To cross over; used very widely of any transition (literal or figurative; transitive, intransitive, intensive, causative); specifically, to cover (in copulation)
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עָבַר (avar) is the Hebrew verb for passing over, crossing, and going through — and it carries one of the OT's most concentrated theological moments: the Passover night, when YHWH passes through Egypt but passes over the houses marked with blood. The local Hebrew index currently counts about 562 occurrences, and the verb spans from literal geographic crossings (the Jordan, the sea, the wilderness) to the theophanic.
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Full entry for עָבַר (H5674) · Open the biblical lexicon
עָבַר (avar) is the Hebrew verb for passing over, crossing, and going through — and it carries one of the OT's most concentrated theological moments: the Passover night, when YHWH passes through Egypt but passes over the houses marked with blood. The local Hebrew index currently counts about 562 occurrences, and the verb spans from literal geographic.
The BSB source-word alignment has 555 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include crossed (14), . . . (12), crossed over (11), cross (9), pass (8).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 8:1. Its strongest book concentrations include Joshua (57), Deuteronomy (49), 2 Samuel (48), Numbers (37).
This entry includes 3 verse guides that explain exact original-language forms in context.
עָבַר (avar) is the Hebrew verb for passing over, crossing, and going through — and it carries one of the OT's most concentrated theological moments: the Passover night, when YHWH passes through Egypt but passes over the houses marked with blood. The local Hebrew index currently counts about 562 occurrences, and the verb spans from literal geographic crossings (the Jordan, the sea, the wilderness) to the theophanic passing of YHWH's glory before Moses (Exod 33:19) to transgression as the passing-over of a boundary.
Exodus 12:12-13 gives avar its Passover context: 'For I will pass through (avar) the land of Egypt that night and strike down every firstborn... The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over (pasach) you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.' The Passover event uses two different verbs: YHWH passes through (avar) Egypt, bringing judgment; but he passes over (pasach, H6453 — the Passover verb, to spare, to leap over) the houses marked with blood. The blood is the sign that differentiates the houses: where the blood is, the avar becomes pasach — the passing-through that destroys becomes a passing-over that spares.
Exodus 33:19-22 gives avar its theophanic form: 'And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before you (avar), and will proclaim before you my name YHWH... I will cover you with my hand while I pass by (avar), and then I will take away my hand and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen.' The avar of YHWH's glory before Moses in the cleft of the rock is the climactic revelation of the OT: YHWH permits his goodness, name, and glory to pass before Moses while sheltering him from the full weight of the divine presence. The avar is the controlled self-disclosure of YHWH's character — the passage of his glory through a space that Moses cannot enter directly.
Joshua 3:14-17 gives avar its covenant-transition form: 'And when the people set out from their tents to cross (avar) the Jordan with the priests bearing the ark of the covenant before the people, and as soon as those bearing the ark had come as far as the Jordan... the waters coming down from above stood and rose up in a heap...' The crossing of the Jordan is a second-exodus avar: as Israel avar'd the Red Sea (the exodus), so now they avar the Jordan (the land-entrance). Every major covenant transition in Israel's history is marked by an avar: the avar out of Egypt (Exod 14:29), the avar into the land (Josh 3:14-17).
Numbers 14:41 gives avar its transgression-meaning: 'Why do you transgress (avar) the command of YHWH? This will not succeed.' The Israel that refuses to enter the land at Kadesh-barnea and then tries to go up without YHWH's presence is guilty of avar-ing the command of YHWH: they have crossed the boundary of the divine command. Transgression in Hebrew is a passing-over: you cross the line YHWH has drawn. This meaning runs through Joshua 7:11 (Israel has transgressed [avar] my covenant), 1 Samuel 15:24 (Saul: I have transgressed [avar] the commandment of YHWH), and Hosea 6:7 (they like Adam have transgressed [avar] the covenant).
For the preacher, עָבַר (avar) gives the congregation the Passover's logic: the blood marks the house for sparing, not for passing-through. Every judgment-avar becomes a sparing-pasach where the blood is applied.
עָבַר (avar) is locally indexed at about 562 occurrences. Its theological range covers: the Passover (YHWH passing through Egypt and over the blood-marked houses, Exod 12:12-13), YHWH's glory passing before Moses (Exod 33:19-22), the covenant crossings (the Jordan, Josh 3; the sea, Exod 14), and transgression as crossing the divine boundary (Num 14:41, Josh 7:11, Hos 6:7).
The word's geographic use (crossing rivers, borders, lands) and its theological use (YHWH's self-disclosure in passing; Israel's boundary-crossing as sin) are deeply interwoven.
The blood on the houses where you are staying will be a sign; when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No plague will fall on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.
The Passover sparing: 'when I see the blood, I will pass over (pasach) you.' The blood of the lamb on the doorposts is the sign that transforms the avar (YHWH's passing through Egypt in judgment, v. 12) into a pasach for the marked houses. The logic is substitution: the lamb has died where the firstborn would have died; the blood marks the house as already under the death-sentence, already satisfied. YHWH's passing-through Egypt brings judgment; his passing-over the blood-marked houses brings life.
And when My glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft of the rock and cover you with My hand until I have passed by.
YHWH's glory passing by (avar): 'I will cover you with my hand while I pass by (avar).' The theophanic avar at the cleft of the rock is the OT's most intimate divine self-disclosure. YHWH permits his goodness and name to pass before Moses (v. 19) — but Moses cannot see the face of YHWH, only his back (v. 23). The avar is controlled: YHWH governs how much of his glory passes before the creature.
