avoda · work, service

What it means

avoda (עֲבֹדָה) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “work, service”.

Work, labor, service; also the service of worship.

How to say it

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

1. The task someone does with his hands, above all work in the field.
2. Work imposed by another, or the hard burden of one who does it as a slave.
3. The sacred tasks of the Levites in the tabernacle and the temple.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

Work, service; also servitude and the service of worship. BDB: work of any kind. It comes from the root of עָבַד, “to serve, to work” (H5647).

• The hard bondage in Egypt Exodus 1:14
• Jacob's service for Rachel Genesis 29:27
• The service of the Levites in the tent Numbers 4:47Numbers 8:24
• “This service”: the Passover Exodus 12:25
• “Lighten the hard service of your father” 1 Kings 12:4

How we translate it

“Service” 106 times, “laborious” 12, “labor” 10, “work” 7, “bondage” 6, “servitude” 2. In Egypt, “bondage”; at the feasts, “laborious work” (מְלֶאכֶת עֲבֹדָה); in worship, “service”. For the Levites, this edition distinguishes עֲבֹדָה, “service”, from מְלָאכָה, “work”.

How it is translated

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

• service ×106
• laborious ×12
• labor ×10
• work ×7
• bondage ×6
• servitude ×2
• every ×1
• tilling ×1

Where it appears

• Genesis×2
• Exodus×23
• Leviticus×7
• Numbers×50
• Deuteronomy×1
• Joshua×1
• 1 Kings×1
• 1 Chronicles×30
• 2 Chronicles×15
• Ezra×1
• Nehemiah×4
• Psalms×2
• Isaiah×4
• Lamentations×1
• Ezekiel×3

• Genesis 29:27

  Complete the week of this one, and we will give you that one too, for the service that you will serve with me yet another seven years.”

• Genesis 30:26

  Give me my wives and my children, for whom I have served you, and let me go, for you know my service with which I have served you.”

• Exodus 1:14

  and they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, with mortar and with bricks and with every kind of work in the field; all their work in which they made them work was ruthless.

• Exodus 2:23

  During those many days the king of Egypt died. The sons of Israel groaned because of the bondage and cried out, and their cry for help went up to Elohim because of the bondage.

• Exodus 5:9

  Let the work be heavy on the men so that they labor at it and do not pay attention to lying words.”

• Exodus 5:11

  You go and get yourselves straw wherever you can find it, for not a thing will be reduced from your work.’”

• Exodus 6:6

  Therefore say to the sons of Israel, ‘I am YHWH, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of Egypt, I will rescue you from their bondage, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments.

• Exodus 6:9

  Moses spoke this way to the sons of Israel, but they did not listen to Moses because of their discouragement and because of hard bondage.

• Exodus 12:25

  When you come to the land that YHWH will give you, as he has spoken, you shall keep this service.

• Exodus 12:26

  And when your sons say to you, ‘What does this service mean to you?’

• Exodus 13:5

  When YHWH brings you to the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, which he swore to your fathers to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, you shall perform this service in this month.

• Exodus 27:19

  All the utensils of the dwelling for all its service, and all its pegs and all the pegs of the courtyard, shall be of bronze.

• Exodus 30:16

  You shall take the silver of expiation from the sons of Israel and give it for the service of the tent of meeting; and it shall be for the sons of Israel a memorial before YHWH, to make expiation for your lives.”

• Exodus 35:21

  And they came, every man whose heart stirred him, and everyone whose spirit moved him, and they brought the contribution of YHWH for the work of the tent of meeting, and for all its service, and for the holy garments.

• Exodus 35:24

  Everyone who set apart a contribution of silver and bronze brought the contribution of YHWH; and everyone with whom was found acacia wood for any work of the service brought it.

• Exodus 36:1

  “And Bezalel and Oholiab and every man wise of heart, in whom YHWH has put wisdom and understanding to know how to do all the work of the service of the sanctuary, shall do according to all that YHWH has commanded.”

• Exodus 36:3

  And they received from Moses all the contribution that the sons of Israel had brought for the work of the service of the sanctuary, to do it. And they kept bringing to him still freewill offerings morning by morning.

• Exodus 36:5

  and they said to Moses, saying, “The people are bringing much more than enough for the service for the work that YHWH commanded to do it.”

• Exodus 38:21

  These are the accounts of the dwelling, the dwelling of the testimony, which were recorded by order of Moses, the service of the Levites, under the direction of Ithamar son of Aaron the priest.

• Exodus 39:32

  So all the labor of the dwelling, the tent of meeting, was finished; and the sons of Israel did according to all that YHWH had commanded Moses; so they did.

• Exodus 39:40

  the hangings of the courtyard, its pillars and its bases, and the screen for the gate of the courtyard, its cords and its pegs, and all the utensils for the service of the dwelling, for the tent of meeting;

• Exodus 39:42

  According to all that YHWH had commanded Moses, so the sons of Israel did all the labor.

• Leviticus 23:7

  On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall do no laborious work at all.

• Leviticus 23:8

  And you shall present a fire offering to YHWH seven days. On the seventh day is a holy convocation; you shall do no laborious work at all.”

• Leviticus 23:21

  And on this very day you shall proclaim: there shall be a holy convocation for you; you shall do no laborious work at all; it is a statute forever in all your dwellings throughout your generations.

• Leviticus 23:25

  You shall do no laborious work at all, and you shall present a fire offering to YHWH.”

• Leviticus 23:35

  On the first day is a holy convocation; you shall do no laborious work at all.

• Leviticus 23:36

  Seven days you shall present a fire offering to YHWH. On the eighth day you shall have a holy convocation and present a fire offering to YHWH; it is a solemn assembly; you shall do no laborious work at all.

• Leviticus 25:39

  And if your brother becomes poor with you and sells himself to you, you shall not make him serve the service of a slave.

• Numbers 3:7

  They shall keep his charge and the charge of the whole community before the tent of meeting, doing the service of the dwelling.

• Numbers 3:8

  They shall keep all the utensils of the tent of meeting, and the charge of the sons of Israel, doing the service of the dwelling.

• Numbers 3:26

  and the hangings of the court, and the screen for the entrance of the court which is around the dwelling and the altar, and its cords, for all its service.

• Numbers 3:31

  And their charge is the ark, and the table, and the lampstand, and the altars, and the utensils of the Holy Place with which they minister, and the screen, and all its service.

• Numbers 3:36

  And the appointed charge of the sons of Merari is the frames of the dwelling, and its bars, and its pillars, and its bases, and all its utensils, and all its service,

• Numbers 4:4

  This is the service of the sons of Kohath in the tent of meeting: the most holy things.

• Numbers 4:19

  But do this for them, so that they may live and not die when they approach the most holy things: Aaron and his sons shall go in and assign them, each man to his service and to his load.

• Numbers 4:23

  from thirty years old and upward to fifty years old you shall count them, everyone who enters to serve in the ranks, to do the service in the tent of meeting.

• Numbers 4:24

  This is the service of the families of the Gershonites, in serving and in carrying loads:

• Numbers 4:26

  and the hangings of the court, and the screen for the entrance of the gate of the court which is around the dwelling and the altar, and their cords, and all the utensils for their service; and all that is to be done with them, they shall do.

• Numbers 4:27

  According to the command of Aaron and his sons shall be all the service of the sons of the Gershonites, in all their load and in all their service; and you shall assign to them as a charge all their load.

And 105 more times.