What does יָדָה (yadah) mean in the Bible?
יָדָה has a complex lexical range. In the Hiphil it commonly means to give thanks, praise, confess, or acknowledge; other stem uses can concern throwing or shooting.
Hebrew · H3034
יָדָה
Physically, to throw (a stone, an arrow) at or away; especially to revere or worship (with extended hands); intensively, to bemoan (by wringing the hands)
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יָדָה H3034
Pronunciation yadah
What does יָדָה (yadah) mean in the Bible?
יָדָה has a complex lexical range. In the Hiphil it commonly means to give thanks, praise, confess, or acknowledge; other stem uses can concern throwing or shooting.
Reader summary
Full entry for יָדָה (H3034) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render H3034?
The BSB source-word alignment has 114 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include Give thanks (14), I will praise You (8), and confess (5), praise You (5), I will praise (4).
Where does יָדָה (yadah) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 29:35. Its strongest book concentrations include Psalms (67), 1 Chronicles (9), 2 Chronicles (8), Nehemiah (6).
What This Word Actually Means
יָדָה has a complex lexical range. In the Hiphil it commonly means to give thanks, praise, confess, or acknowledge; other stem uses can concern throwing or shooting. The local Hebrew index currently counts about 114 occurrences, many in the Psalms. Lexicographers discuss how these senses and roots relate, so the claim that praise literally means “extending the hand” should not be treated as settled etymology.
Thanksgiving and confession both use the Hiphil verb in different contexts. Psalm 107:1 calls worshipers to give thanks to the Lord for his goodness and steadfast love. Ezra and Nehemiah use confession language as the people acknowledge sin. The shared verb permits the broad gloss “acknowledge,” but it does not prove that thanksgiving and confession are psychologically the same act or that their semantic overlap was intentionally designed as a theological lesson.
Genesis 29:35 explicitly connects Leah’s naming of Judah with her declaration that she will praise or thank the Lord. That narrative wordplay is important, and Judah later becomes the tribe associated with David and the Messiah. The text does not therefore call Judah “the tribe of praise” as a doctrinal title or say that a people of יָדָה become the vessel through whom salvation comes.
For teaching, יָדָה gives language for truthful, public acknowledgment of God’s character and works and for honest confession of sin. The passage determines which sense is active, the object of acknowledgment, and the relation to worship, repentance, or communal testimony.
Lexical sourcelocal_artifactPassage contextCanonical parallelPastoral application
How the Bible Uses It
יָדָה appears about 114 times in the local Hebrew index, overwhelmingly in the Psalms, in three primary registers: (1) the acknowledgment/thanksgiving directed toward God for his character and deeds (Ps 107:1, 136:1); (2) public declaration of praise in the worshipping assembly (Ps 42:5, Ps 138:1-2); (3) the confession of sin as acknowledgment of what is true about oneself before God (Ezra 10:1, Neh 9:2-3). All three registers share the structure of acknowledgment — recognizing and declaring what is true about God or about oneself.
- Ps.107.1
Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His loving devotion endures forever.
The Psalter's most concentrated thanksgiving formula uses יָדָה in the hiphil imperative. The formula 'give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love (חֶסֶד) endures forever' appears at the head of Psalm 107 and throughout Psalm 136 (which uses it as a refrain after each recitation of God's mighty acts). The structure is significant: the thanksgiving is grounded ('for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever').
יָדָה is not a free-floating feeling of gratitude but a grounded acknowledgment of what God has shown himself to be. The 'forever' (לְעוֹלָם) qualifier sets the scope: the steadfast love that grounds the thanksgiving is not circumstantial but enduring.
- Ps.138.1
I give You thanks with all my heart; before the gods I sing Your praises.
David's personal יָדָה uses two qualifiers that expand the word's range. 'With my whole heart' (בְּכָל-לִבִּי) sets the depth: יָדָה is not a partial or formal acknowledgment but the engagement of the entire inner person. 'Before the gods' (נֶגֶד אֱלֹהִים) sets the public character: this thanksgiving is made in the hearing of whatever powers might contest it.
The Psalms' יָדָה is consistently public and communal — it is declaration before an audience, not private sentiment. David's whole-heart יָדָה is the polar opposite of the grudging acknowledgment or the pro forma thanks — it is the full engagement of the person with the truth being acknowledged.