This is not a limitation of YHWH but a protection of Moses — the finite creature cannot survive the full avar of infinite holiness.
The priests carrying the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan, while all Israel crossed over the dry ground, until the entire nation had crossed the Jordan.
The Jordan crossing as covenant avar: 'all Israel crossed (avar) the Jordan on dry ground.' The Jordan avar mirrors the Red Sea avar (Exod 14:22, the people crossed through the sea on dry ground). Both covenant crossings are marked by the same pattern: YHWH holds back the water, Israel avar's on dry ground, a memorial is set up. The Jordan avar is the transition from the wilderness of wandering to the land of promise — the avar as the threshold of covenant inheritance.
But they, like Adam, have transgressed the covenant; there they were unfaithful to Me.
Transgression as avar: 'like Adam, they have transgressed (avar) the covenant.' Hosea 6:7's 'like Adam' comparison (ke-Adam, possibly 'like a human' or 'like Adam') pairs the avar of the covenant with Adam's original transgression. Just as Adam crossed the boundary YHWH drew ('you shall not eat,' Gen 2:17), so Israel has avar'd the covenant boundary — they have passed over the line YHWH drew for them. Transgression, linguistically, is always a passing-over: you cross the limit you were commanded not to cross.
But Moses said, “Why are you transgressing the commandment of the Lord? This will not succeed!
Transgression as avar: 'why do you transgress (avar) the commandment of YHWH?' Israel, having refused YHWH's command to enter the land at Kadesh-barnea (Num 14:1-10), now attempts to go up without YHWH's ark or presence (v. 44). This second act of disobedience is also an avar: they crossed the boundary of the divine command in both directions — refusing to go when told to go, and going when told not to go. Moses names both refusals as avar: the passing-over of YHWH's explicit instruction.
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Verse-level guides showing how this original-language form works in its specific context, including grammar, verse function, and guarded interpretation.
Hebrew word. Core sense of crossing/passing extends metaphorically to transgression, death, and divine judgment crossing boundaries.
How the stem changes the meaning of this verb across the biblical text.
This verb appears through different tense, voice, mood, or stem patterns. Those forms help readers see how the action is presented in context.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 3 selected witnesses from 562 lexical occurrence verses.
עָבַר is a primitive root - no further derivation.
The verb emphasizes the swift and decisive nature of the storm. Hosea 6:7-11
Defines covenant violation. Hosea 8:1-7
Defines covenant breach. Proverbs 10:25
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
עָבַר (avar) holds in a single root the Passover's hope and the transgressor's peril. YHWH passes through Egypt in judgment (Exod 12:12, avar) — but where the blood of the lamb is applied, the passing-through becomes a passing-over (pasach) that spares rather than destroys. The same verb that describes transgression (Num 14:41, Hos 6:7 — the passing-over of YHWH's command) describes YHWH's own movement through judgment on behalf of his people.
The logic of the Passover is the logic of the cross: the destroyer passes through, and where the blood is, the judgment passes over. The avar of Exodus 33:22 gives the congregation a picture of what it means to be in Christ: sheltered in the cleft of the rock while the glory of YHWH passes by, seeing not the face of the full divine presence but enough of his goodness and name to sustain the covenant life.
And the Jordan avar (Josh 3-4) gives the congregation the boundary-crossing of covenant inheritance: every significant transition in the life of faith is an avar — a crossing from what was to what YHWH has promised. The avar that is transgression and the avar that is the divine crossing-over are the two possible directions of the word: you either cross YHWH's boundaries, or you cross the Jordan under his leading into the inheritance.
Exod.12.13
עָבַר (avar) is one of the most semantically rich movement verbs in Hebrew. Its range covers: physical crossing of a river or border (the Jordan, Exod 14; the wilderness), YHWH's theophanic passing-by (Exod 33:19-22, 1Kgs 19:11), the Passover-related passing-through (Exod 12:12), and moral transgression (the passing-over of a divine command or covenant boundary).
The Passover is technically named from the verb פָּסַח (pasach, H6453, to pass over, to spare, to limp) — not from avar. The Exodus 12 account uses both: YHWH avar's through Egypt (passing through in judgment) and pasach's the blood-marked houses (passing over in sparing). The distinction is important: avar is the movement; pasach is the sparing. The noun עֵבֶר (ever, H5676, the other side, the beyond) gives us the Hebrew word for the Hebrews (ivrim, from avar): those who crossed over, those from the other side (of the Euphrates, Josh 24:2-3, referring to Abraham who came from beyond the river).
In NT Greek, the Passover (pascha, G3957) is the technical term — but the NT's theology of crossing from death to life (John 5:24, 'he has passed from death to life'; 1 John 3:14, 'we have passed out of death into life') is the avar of the new exodus.
The NT's avar-theology is centered in the Passover's fulfillment and the new-exodus crossing. 1 Corinthians 5:7 — 'Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed' — applies the Passover-blood-logic to the cross: where the blood of Christ is, the destroying avar passes over. John 13:1 says Jesus 'knew that his hour had come to depart (metabainein, a form of crossing-over) out of this world to the Father' — the cross as the great avar.
John 5:24 — 'whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed (metababeken, crossed over) from death to life' — is the new-covenant avar: the believer has already crossed the Jordan of death through faith in Christ. 1 John 3:14 confirms it: 'we know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers.'
Hebrews 11:29 — 'by faith the people crossed the Red Sea as on dry land' — names the avar of the exodus as a faith-act and a type of the believer's crossing through the trials of the world toward the promised inheritance.
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