H2524 H2524
Father-in-law (husband's father)
A kinship term specifically denoting the father of a woman's husband. All four biblical occurrences appear in narratives of family crisis: Judah is called Tamar's father-in-law in Genesis 38:13 and 38:25, while Eli is identified as the father-in-law of Phinehas's wife in 1 Samuel 4:19 and 4:21. The word is cognate with Arabic, Aramaic, Ethiopic, and Akkadian terms for the husband's male relative, underscoring a shared Semitic kinship vocabulary. German 'Schwiegervater' and Spanish 'suegro' both render it precisely.
Senses
1. sense 1 — The father of a woman's husband, a father-in-law on the husband's side. In Genesis 38 Judah stands in this relation to Tamar, and the narrative tension hinges on that bond of obligation. In 1 Samuel 4:19 and 4:21, Eli is identified by this term at the moment of his death, intensifying the pathos. The consistent rendering across languages—Spanish 'suegro,' German 'Schwiegervater,' French 'beau-père'—confirms a straightforward kinship denotation with no metaphorical extension. 4×
AR["حَمُوكِ", "حَمِيهَا"]·ben["তার-শ্বশুর", "তার-শ্বশুরের", "তোমার-শ্বশুর"]·DE["dein-Schwiegervater", "ihr-Vater-in-Gesetz", "ihrem-Schwiegervater"]·EN["father-in-law-her", "father-in-law-your", "her-father-in-law"]·FR["père-dans-loi-sa", "père-dans-loi-ton", "sa-père-dans-loi"]·heb["חמיה", "חמיה-ה", "חמיך-ך"]·HI["अपने-ससुर", "तेरा-ससुर", "ससुर-उसका"]·ID["mertua-mu", "mertua-nya", "mertuanya"]·IT["lei-padre-in-legge", "padre-in-legge-suo", "padre-in-legge-tuo"]·jav["marasepahipun", "marasepuhipun"]·KO["그녀의-시아버지에게", "그녀의-시아버지와", "당신의-시아버지가"]·PT["sogro-dela", "sogro-teu"]·RU["свёкор-твой", "свёкра-её", "свёкре-её", "свёкру-своему"]·ES["su-suegro", "suegro-de-ella", "suegro-de-ti"]·SW["baba-mkwe-wake", "baba-mkwe-wako"]·TR["kayınbaban", "kayınbabasına", "kayınbabasının"]·urd["سسر-اپنے-کے", "سسر-تیرا", "سسر-کے"]
Related Senses
H3808 1. simple negation (not) (4839×)G1722 1. locative: in, within (2442×)H1004b 1. house, dwelling, building (2015×)G3756 1. not (negation particle) (1635×)H4480a 1. source or separation (1198×)H5892b 1. city, town (1093×)G1519 1. direction: into, to, toward (1061×)H3427 1. Qal: to dwell, inhabit (937×)G1537 1. from, out of (source/origin) (886×)H8034 1. Name (designation / identifier) (856×)G3361 1. subjective negation (not) (834×)G1909 1. on, upon (spatial surface) (757×)H0369 1. existential negation: there is not (738×)H5869a 1. in the eyes/sight of (evaluative) (734×)H5650 1. Servant, attendant, subject (723×)H0408 1. prohibitive negation do-not (712×)G2443 1. so that, in order that (purpose/result) (665×)G0575 1. from (649×)G1223 1. through, by means of (582×)H3541 1. thus, so, in this manner (569×)
BDB / Lexicon Reference
† II. [חָם] n.m. husband’s father (NH id., of husband’s or wife’s father, so Aramaic חֲמָא; Arabic حَمٌّ husband’s male relation (father, brother, paternal uncle), but also wife’s father, etc.; Ethiopic ሐም Assyrian emu, ZimBP 48);—only sf. חָמִ֫יךָ Gn 38:13, 25, of Judah as Tamar’s father-in-law; חָמִ֫יהָ 1 S 4:19, 21 of Eli, father-in-law of Phinehas’ wife.