3 others in the registry answer to the name Joab. Every Joab in the Bible
person
Joab
יוֹאָב
Joab, David's nephew and commander of his army, was a key figure in David's reign, known for his military prowess and loyalty.
- verses
- 120
- first named
- 1 Samuel 26:6
- last named
- Psalms 60:1
- period
- United Monarchy
- tribe
- Judah
Description
Who was Joab?
Joab, the son of Zeruiah, was King David's nephew and the commander of his army. He first appears in 1Sa.26.6, accompanying David on a mission to Saul's camp. Joab played a significant role in David's rise to power and the establishment of his kingdom (2Sa.2-3; 8.16; 1Ch.11.6,8).
As a military commander, Joab led David's forces in various battles against the Ammonites, Syrians, and other enemies (2Sa.10; 12.26-27; 1Ch.19). He also helped quell Absalom's rebellion and was instrumental in defeating Sheba's revolt (2Sa.18; 20).
However, Joab's loyalty to David was sometimes overshadowed by his own ambition and ruthlessness. He killed Abner, Saul's former commander, in revenge for his brother Asahel's death (2Sa.3). He also disobeyed David's orders by killing Absalom (2Sa.18) and supported Adonijah's attempt to seize the throne (1Ki.1.7,19).
Despite his flaws, Joab remained a key figure in David's reign until the end. He was involved in the census that brought God's judgment upon Israel (2Sa.24; 1Ch.21) and was eventually killed by Benaiah on Solomon's orders for his support of Adonijah (1Ki.2.28-35).
Relations
Direct connections
Every entity the graph places in a stated relation with this one, grouped by the kind of link. Each relation is authored once and its inverse derived, so both ends always agree. Rows marked “registry” come from the identity spine rather than from a verse, and a row marked “which bearer is the source’s decision” is one where the name could have meant more than one person. The last group is not a relation at all — it counts the events two entities stand in together.
The 10 best-attested of 15 are drawn. All 15 are listed below.
Child of
- husband of Zeruiahregistry, no verse
- Zeruiahregistry2 Samuel 17:252 Samuel 2:132 Samuel 2:18 +11
Sibling of
Stands in the same events as
- David23 events
- Abishai12 events
- Abner10 events
- Jerusalem8 events
- Absalom8 events
- Benaiah8 events
- Solomon6 events
- Syria6 events
- Amasa6 events
- Israel5 events
- Rabbah4 events
- Edom3 events
and 46 more, ordered by how many events they share.
Places
Where this happens
The places the claims about this person reach, drawn where the gazetteer locates them. A point is where a row puts them and never where tradition does; no line joins two points, because the rows state where and not in what order.
The pattern
Where Joab is named
Every book of the corpus in the order it is read, each as wide as the chapters it holds. A bar is the verses of that book which write the name, and the flat stretches are as much of the answer as the bars.
120 verses across 5 of 66 books; 61 write the name nowhere. Named in 1 Samuel (1), 2 Samuel (84), 1 Kings (13), 1 Chronicles (21) and Psalms (1).
Read it
Where to read it
Every verse of the text carried here that names this entity — 120, across 5 books. The name is written 141 times in them.
1 Samuel1 verse
2 Samuel84 verses
2:132:142:182:222:242:262:272:282:302:323:223:233:243:263:273:293:303:318:1610:710:910:1310:1411:111:611:711:1111:1411:1611:1711:1811:2211:2512:2612:2714:114:214:314:1914:2014:2114:2214:2314:2914:3014:3114:3214:3317:2518:218:518:1018:1118:1218:1418:1518:1618:2018:2118:2218:2919:119:519:1320:720:820:920:1020:1120:1320:1520:1620:1720:2020:2120:2220:2323:1823:2423:3724:224:324:424:9
1 Kings13 verses
1 Chronicles21 verses
2:1611:611:811:2011:2611:3918:1519:819:1019:1419:1520:121:221:321:421:521:626:2827:727:2427:34
Psalms1 verse
Onward
Where this page goes
Not the direct relations above — these are one hop further out, ranked so that a rare shared connection outweighs a common one. Descriptions by STEPBible TIPNR.
Where they appear
Chapter by chapter
Atlas's reading of each chapter this person appears in, in canonical order. One line per chapter, and each leads to the whole of it.
- 2 Samuel 3Joab returns from a raid, recalls Abner, and kills him in the gateway at Hebron.
- 2 Samuel 8Joab son of Zeruiah was over David’s army.
- 2 Samuel 10Joab divided his troops between the Arameans and the Ammonites, advanced against the Arameans, and returned to Jerusalem.
- 2 Samuel 11Joab besieged the city, placed Uriah in the fiercest fighting, and sent David a full account of the battle.
- 2 Samuel 12Joab captured Rabbah’s water supply and urged David to take the city before it acquired Joab’s name.
- 2 Samuel 14Joab perceived David’s longing for Absalom, staged the widow’s appeal, brought Absalom back from Geshur, and finally came to the house whose barley had been burned.
- 2 Samuel 18Joab commanded a third of the army, refused to wait, killed Absalom, and stopped the pursuit.
- 2 Samuel 19Joab told David that his grief had disgraced the servants who had saved him and demanded that he go out to them.
9 more chapters, from 2 Samuel 20 to Psalms 60
- 2 Samuel 20Joab killed Amasa, pursued Sheba, negotiated with Abel-beth-maacah, and returned to David in Jerusalem.
- 2 Samuel 24Joab questions the census but carries out the king’s command across the land.
- 1 Kings 2Joab conspired with Adonijah, fled to the LORD’s tent, and refused to come out before Benaiah struck him down.
- 1 Kings 11Joab struck down every male in Edom and remained there with Israel for six months.
- 1 Chronicles 11Joab goes up first against the Jebusites, becomes chief commander, and restores the rest of Jerusalem.
- 1 Chronicles 20Joab led the army against the Ammonites, besieged Rabbah, and demolished it.
- 1 Chronicles 21Joab objected to the census, carried it out, omitted Levi and Benjamin, and reported the total to David.
- 1 Chronicles 27Joab began counting the men, did not finish, and remained commander of the king’s army.
- Psalms 60Joab returned and struck down 12,000 Edomites in the Valley of Salt.
Sources