StrongerBible

atah

אָתָה

HebrewH0857come, bring, ...

Appears 21 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Deu 33:2Deu 33:21Job 3:25Job 16:22Job 30:14Job 37:22Psa 68:31(32)Pro 1:27Isa 21:12 (2×)Isa 21:14Isa 41:5Isa 41:23Isa 41:25Isa 44:7Isa 45:11Isa 56:9Isa 56:12Jer 3:22Jer 12:9Mic 4:8
Root family
Word studyah-TAHverb

What atah means

to come, to arrive; a rare, poetic word for coming, and in its causative use, to bring.

TranslatabilityApproximateCertaintySettled

This is a poetic, somewhat old-fashioned word for coming or arriving. Hebrew already had an everyday, extremely common verb for coming and going (בּוֹא); this one is its rarer cousin, appearing almost entirely in poetry and prophecy, in books like Job and Isaiah and the Psalms, and in old poems such as the blessing of Moses.

The single idea of coming or arriving stretches naturally across everything the word describes. A person, a people, or God can "come"; a morning, a stretch of years, or a dreaded day can "come"; trouble and terror can "come upon" someone; and "the things to come" are simply the future events that arrive in their time. English does the same thing with the word "come," which is why translations almost always render it that way.

In its causative use the word means "to bring," that is, to make something come: bringing water to the thirsty, or summoning wild animals to gather. This is not a second word but the same verb, aimed at causing the arrival rather than doing it.

It is also the same word as the ordinary Aramaic verb for coming used in Daniel and Ezra, and it has close relatives in other Semitic languages. That foreign, elevated flavor is part of why a poet reached for it instead of the common verb.

Nuances

1ato come, to arrive: of a person, a people, or God drawing near, including the summons "come!"
TranslatabilityDirect
Deu 33:2Deu 33:21Psa 68:31(32)Isa 21:12 (2×)Isa 41:5Isa 41:25Isa 56:9Isa 56:12Jer 3:22
1bto come, to come upon: of time, events, the future, or calamity arriving, as when the morning comes, the years come, or dread comes upon someone.
Job 3:25Job 16:22Job 30:14Job 37:22Pro 1:27Isa 21:12 (2×)Isa 41:23Isa 44:7Isa 45:11Mic 4:8
1cto bring: to cause something or someone to come.
TranslatabilityDirect
Isa 21:14Jer 12:9

What scholars say about atah

The standard lexicons (BDB, HALOT, DCH) treat אתה as a distinct verb meaning "to come," a poetic and largely later byform alongside the far more frequent בוא. It clusters in poetry and prophecy: Job, Isaiah (especially chapters 21 and 40 to 45), the Psalms, and the archaic blessing of Deuteronomy 33. It is cognate with the ordinary Aramaic verb for coming (attested in Daniel and Ezra) and with Arabic 'atā, which accounts for its elevated, foreign feel in Hebrew. The causative stem yields the transitive sense "to bring." There is no live disagreement about the word's meaning; the theological dictionaries note only its poetic distribution and its semantic overlap with בוא.

Sources

  • BDB (Brown-Driver-Briggs), s.v. אתהlexicon
  • HALOT (Koehler-Baumgartner), s.v. אתהlexicon
  • DCH (Clines, ed.), s.v. אתהlexicon
  • TWOT (Harris, Archer, Waltke, eds.), s.v. אתהdictionary

All attested forms of אָתָה

qal consecutive-imperfect 3ms

וַיַּאת, וַיֶּאֱתָיֵ, וַיֵּתֵא

Isa 41:25, Job 3:25, Deu 33:21

qal imperative 2mp

אֵתָיוּ

Isa 21:12, Isa 56:9, Isa 56:12

qal imperfect 3mp

יֶאֱתָיוּ

Job 16:22, Job 30:14, Psa 68:31

qal participle f p absolute

אֹתִיּוֹת

Isa 41:23, Isa 44:7, Isa 45:11

hiphil imperative 2mp

הֵתָיוּ

Isa 21:14, Jer 12:9

qal imperfect 3ms

יֶאֱתֶה

Job 37:22, Pro 1:27

qal consecutive-imperfect 3mp

וַיֶּאֱתָיוּ

Isa 41:5

qal consecutive-perfect 3ms

וְאָתָה

Deu 33:2

qal imperfect 3fs

תֵּאתֶה

Mic 4:8

qal perfect 1cp

אָתָנוּ

Jer 3:22

qal perfect 3ms

אָתָה

Isa 21:12