Greek word · G2384

Ἰακώβ

iakōb

Jacob

The patriarch Jacob (Israel), son of Isaac, father of the twelve tribes.

Appears 27 times in 25 verses of the Greek New Testament. ·

What it means

Ἰακώβ, ὁ indecl. (Heb. יַעֲקֹב),

Jacob;

1. The patriarch: Matthew 1:2 8:11, John 4:5-6, Acts 7:8, al; as in Heb. (cf. Numbers 23:7, Isaiah 41:8, Sirach 23:12, al.), of his descendants, Romans 11:26 (LXX).

2. The father-in-law of Mary: Matthew 1:15-16 (on the form as distinct from that of the next word, see Deiss., BS, 3161)

(AS)

From G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament (1922), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of John 4:6

Range of meaning

The patriarch Jacob (Israel), son of Isaac, father of the twelve tribes.

Against the English

Rendered identically everywhere. The point is the claim the name carries, not the translation.

Used elsewhere in the period

Genesis 33:18–20: Jacob buys land at Shechem and sets up an altar. Genesis 48:22: he gives Joseph 'one portion' (Hebrew shekem, a pun on Shechem). Joshua 24:32: Joseph's bones are buried there. The Old Testament never says Jacob dug a well there; that comes from local, especially Samaritan, tradition.

From the study of Matthew 1:15

Range of meaning

The Greek form of Hebrew Yaʿăqōb. It is the patriarch Jacob, and his name became a very common Jewish personal name. ("James" in English comes from the same name through a later Greek form, Iakōbos.)

Against the English

Rendered "Jacob" everywhere. That is accurate.

Used elsewhere in the period

In Genesis, the patriarch Jacob is the father of Joseph, the dreamer whom God guided and who went down to Egypt (Genesis 30:24; 37–50). In Matthew 1–2, Jesus' father Joseph also receives guidance in dreams (1:20; 2:13, 19, 22) and takes the family down to Egypt (2:14). Major commentaries regularly point out this parallel, for example Davies & Allison and R. T. France.

Where it appears

Matthew · 6

  1. Matthew 1:2 Ἰακώβ· Ἰακὼβ Jacob;, Jacob

    Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers.

    Here: Isaac's younger twin son, chosen over Esau. God renamed him Israel, so the nation bears his name.

  2. Matthew 1:15 Ἰακώβ· Jacob;

    Eliud was the father of Eleazar, Eleazar the father of Matthan, Matthan the father of Jacob,

    Here: Hebrew Yaʿăqōb, the patriarch's name and a very common Jewish name. This Jacob is Joseph's father (1:16). So the line ends with a Jacob who fathers a Joseph, just as Genesis does, and the echo is hard to miss.

  3. Matthew 1:16 Ἰακὼβ Jacob

    and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.

    Here: Joseph's father. He is otherwise unknown, and the name is the same as the patriarch's (Hebrew Ya'aqov). A Jewish reader would notice a 'Jacob' fathering a 'Joseph', as in Genesis.

  4. Matthew 8:11 Ἰακὼβ Jacob

    I say to you that many will come from the east and the west to share the banquet with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.

    Here: Jacob was renamed Israel, so his name stands for the nation itself. Outsiders reclining with Jacob are being seated at Israel's own family table.

  5. Matthew 22:32 Ἰακώβ; of Jacob?’

    ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead, but of the living.”

    Here: The third patriarch, Israel himself. The Greek question mark (;) belongs to verse 31's 'have you not read...?', which frames the whole quotation as a pointed question to men who prided themselves on knowing Moses.

Mark · 1

  1. Mark 12:26 Ἰακώβ; of Jacob’?

    But concerning the dead rising, have you not read about the burning bush in the Book of Moses, how God told him, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’?

    Here: The third patriarch, also named Israel, from whom the nation takes its name. The question mark closes the rhetorical question that began with 'have you not read'.

Luke · 4

  1. Luke 1:33 Ἰακὼβ of Jacob

    and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever. His kingdom will never end!”