- Gen.29.35
And once more she conceived and gave birth to a son and said, “This time I will praise the Lord.” So she named him Judah. Then Leah stopped having children.
The naming of יְהוּדָה (Judah) roots יָדָה in the family narrative of the patriarchs. Leah's declaration at the birth of her fourth son — 'this time I will יָדָה the Lord' — etymologizes the name of the tribe from which David and ultimately the Messiah descend. The tribe of יְהוּדָה is the tribe of יָדָה — the tribe of praise and acknowledgment. This is not merely wordplay: it establishes that the royal and messianic line is named for the praise that is the proper response to God's gift of life.
The Messianic tribe is the praise tribe.
- Ps.32.5
Then I acknowledged my sin to You and did not hide my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and You forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah
Psalm 32's confession uses יָדָה (hiphil, 'to acknowledge/confess') for the act of naming one's sin before God. The same verb that names thankful praise also names confession of sin — because both are acts of acknowledgment, of saying what is true. 'I acknowledged my sin to you' and 'I will confess my transgressions to the Lord' are two expressions of the same יָדָה act: the declaration of what is true, whether what is true is God's goodness or the worshipper's failure.
The result in this verse is immediate: 'and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.' Confession as יָדָה is addressed by God's forgiveness — acknowledgment of sin is met with acknowledgment of grace.
Source Word Evidence
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders It Give thanks 14× 1 Chronicles 16:8, 1 Chronicles 16:34, 2 Chronicles 20:21, Psalms 100:4
I will praise You 8× 2 Samuel 22:50, Psalms 18:49, Psalms 52:9, Psalms 57:9
and confess 5× Leviticus 16:21, 1 Kings 8:33, 1 Kings 8:35, 2 Chronicles 6:24
praise You 5× Psalms 30:9, Psalms 67:3, Psalms 67:5
I will praise 4× Genesis 29:35, Psalms 43:4, Psalms 54:6, Isaiah 25:1
Let them give thanks 4× Psalms 107:8, Psalms 107:15, Psalms 107:21, Psalms 107:31
to give thanks 4× 1 Chronicles 16:4, 1 Chronicles 16:41, 1 Chronicles 23:30, Psalms 122:4
and thanksgiving 3× Ezra 3:11, Nehemiah 12:24, Nehemiah 12:46
I will give thanks 3× Psalms 9:1, Psalms 30:12, Psalms 111:1
praise Him 3× Psalms 42:5, Psalms 42:11, Psalms 43:5
and confessed 2× Nehemiah 9:2, Daniel 9:4
and give thanks 2× Psalms 118:19, Psalms 138:2
and praise 2× Psalms 30:4, Psalms 97:12
for giving thanks 2× 2 Chronicles 7:6, 2 Chronicles 31:2
I will thank 2× Psalms 7:17, Psalms 109:30
Praise 2× Psalms 33:2, Psalms 89:5
shall praise you 2× Genesis 49:8, Psalms 76:10
that we may give thanks 2× 1 Chronicles 16:35, Psalms 106:47
We give thanks 2× Psalms 75:1
will give You thanks 2× Psalms 138:4, Psalms 145:10
will praise you 2× Psalms 45:17, Psalms 71:22
[and] throw down 1× Zechariah 1:21
[this song] of thanksgiving 1× 1 Chronicles 16:7
and cast 1× Lamentations 3:53
and gave thanks 1× 2 Chronicles 7:3
and giving thanks 1× 2 Chronicles 30:22
and I give thanks to Him 1× Psalms 28:7
and I will give You thanks 1× Psalms 118:28
and made this confession 1× Ezra 10:1
and men praise 1× Psalms 49:18
and must confess 1× Numbers 5:7
and thank 1× 2 Chronicles 5:13
But if they will confess 1× Leviticus 26:40
but whoever confesses 1× Proverbs 28:13
can praise 1× Psalms 6:5
can thank You 1× Isaiah 38:19
confessing 1× Daniel 9:20
Give praise 1× Isaiah 12:4
give You thanks 1× 1 Chronicles 29:13
giving thanks 1× 1 Chronicles 25:3
he must confess 1× Leviticus 5:5
I confess 1× Nehemiah 1:6
I give You thanks 1× Psalms 138:1
I praise 1× Psalms 139:14
I will confess 1× Psalms 32:5
I will give You thanks 1× Psalms 118:21
in confession 1× Nehemiah 9:3
