StrongerBible

yehav

יְהַב

AramaicH3052give, deliver, ...

Appears 28 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Ezr 4:20Ezr 5:12Ezr 5:14Ezr 5:16Ezr 6:4Ezr 6:8Ezr 6:9Ezr 7:19Dan 2:21Dan 2:23Dan 2:37Dan 2:38Dan 2:48Dan 3:28Dan 4:16(13)Dan 5:17Dan 5:18Dan 5:19Dan 5:28Dan 6:2(3)Dan 7:4Dan 7:6Dan 7:11Dan 7:12Dan 7:14Dan 7:22Dan 7:25Dan 7:27
Word studyyeh-HAHVverb

What yehav means

to give: to hand something over to another, whether as a gift granted, a charge delivered into someone's power, a foundation laid, or a payment made

TranslatabilityPartialCertaintySettled

This is the ordinary Aramaic word for giving, and it stretches across the whole idea of handing something over. In the Aramaic chapters of Daniel and Ezra it is the word for God granting a king his throne, for a ruler handing out gifts, and for wisdom being given to those who ask for it.

The same verb reaches well beyond simple presents. To give a kingdom into someone's hand is to deliver it into their power; to give the foundations of a temple is to lay them; to give the king's revenue is to pay it out. English needs a different word for each of these, but the original uses one verb whose core is always the transfer of something from one party to another.

Many of its appearances take the form "it was given": a human heart given to a beast, dominion given to a kingdom, judgment given to God's holy people. Taken together, these verses quietly insist that thrones, empires, and even the final verdict of history are handed out by a higher hand, not seized.

Nuances

1ato grant or bestow: to give someone a gift, a rank, or a quality such as wisdom
Dan 2:21Dan 2:23Dan 2:37Dan 2:48Dan 5:17Dan 5:18Dan 5:19Dan 7:4Dan 7:6Dan 7:12Dan 7:14Dan 7:22
1bto give over: to hand a person, a kingdom, or a thing into another's power or to a fate
Ezr 5:12Ezr 5:14Ezr 7:19Dan 2:38Dan 3:28Dan 5:28Dan 7:11Dan 7:25
1cto set or lay: to put a foundation in place
Ezr 5:16
1dto pay or supply: to hand over dues, tribute, expenses, or provisions
Ezr 4:20Ezr 6:4Ezr 6:8Ezr 6:9
1eto render an account: to give a report to those set over you
Dan 6:2(3)

What scholars say about yehav

The standard Aramaic lexica (HALOT; BDB, Aramaic section) treat יהב as a single verb "to give," with the contextual nuances "set, lay" (Ezra 5:16) and "pay" (Ezra 4:20; 6:4-9) falling under the same root, alongside the well-known idiom of giving "into the hand" for delivering into another's power. In Biblical Aramaic יהב is the ordinary verb for giving, whereas in Hebrew its cognate is largely restricted to the imperative and to poetry, with נתן supplying the rest of the paradigm; the two are effectively suppletive. The theme forms are unremarkable: peal for the active, and peil together with the reflexive-passive stems for "be given," which accounts for the many passive occurrences in Daniel 7. No sense of the word is in live scholarly dispute.

Sources

  • HALOT (Koehler-Baumgartner), Aramaic section, s.v. יהבlexicon
  • BDB, Aramaic Lexicon, s.v. יהבlexicon
  • Franz Rosenthal, A Grammar of Biblical Aramaic (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz)grammar

All attested forms of יְהַב

peal perfect 3ms

יְהַב

Ezr 5:12, Ezr 5:16, Dan 2:37, Dan 2:38, Dan 2:48, Dan 5:18, Dan 5:19

peil perfect 3fs

וִיהִיבַת, יְהִיבַת

Dan 5:28, Dan 7:11, Dan 7:12, Dan 7:27

peil perfect 3ms

יְהִיב, יְהִב

Dan 7:4, Dan 7:6, Dan 7:14, Dan 7:22

hitpael participle m s absolute

מִתְיְהֵב

Ezr 4:20, Ezr 6:9

hitpael conjunctive-imperfect 3mp

וְיִתְיַהֲבוּן

Dan 7:25

hitpael imperfect 2ms

תִּתְיְהִב

Ezr 6:4

hitpael imperfect 3ms

יִתְיְהִב

Dan 4:16

hitpael participle f s absolute

מִתְיַהֲבָא

Ezr 6:8

hitpael participle m p absolute

מִתְיַהֲבִין

Ezr 7:19

peal imperative 2ms

הַב

Dan 5:17

peal participle m p absolute

יָהֲבִין

Dan 6:2

peal participle m s absolute

יָהֵב

Dan 2:21

peal perfect 2ms

יְהַבְתְּ

Dan 2:23

peal perfect 3mp

וִיהַבוּ

Dan 3:28

peil perfect 3mp

וִיהִיבוּ

Ezr 5:14