    Here: The patriarch whose twelve sons became the twelve tribes. 'House of Jacob' is an old poetic and prophetic name for the whole people of Israel (Exod 19:3; Isa 2:5; Isa 14:1).

  2. Luke 3:34 Ἰακὼβ of Jacob

    the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham, the son of Terah, the son of Nahor,

  3. Luke 13:28 Ἰακὼβ Jacob

    There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves are thrown out.

    Here: Third patriarch, also called Israel, the father of the twelve tribes. The three names together stand for the founding ancestors of the whole nation.

  4. Luke 20:37 Ἰακώβ. of Jacob.’

    Even Moses demonstrates that the dead are raised, in the passage about the burning bush. For he calls the Lord ‘the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’

    Here: 'Of Jacob,' Israel's namesake ancestor. The list ends with the father of the twelve tribes, so the whole people's ancestry is bound into God's name.

John · 3

  1. John 4:5 Ἰακὼβ Jacob

    So He came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.

    Here: Jacob (Israel), the patriarch. Jews and Samaritans both claimed him as their ancestor, and the woman will soon call him 'our father Jacob' (v. 12).

  2. John 4:6 Ἰακώβ.¶ of Jacob.

    Since Jacob’s well was there, Jesus, weary from His journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour.

    Here: The patriarch Jacob/Israel, whom Samaritans and Jews both claimed as ancestor. The woman will appeal to him in v.12: 'Are you greater than our father Jacob?'

  3. John 4:12 Ἰακώβ, Jacob,

    Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us this well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock?”

    Here: The patriarch Israel, father of the twelve tribes, who settled near Shechem (Genesis 33:18–20), the very area where this conversation takes place.

Acts · 8

  1. Acts 3:13 Ἰακώβ, of Jacob,

    The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified His servant Jesus. You handed Him over and rejected Him before Pilate, even though he had decided to release Him.

    Here: Third patriarch, the one renamed Israel. Peter has just addressed his hearers as "men of Israel" (v.12).

  2. Acts 7:8 Ἰακώβ, Ἰακὼβ Jacob,, Jacob

    Then God gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision, and Abraham became the father of Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day. And Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs.

    Here: Isaac's son, later named Israel, the father of the nation.

  3. Acts 7:12 Ἰακὼβ Jacob

    When Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our fathers on their first visit.

    Here: The patriarch Jacob (Israel), head of the clan. As head of the household he decides to send the sons for food.

  4. Acts 7:14 Ἰακὼβ Jacob

    Then Joseph sent for his father Jacob and all his relatives, seventy-five in all.

  5. Acts 7:15 Ἰακὼβ Jacob

    So Jacob went down to Egypt, where he and our fathers died.

  6. Acts 7:32 Ἰακώβ. of Jacob.’

    ‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.’ Moses trembled with fear and did not dare to look.

    Here: Father of the twelve tribes. With his name the list reaches the whole people of Israel.

  7. Acts 7:46 Ἰακώβ. of Jacob.

    who found favor in the sight of God and asked to provide a dwelling place for the God of Jacob.

    Here: The patriarch Jacob, whose name stands for the whole nation. In the psalm Stephen quotes, the phrase is 'the Mighty One of Jacob'.

Romans · 2

  1. Romans 9:13 Ἰακὼβ Jacob

    So it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”

  2. Romans 11:26 Ἰακώβ· Jacob;

    And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: “The Deliverer will come from Zion; He will remove godlessness from Jacob.

    Here: The patriarch's name used for the whole people descended from him, as Isaiah often does. It recalls Romans 9:13 ('Jacob I loved') and v.28 ('beloved for the sake of the fathers').

Hebrews · 3

  1. Hebrews 11:9 Ἰακὼβ Jacob

    By faith he dwelt in the promised land as a stranger in a foreign country. He lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise.

    Here: Abraham's grandson. Genesis 37:1 says he lived "in the land of his father's sojournings".

  2. Hebrews 11:20 Ἰακὼβ Jacob

    By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning the future.

  3. Hebrews 11:21 Ἰακὼβ Jacob

    By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.