in thanksgiving 1× Nehemiah 11:17
Let them praise 1× Psalms 99:3
Shoot 1× Jeremiah 50:14
thank You 1× Isaiah 38:18
that I may praise 1× Psalms 142:7
Then I will give You thanks 1× Psalms 35:18
to give You thanks 1× Psalms 119:62
to praise 1× Psalms 92:1
to praise You 1× Psalms 88:10
we will praise 1× Psalms 44:8
will confess to you 1× Job 40:14
will praise 1× Psalms 140:13
will thank 1× Psalms 79:13
Show sample aligned rows
Genesis 29:35 אוֹדֶ֣ה to I will praise Verb - Hifil - Imperfect - first person common singular Genesis 49:8 יוֹד֣וּךָ to shall praise you Verb - Hifil - Imperfect - third person masculine plural | second person masculine singular Leviticus 5:5 וְהִ֨תְוַדָּ֔ה to he must confess Conjunctive waw | Verb - Hitpael - Conjunctive perfect - third person masculine singular Leviticus 16:21 וְהִתְוַדָּ֣ה to and confess Conjunctive waw | Verb - Hitpael - Conjunctive perfect - third person masculine singular Leviticus 26:40 וְהִתְוַדּ֤וּ to But if they will confess Conjunctive waw | Verb - Hitpael - Conjunctive perfect - third person common plural Numbers 5:7 וְהִתְוַדּ֗וּ to and must confess Conjunctive waw | Verb - Hitpael - Conjunctive perfect - third person common plural 2 Samuel 22:50 אוֹדְךָ֥ to I will praise You Verb - Hifil - Imperfect - first person common singular | second person masculine singular 1 Kings 8:33 וְהוֹד֣וּ to and confess Conjunctive waw | Verb - Hifil - Conjunctive perfect - third person common plural 1 Kings 8:35 וְהוֹד֣וּ to and confess Conjunctive waw | Verb - Hifil - Conjunctive perfect - third person common plural 1 Chronicles 16:4 וּלְהוֹד֣וֹת to to give thanks Conjunctive waw, Preposition-l | Verb - Hifil - Infinitive construct
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned row Genesis 29:35
Aligned rows 114
Books represented 17
Genesis 2 Leviticus 3 Numbers 1 2 Samuel 1 1 Kings 2 1 Chronicles 9 2 Chronicles 8 Ezra 2 Nehemiah 6 Job 1 Psalms 67 Proverbs 1 Isaiah 5 Jeremiah 2 Lamentations 1 Daniel 2 Zechariah 1
Source forms
הוֹד֣וּ 7x hō·w·ḏū 2 Chronicles 20:21, Psalms 33:2, Psalms 105:1, Psalms 106:1
יוֹד֣וּ 6x yō·w·ḏū Psalms 99:3, Psalms 107:8, Psalms 107:15, Psalms 107:21
אוֹדֶ֣ה 5x ’ō·w·ḏeh Genesis 29:35, Psalms 7:17, Psalms 9:1, Psalms 111:1
וְהוֹד֣וּ 4x wə·hō·w·ḏū 1 Kings 8:33, 1 Kings 8:35, 2 Chronicles 6:24, 2 Chronicles 6:26
אוֹדְךָ֖ 3x ’ō·wḏ·ḵā Psalms 18:49, Psalms 57:9, Psalms 108:3
א֭וֹדְךָ 3x ’ō·wḏ·ḵā Psalms 35:18, Psalms 118:21, Psalms 119:7
אוֹדְךָ֣ 3x ’ō·wḏ·ḵā Psalms 52:9, Psalms 71:22, Isaiah 12:1
הוֹד֤וּ 3x hō·w·ḏū 1 Chronicles 16:8, 1 Chronicles 16:34, Isaiah 12:4
Parsing patterns
Verb - Hifil - Imperative - masculine plural 16x 1 Chronicles 16:8, 1 Chronicles 16:34, 2 Chronicles 20:21, Psalms 33:2
Verb - Hifil - Imperfect Cohortative if contextual - first person common singular | second person masculine singular 13x Psalms 18:49, Psalms 30:12, Psalms 35:18, Psalms 52:9
Preposition-l | Verb - Hifil - Infinitive construct 11x 1 Chronicles 16:7, 1 Chronicles 16:35, 1 Chronicles 16:41, 1 Chronicles 23:30
Verb - Hifil - Imperfect - third person masculine plural | second person masculine singular 9x Genesis 49:8, Psalms 45:17, Psalms 67:3, Psalms 67:5
Verb - Hifil - Imperfect Cohortative if contextual - first person common singular 8x Psalms 7:17, Psalms 9:1, Psalms 32:5, Psalms 54:6
Verb - Hifil - Imperfect - third person masculine plural 6x Psalms 99:3, Psalms 107:8, Psalms 107:15, Psalms 107:21
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Hifil - Conjunctive perfect - third person common plural 4x 1 Kings 8:33, 1 Kings 8:35, 2 Chronicles 6:24, 2 Chronicles 6:26
Conjunctive waw, Preposition-l | Verb - Hifil - Infinitive construct 3x 1 Chronicles 16:4, 2 Chronicles 5:13, 2 Chronicles 31:2
Using This Word Well
Be careful not to...
