then ye shall rise up from the ambush, and seize upon the city: for the LORD your God will deliver it into your hand.
- Joshua 8:12And he took about five thousand men, and set them to lie in ambush between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of the city.
- Joshua 8:14And it came to pass, when the king of Ai saw it, that they hasted and rose up early, and the men of the city went out against Israel to battle, he and all his people, at a time appointed, before the plain; but he wist not that there were liers in ambush against him behind the city.
- Joshua 8:19And the ambush arose quickly out of their place, and they ran as soon as he had stretched out his hand: and they entered into the city, and took it, and hasted and set the city on fire.
All 39 verses, by book
Hebrew dictionary
אָרַב arav · to ambush
1) to lie in wait, ambush, lurk 1a) (Qal) 1a1) to lie in wait 1a2) ambush (participle as subst) 1b) (Piel) ambushers, liers-in-wait (pl. participle) 1c) (Hiphil) to lay an ambush
From STEPBible’s Hebrew lexicon (based on Brown-Driver-Briggs).
Webster's 1828 Dictionary
How the English word “ambush” was understood when the King James Version was still the common Bible of English readers.
AM'BUSH, noun
- A private or concealed station, where troops lie in wait to attack their enemy by surprise.
- The state of lying concealed, for the purpose of attacking by surprise; a lying in wait.
- The troops posted in a concealed place for attacking by surprise.“Lay thee an ambush for the city” Joshua 8:2
All definitions and other forms of “ambush”
AM'BUSH, verb transitive
To lie in wait for; to surprise, by assailing unexpectedly from a concealed place.
AM'BUSH, verb intransitive
To lie in wait, for the purpose of attacking by surprise.
Noah Webster, An American Dictionary of the English Language (1828). Verse references are checked against the KJV. Read the full entry.
Verses are from the King James Version. Word meanings come from the original Hebrew, not from any one translation.