Lectionary Calendar
Monday, March 18th, 2024
the Fifth Week of Lent
There are 13 days til Easter!
Attention!
Take your personal ministry to the Next Level by helping StudyLight build churches and supporting pastors in Uganda.
Click here to join the effort!

Bible Dictionaries
Abba

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

Search for…
or
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z
Prev Entry
Abarim
Next Entry
Abbreviations
Resource Toolbox
Additional Links

ABBA is the ‘emphatic’ form of the Aram. [Note: Aramaic.] word for ‘father.’ It is found in the Gr. and Eng. text of Mark 14:36 , Romans 8:15 , and Galatians 4:6 (in each case Abbâ, ho patçr , ‘Abba, Father’). Aram. [Note: Aramaic.] has no article, and the ‘emphatic’ affix â is usually the equivalent of the Heb. article. Both can represent the vocative case (for Hebrew see Davidson’s Syntax , § 21 f.); and abba occurs in the Pesb. of Luke 22:42; Luke 23:34 for pater . The ‘articular nominative’ is found in NT sixty times for the vocative; and so we have ho patçr for ô pater (Moulton, Gram. of NT Greek , p. 70). Jesus often addressed God as ‘Father’ or ‘my Father.’ In both cases He would probably use ‘Abba’; for ’abbâ may be used for ’âbî (Targ. on Genesis 19:34 ). In Mark 14:36 , ho patçr is perhaps a gloss added by the Evangelist, as in Mark 5:41; Mark 7:11; Mark 7:34 he adds an explanation of the Aram. [Note: Aramaic.] : but in Romans 8:15 and Galatians 4:6 the Gentile Christians had learned for importunity to use the Aram. [Note: Aramaic.] word Abba; as the Jews in prayer borrowed Kyrie mou (‘my Lord’) from the Greek, and used it along with Heb. words for ‘my master,’ ‘my father’ (Schöttgen, Hor. Heb . 252).

J. T. Marshall.

Bibliography Information
Hastings, James. Entry for 'Abba'. Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible. https://www.studylight.org/​dictionaries/​eng/​hdb/​a/abba.html. 1909.
adsFree icon
Ads FreeProfile