- יָדָה holds thanksgiving and confession together as the same act of honest acknowledgment. Both are about saying what is true: thanksgiving says 'God's goodness is real, his steadfast love is real'; confession says 'my sin is real, my failure is real.' The connection matters for pastoral practice: the person who cannot confess and the person who cannot give thanks may be struggling with the same underlying difficulty — the resistance to honest acknowledgment of what is true.
Avoid claiming...
- Do not claim that יָדָה-based thanksgiving is purely emotional or spontaneous. The Psalms' יָדָה is structured, grounded, and communal — 'give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.' The thanksgiving has content (God's goodness and steadfast love) and a setting (the worshipping assembly). Emotionally genuine thanksgiving and theologically grounded thanksgiving are not opposites.
- Do not claim that יָדָה-thanksgiving in the Psalms requires positive emotional experience as a precondition. Psalm 107 calls those who have come through disaster, sickness, imprisonment, and storm to give יָדָה — the thanksgiving follows God's deliverance, but the structure of the Psalms shows that יָדָה can be voiced from within the trouble as well (Ps 28:7, 71:22). The practice of יָדָה is not contingent on first feeling grateful.
Evidence Summary
Hebrew word. Physical throwing gesture transforms into worship: extended hands confess, praise, and give thanks to God.
Strong's H3034
Lexical occurrences 114 verses Word forms 3 forms 41 references Verse guides 0 guides
Study link Nehemiah 9:1-5 Source Gloss
physically, to throw (a stone, an arrow) at or away; especially to revere or worship (with extended hands); intensively, to bemoan (by wringing the hands)
Extended definition Source: Open Scriptures Hebrew Lexicon + Brown-Driver-Briggs
Physical throwing gesture transforms into worship: extended hands confess, praise, and give thanks to God.
physically, to throw (a stone, an arrow) at or away; especially to revere or worship (with extended hands); intensively, to bemoan (by wringing the hands) BDB: throw Usage: cast (out), (make) confess(-ion), praise, shoot, (give) thank(-ful, -s, -sgiving).
Grammatical Forms
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.
Form groups 3 Aligned forms 41
Hiphil causative active — the subject causes someone else to perform the action 39×
Sequential imperfect 1Chr 16:8 · 1Chr 16:34 · 2Chr 20:21 · Isa 12:4 · Jer 33:11 · Ps 33:2 · Ps 100:4 · Ps 105:1 · Ps 106:1 · Ps 107:1 · Ps 118:1 · Ps 118:29 · Ps 136:1 · Ps 136:2 · Ps 136:3 · Ps 136:26 16×
Imperfect Gen 29:35 · Isa 25:1 · Ps 7:18 · Ps 9:2 · Ps 32:5 · Ps 54:8 · Ps 109:30 · Ps 111:1 · Ps 118:19 · Neh 11:17 · Ps 6:6 · Ps 99:3 · Ps 140:14 · Ps 79:13 14×
Jussive Ps 107:8 · Ps 107:15 · Ps 107:21 · Ps 107:31 4×
Perfect Ps 75:2 2×
Infinitive construct 1Chr 25:3 1×
Participle active 1Chr 29:13 1×
Cohortative Ps 44:9 1×
Qal basic active stem — the word in its most common, direct sense 1×
Sequential imperfect Jer 50:14 1×
Hithpael reflexive or reciprocal — the subject acts on itself or mutually with others 1×
Participle active Neh 9:3 1×
Selected Scripture Witness
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Old Testament Witnesses
To acknowledge or confess openly.
