πατήρ
patēr
father
Lexicon Entry
Lexicon data from STEPBible TIPNR, Tyndale House, Cambridge. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
What Original Readers Understood
ExploredBased on the data from the Greek lexicon, the word "πατήρ" (patēr) is defined as "father." This fundamental term appears 422 times throughout the Bible, highlighting its significance and widespread usage in biblical language. In its occurrences, "πατήρ" is likely used in various contexts, including familial relationships, ancestry, and lineage. It can also refer to a person's spiritual or metaphorical father, as seen in passages where individuals are referred to as spiritual or Godly fathers. The high frequency of this term suggests its importance in biblical narrative and discourse. The prevalence of "πατήρ" in the Bible underscores its essential role in conveying family, heritage, and relationships. As a simple yet powerful term, it allows the writers of the biblical texts to explore a range of themes related to identity, kinship, and authority.
Source data & methodology
Occurrences in Scripture
422 total occurrences across the text — showing 50
But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in the place of his father, Herod, he was afraid to go there. Being warned in a dream, he withdrew into the region of Galilee,
Matthew 3:9Don’t think to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father,’ for I tell you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones.
Matthew 4:21Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets. He called them.
Matthew 4:22They immediately left the boat and their father, and followed him.
Matthew 5:16Even so, let your light shine before men; that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.
Matthew 5:45that you may be children of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust.
Matthew 5:48Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.
Matthew 6:1“Be careful that you don’t do your charitable giving before men, to be seen by them, or else you have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.
Matthew 6:4so that your merciful deeds may be in secret, then your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.
Matthew 6:6But you, when you pray, enter into your inner room, and having shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.
Matthew 6:6But you, when you pray, enter into your inner room, and having shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.
Matthew 6:8Therefore don’t be like them, for your Father knows what things you need, before you ask him.
Matthew 6:9Pray like this: ‘Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy.
Matthew 6:14“For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
Matthew 6:15But if you don’t forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
Matthew 6:18so that you are not seen by men to be fasting, but by your Father who is in secret, and your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you.
Matthew 6:18so that you are not seen by men to be fasting, but by your Father who is in secret, and your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you.
Matthew 6:26See the birds of the sky, that they don’t sow, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns. Your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you of much more value than they?
Matthew 6:32For the Gentiles seek after all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.
Matthew 7:11If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
Matthew 7:21Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven; but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
Matthew 8:21Another of his disciples said to him, “Lord, allow me first to go and bury my father.”
Matthew 23:30and say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we wouldn’t have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.’
Matthew 10:20For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you.
Matthew 10:21“Brother will deliver up brother to death, and the father his child. Children will rise up against parents, and cause them to be put to death.
Matthew 10:29“Aren’t two sparrows sold for an assarion coin? Not one of them falls on the ground apart from your Father’s will,
Matthew 10:32Everyone therefore who confesses me before men, I will also confess him before my Father who is in heaven.
Matthew 10:33But whoever denies me before men, I will also deny him before my Father who is in heaven.
Matthew 10:35For I came to set a man at odds against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.
Matthew 10:37He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he who loves son or daughter more than me isn’t worthy of me.
Matthew 11:25At that time, Jesus answered, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you hid these things from the wise and understanding, and revealed them to infants.
Matthew 11:26Yes, Father, for so it was well-pleasing in your sight.
Matthew 11:27All things have been delivered to me by my Father. No one knows the Son, except the Father; neither does anyone know the Father, except the Son, and he to whom the Son desires to reveal him.
Matthew 11:27All things have been delivered to me by my Father. No one knows the Son, except the Father; neither does anyone know the Father, except the Son, and he to whom the Son desires to reveal him.
Matthew 11:27All things have been delivered to me by my Father. No one knows the Son, except the Father; neither does anyone know the Father, except the Son, and he to whom the Son desires to reveal him.
Matthew 12:50For whoever does the will of my Father who is in heaven, he is my brother, and sister, and mother.”
Matthew 13:43Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the Kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.
Matthew 15:4For God commanded, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him be put to death.’
Matthew 15:4For God commanded, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him be put to death.’
Matthew 15:5But you say, ‘Whoever may tell his father or his mother, “Whatever help you might otherwise have gotten from me is a gift devoted to God,”
Matthew 15:6he shall not honor his father or mother.’ You have made the commandment of God void because of your tradition.
Matthew 15:13But he answered, “Every plant which my heavenly Father didn’t plant will be uprooted.
Matthew 16:17Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.
Matthew 16:27For the Son of Man will come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and then he will render to everyone according to his deeds.
Matthew 18:10See that you don’t despise one of these little ones, for I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven.
Matthew 18:14Even so it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.
Matthew 18:19Again, assuredly I tell you, that if two of you will agree on earth concerning anything that they will ask, it will be done for them by my Father who is in heaven.
Matthew 18:35So my heavenly Father will also do to you, if you don’t each forgive your brother from your hearts for his misdeeds.”
Matthew 19:5and said, ‘For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother, and shall be joined to his wife; and the two shall become one flesh?’
Matthew 19:19‘Honor your father and your mother.’ And, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ ”