אָסַף

asaf · gather

Hebrew word · Strong’s number H622 · appears 202 times in the Bible

What is the Strong number?

Strong’s number identifies this word: use it to find the same word in other study tools.

What it means

asaf (אָסַף) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “gather”.

Bring together; store up; take away. "Be gathered to one's people" is to die.

How to say it

a·saf

Approximate pronunciation. Vowels sound as in Spanish (a as in father, e as in bed, i as in machine, o as in note, u as in rule); the syllable in bold is stressed. The voice is your device's.

Its senses in the Bible

To bring together what was scattered, like the harvest.
To bring people together in one place.
To die and be placed with one's own who have died before.
To withdraw what was there before, such as peace or joy.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

Gather, bring together; also withdraw or take away. BDB: to gather for any purpose; from there to receive, remove, take away. From this root comes the name Asaph.

To gather in the harvest Exodus 23:10
To gather what God gives: the quails Numbers 11:32
To gather a people or an army Joel 2:16 1 Samuel 17:1
“He was gathered to his people”: death Genesis 25:8 Genesis 49:33

Historical and cultural background

In Genesis the death of the patriarchs is told this way: Abraham “breathed his last and died… and he was gathered to his people” (Genesis 25:8); Jacob “drew his feet into the bed, breathed his last, and was gathered to his people” (49:33).

How we translate it

“Gathered” 111 times, “gather” 51; “rear guard” 4, from the participle for those who gather up the rear. The expression נֶאֱסַף אֶל־עַמָּיו is translated “was gathered to his people”, just as the Hebrew says.

How it is translated

The words this translation uses for it, most frequent first.

gathered ×111
gather ×51
cure ×4
rear guard ×4
withdraw ×3
assemble ×2
completely ×2
take away ×2
taking ×2
Draw back ×1
others ×20

Related words

Words that come from it

Words of the same family, by Strong’s numbering.

Where it appears

Genesis 6:21
And you, take for yourself of every food that is eaten, and gather it to yourself; and it will be for you and for them for food.”
Genesis 25:8
Abraham breathed his last and died in a good old age, old and satisfied, and he was gathered to his people.
Genesis 25:17
These are the years of the life of Ishmael: a hundred and thirty and seven years. He breathed his last and died and was gathered to his people.
Genesis 29:3
When all the flocks were gathered there, they would roll the stone from the mouth of the well and water the sheep, and put back the stone on the mouth of the well in its place.
Genesis 29:7
He said, “Look, it is still high day; it is not time for the livestock to be gathered. Water the sheep and go, pasture them.”
Genesis 29:8
They said, “We cannot, until all the flocks are gathered and they roll the stone from the mouth of the well; then we water the sheep.”
Genesis 29:22
Laban gathered all the men of the place and made a feast.
Genesis 30:23
She conceived and bore a son, and said, “Elohim has taken away my disgrace.”
Genesis 34:30
Jacob said to Simeon and to Levi, “You have brought trouble on me by making me odious to the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites and the Perizzites. And I have few men; if they gather against me and strike me, I will be destroyed, I and my house.”
Genesis 35:29
Isaac breathed his last and died and was gathered to his people, old and full of days; and Esau and Jacob, his sons, buried him.
Genesis 42:17
He gathered them into custody for three days.
Genesis 49:1
Jacob called his sons and said, “Gather together, that I may tell you what will befall you in the days to come.
Genesis 49:29
He commanded them and said to them, “I am about to be gathered to my people; bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite,
Genesis 49:33
When Jacob finished commanding his sons, he drew his feet into the bed, breathed his last, and was gathered to his people.
Exodus 3:16
Go and gather the elders of Israel and say to them, ‘YHWH, the Elohim of your fathers, has appeared to me, the Elohim of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, “I have surely attended to you and to what has been done to you in Egypt,
Exodus 4:29
Then Moses and Aaron went and gathered all the elders of the sons of Israel.
Exodus 9:19
So now, send, bring to safety your livestock and all that you have in the field; every person and animal that is found in the field and is not brought home, the hail will come down on them, and they will die.”’”
Exodus 23:10
Six years you shall sow your land and gather in its produce,
Exodus 23:16
And the feast of Harvest, of the firstfruits of your labors that you sow in the field; and the feast of Ingathering at the going out of the year, when you gather in your labors from the field.
Exodus 32:26
And Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said, “Whoever is for YHWH, come to me!” And all the sons of Levi gathered to him.
Leviticus 23:39
But on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered the produce of the land, you shall celebrate the feast of YHWH seven days; on the first day shall be a solemn rest, and on the eighth day shall be a solemn rest.
Leviticus 25:3
Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard and gather its produce;
Leviticus 25:20
And if you say, ‘What shall we eat in the seventh year, if we may not sow or gather in our produce?’
Leviticus 26:25
And I will bring on you a sword that avenges the vengeance of the covenant; and when you gather into your cities, I will send pestilence among you, and you will be given into the hand of the enemy.
Numbers 10:25
And the banner of the camp of the sons of Dan, the rear guard of all the camps, set out by their armies, and over its army was Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai.
Numbers 11:16
And YHWH said to Moses, “Gather for me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people and their supervisors; and bring them to the tent of meeting, and let them take their stand there with you.
Numbers 11:22
Shall flocks and herds be slaughtered for them, to be enough for them? Or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered for them, to be enough for them?”
Numbers 11:24
So Moses went out and told the people the words of YHWH; and he gathered seventy men of the elders of the people and placed them around the tent.
Numbers 11:30
And Moses withdrew to the camp, he and the elders of Israel.
Numbers 11:32
And the people rose up all that day and all the night and all the next day, and gathered the quails; the one who gathered least gathered ten homers; and they spread them out for themselves around the camp.
Numbers 12:14
And YHWH said to Moses, “If her father had but spit in her face, would she not be ashamed seven days? Let her be isolated seven days outside the camp, and afterward she may be gathered in.”
Numbers 12:15
So Miriam was isolated outside the camp seven days, and the people did not set out until Miriam was gathered in.
Numbers 19:9
And a clean man shall gather up the ash of the cow and deposit it outside the camp in a clean place, and it shall be for the community of the sons of Israel to keep for the water of impurity; it is a sin offering.
Numbers 19:10
And the one who gathers the ash of the cow shall wash his clothes and be unclean until the evening. And it shall be for the sons of Israel and for the resident alien who resides among them a statute forever.
Numbers 20:24
“Aaron shall be gathered to his people; for he shall not enter the land that I have given to the sons of Israel, because you rebelled against my command at the waters of Meribah.
Numbers 20:26
and strip Aaron of his garments and put them on Eleazar his son; and Aaron shall be gathered to his people and die there.”
Numbers 21:16
And from there they went to Beer; that is the well of which YHWH said to Moses, “Gather the people, and I will give them water.”
Numbers 21:23
But Sihon did not let Israel pass through his territory; and Sihon gathered all his people and went out against Israel into the wilderness, and he came to Jahaz and fought against Israel.
Numbers 27:13
When you have seen it, you too shall be gathered to your people, as Aaron your brother was gathered;
Numbers 31:2
“Execute the vengeance of the sons of Israel on the Midianites; afterward you shall be gathered to your people.”

And 162 more times.