Showing 1 selected witness from 114 lexical occurrence verses.
Word Origins
Why This Word Matters
Confession publicly acknowledges covenant failure and magnifies God’s righteousness. Nehemiah 9:1-5
Canonical Themes
Part of These Phrases
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
For the Preacher and Teacher
יָדָה can name thanksgiving, praise, confession, or acknowledgment in its Hiphil uses. That range allows teachers to compare worship that tells the truth about God with confession that tells the truth about sin. It should remain a comparison grounded in actual passages rather than a claim that Hebrew grammar makes the two acts identical or that one hidden “hand motion” explains both.
Psalm 107 and 136 repeatedly call Israel to thank the Lord for his enduring steadfast love. Penitential settings use the verb for confession. Psalm 32 includes acknowledgment and confession vocabulary as the psalmist stops concealing sin and receives forgiveness. These texts support honest speech before God, while forgiveness rests on God’s promise and mercy rather than on the lexical act as a mechanism.
Leah’s naming of Judah supplies a real narrative connection between the tribal name and praise. Later messianic history should be traced through Genesis 49, the Davidic covenant, and the New Testament’s identification of Jesus, not inferred from the etymology as though the “praise tribe” necessarily produced the Messiah.
Anchor passage
Ps.107.1
Doctrinal connections
- H7812 שָׁחָה — to bow down/worship; the prostration verb that expresses the posture of which יָדָה is the verbal declaration; together they cover the full OT worship act; Session 156 pair
- H2617 חֶסֶד — steadfast love/lovingkindness; the most frequent object and motivation of יָדָה in the Psalms; 'give thanks because his steadfast love endures forever'
- H1984 הָלַל — to praise, to boast in; the other major praise verb in the Psalms; הָלַל tends toward exuberant public celebration, יָדָה toward acknowledgment of what God has done
- H3063 יְהוּדָה — Judah; the proper name derived from יָדָה; the praise-tribe that becomes the messianic lineage
- G1843 ἐξομολογέω — to confess, to acknowledge; the LXX and NT word that carries יָדָה's range of both thanksgiving and confession (Matt 3:6, Rom 14:11, Phil 2:11)
- Psalm 136 — the sustained יָדָה psalm; 26 refrains of 'for his steadfast love endures forever' after each act of God
- Romans 14:11 — 'every tongue shall confess (ἐξομολογήσεται) to God'; NT יָדָה applied eschatologically to every knee and tongue
In the Hiphil, יָדָה commonly covers giving thanks, praising, confessing, or acknowledging. Other stem uses concern throwing or shooting, and lexicographic treatments may distinguish or relate those senses in different ways. A direct derivation from יָד, “hand,” and the image of extending or pointing the hand are uncertain and should not be presented as the verb’s underlying meaning.
The word family includes תּוֹדָה (H8426), thanksgiving or a thank offering, and Genesis 29:35 supplies an explicit narrative wordplay with the name Judah. The Septuagint often uses ἐξομολογέω for thanksgiving or confession, but translation choices vary by context.
From Old to New Testament
Romans 14:11 quotes the Greek form of Isaiah 45:23, where the Septuagint uses ἐξομολογέω for every tongue acknowledging God. The underlying Hebrew verb in Isaiah 45:23 is שָׁבַע (H7650), to swear, not H3034. Philippians 2:10-11 echoes the universal bowing and confessing pattern and applies it to Jesus’ lordship. These are important canonical and Septuagint connections, but they are not direct quotations of a Hebrew יָדָה occurrence.
New Testament thanksgiving uses εὐχαριστέω and related terms in its own contexts, continuing Israel’s practice of giving thanks without requiring a one-to-one lexical lineage.
Lexical sourceCanonical parallelPassage contextPastoral applicationEditorial synthesis
Sources
MorphGNT Strong's Dictionary XML — CC0 1.0 Public Domain
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible (morphhb/OSHB) — CC BY 4.0
Open Scriptures Hebrew Lexicon — CC BY 4.0
Berean Standard Bible (BSB) source-word alignment - CC0 Public Domain