StrongerBible

yeda

יְדַע

AramaicH3046“know, make known, ...”

Appears 47 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Ezr 4:12Ezr 4:13Ezr 4:14Ezr 4:15Ezr 4:16Ezr 5:8Ezr 5:10Ezr 7:24Ezr 7:25 (3×)Dan 2:5Dan 2:8Dan 2:9 (2×)Dan 2:15Dan 2:17Dan 2:21Dan 2:22Dan 2:23 (2×)Dan 2:25Dan 2:26Dan 2:28Dan 2:29Dan 2:30 (2×)Dan 2:45Dan 3:18Dan 4:6(3)Dan 4:7(4)Dan 4:9(6)Dan 4:17(14)Dan 4:18(15)Dan 4:25(22)Dan 4:26(23)Dan 4:32(29)Dan 5:8Dan 5:15Dan 5:16Dan 5:17Dan 5:21Dan 5:22Dan 5:23Dan 6:10(11)Dan 6:15(16)Dan 7:16
Word studyyeh-DAHverb

What yeda means

to know: to grasp what is real, and from there to make it known to others.

TranslatabilityPartialCertaintySettled

This is the everyday Aramaic word for knowing, found only in the Aramaic chapters of Daniel and Ezra. It covers the full reach of knowing: holding a plain fact, perceiving what others cannot, and recognizing the truth about God and his rule. In Daniel especially, knowing is the heart of the drama, because the king's wise men cannot know the dream while God reveals it to Daniel, and proud rulers are brought low until they know that the Most High governs every kingdom.

The same verb also reaches outward. When its form turns causative, it means to make someone else know: to inform, report, declare, or teach. Daniel makes known the king's dream and its meaning; officials send word to make a matter known to the king. Knowing and making known are two sides of one idea, which is why a single word carries both.

A third use is a fixed phrase of the royal court. In the official letters of Ezra, and once on the lips of the three young men before the furnace, a set form announces, "Let it be known to the king," stating plainly what the writer wants on the record. It is the same verb, settled into the language of decrees and petitions.

Nuances

1ato know, to be aware that something is so, to perceive or understand the truth, including the truth about who really rules.
Dan 2:8Dan 2:9 (2×)Dan 2:21Dan 2:22Dan 2:30 (2×)Dan 4:9(6)Dan 4:17(14)Dan 4:25(22)Dan 4:26(23)Dan 4:32(29)Dan 5:21Dan 5:22
1bto make known, to inform, report, declare, or teach: to cause someone else to know, often by revealing what was hidden.
Dan 2:5Dan 2:9 (2×)Dan 2:15Dan 2:17Dan 2:23 (2×)Dan 2:25Dan 2:26Dan 2:28Dan 2:29Dan 2:30 (2×)Dan 2:45Dan 4:6(3)
1cbe it known: the fixed court phrase "let it be known to the king," stating something for the record in an official letter or declaration.
Ezr 4:12Ezr 4:13Ezr 5:8Dan 3:18

What scholars say about yeda

The Biblical Aramaic verb is the cognate of Hebrew ydʿ and is the ordinary G-stem verb "to know," with a causative (haphel/aphel) "to make known, inform" and a passive participle (peil) yĕdîaʿ used in the formulaic yĕdîaʿ lehĕwēʾ "be it known." Standard treatments (HALOT Aramaic section; BDB Aramaic lexicon; the grammars of Bauer-Leander and Rosenthal, A Grammar of Biblical Aramaic) catalogue the stems and read the causative and passive as derived voices of one verb rather than separate roots. The concentration of the verb in the dream and revelation narratives of Daniel and in the chancellery letters of Ezra accounts for its strong thematic weight in those books.

Sources

  • HALOT, Aramaic section, s.v. ידעlexicon
  • BDB, Aramaic lexicon, s.v. ידעlexicon
  • Franz Rosenthal, A Grammar of Biblical Aramaicgrammar

AI-generated word study · claude-opus-4-8

All attested forms of יְדַע

haphel infinitive-construct construct

לְהוֹדָעֻתַ, לְהוֹדָעָה, לְהוֹדָעוּתָ

Dan 2:26, Dan 4:18, Dan 5:15, Dan 5:16, Dan 5:8, Ezr 5:10

haphel perfect 3ms

הוֹדַע, הוֹדְעָ, וְהוֹדַע

Dan 2:15, Dan 2:17, Dan 2:45, Dan 2:29, Dan 2:28

peal imperfect 2ms

תִּנְדַּע

Dan 2:30, Dan 4:25, Dan 4:26, Dan 4:32

peil participle m s absolute

יְדִיעַ

Ezr 4:12, Ezr 4:13, Ezr 5:8, Dan 3:18

haphel imperfect 2mp

תְהוֹדְעוּנַּ, תְּהוֹדְעוּן, תְהוֹדְעֻנַּ

Dan 2:5, Ezr 7:25, Dan 2:9

haphel participle m p absolute

מְהוֹדְעִין

Ezr 4:16, Ezr 7:24, Dan 4:7

peal participle m s absolute

יָדַע

Ezr 7:25, Dan 2:8, Dan 2:22

haphel imperfect 3mp

יְהוֹדְעוּן, יְהוֹדְעֻנַּ

Dan 2:30, Dan 4:6

haphel imperfect 3ms

יְהוֹדַע, יְהוֹדְעִנַּ

Dan 2:25, Dan 7:16

haphel perfect 2ms

הוֹדַעְתֶּ, הוֹדַעְתַּ

Dan 2:23, Dan 2:23

peal participle m p construct

יָדְעֵי

Ezr 7:25, Dan 2:21

peal perfect 3ms

יְדַע

Dan 5:21, Dan 6:10

haphel imperfect 1cs

אֲהוֹדְעִנֵּ

Dan 5:17

haphel perfect 1cp

וְהוֹדַעְנָא

Ezr 4:14

peal conjunctive-imperfect 1cs

וְאִנְדַּע

Dan 2:9

peal conjunctive-imperfect 2ms

וְתִנְדַּע

Ezr 4:15

peal imperative 2ms

דַּע

Dan 6:15

peal imperfect 3mp

יִנְדְּעוּן

Dan 4:17

peal participle m p absolute

יָדְעִין

Dan 5:23

peal perfect 1cs

יִדְעֵת

Dan 4:9

peal perfect 2ms

יְדַעְתָּ

Dan 5:22