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 is the verb behind 'praise the Lord' in the Psalms — but its range is wider than English praise covers, and the width is theologically essential. The hiphil form (the most common) means to give thanks, to praise, to confess, to acknowledge.
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Full entry for יָדָה (H3034) · Open the biblical lexicon
יָדָה is the verb behind 'praise the Lord' in the Psalms — but its range is wider than English praise covers, and the width is theologically essential. The hiphil form (the most common) means to give thanks, to praise, to confess, to acknowledge.
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).
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).
יָדָה is the verb behind 'praise the Lord' in the Psalms — but its range is wider than English praise covers, and the width is theologically essential. The hiphil form (the most common) means to give thanks, to praise, to confess, to acknowledge. BDB identifies the range: in the hiphil, to throw/cast, and derivatively, to give thanks, to praise, to confess. The same verb that means to give thanks also means to confess sins — and that overlap is not accidental.
Both thanksgiving and confession are acts of יָדָה: acknowledgment of the truth about another or about oneself. To יָדָה God for his deeds is to acknowledge what he has done. To יָדָה one's sins is to acknowledge what one has done. The verb's root appears to be related to the hand (יָד), giving the underlying sense of 'to extend the hand toward, to acknowledge, to point to.'
יָדָה appears about 114 times in the local Hebrew index, concentrated overwhelmingly in the Psalms. The verb is the source of the name יְהוּדָה (Judah) — when Leah gives birth to her fourth son she says, 'this time I will praise the Lord' and calls his name יְהוּדָה (Gen 29:35). The tribe of praise is the tribe of David and the tribe of the Messiah. The Psalms' most common form of יָדָה is the hiphil imperative in the call to worship: 'give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever' (Ps 107:1, 136:1).
This formula pairs יָדָה with חֶסֶד (H2617, steadfast love) as its object and motivation: we give thanks because of what God has shown himself to be. The acknowledgment of God's character is the ground of all יָדָה.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Hebrew word. Physical throwing gesture transforms into worship: extended hands confess, praise, and give thanks to God.
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).
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.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 1 selected witness from 114 lexical occurrence verses.
Confession publicly acknowledges covenant failure and magnifies God’s righteousness. Nehemiah 9:1-5
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
יָדָה is the word that holds thanksgiving and confession together as the same act. English separates them: we give thanks in one moment, we confess in another. But Hebrew uses the same verb for both, and the unity is not an accident. Both thanksgiving and confession are acknowledgments of what is true. Thanksgiving says: what God has done is real, his steadfast love is real, his goodness is real — and I am naming it as real.
Confession says: what I have done is real, my sin is real, my failure is real — and I am naming it as real. יָדָה is the act of honest acknowledgment, whether the truth being acknowledged is God's character or one's own. The Psalm 32 sequence shows what this looks like in practice: David hid his sin (silence, cover, בָּשַׁשׁ), and his bones wasted. When he יָדָה — when he named it, acknowledged it, declared it true — God forgave.
The act of יָדָה toward God's goodness and the act of יָדָה toward one's own sin are the same motion of the soul: turning toward truth instead of away from it. The Judah connection — the tribe of יָדָה becomes the tribe of the Messiah — carries its own pastoral weight. The praise-tribe is the tribe through whom salvation comes. The people of יָדָה are the people through whom the world is blessed.
The name Jacob gave when he could not give anything but thanks becomes the vessel of God's greatest gift.
Ps.107.1
יָדָה is used in the hiphil stem for both 'to give thanks/praise' and 'to confess.' The qal and niphal mean 'to throw, to cast' — and the hiphil derivation seems to carry the image of 'extending the hand toward, pointing to, acknowledging.' BDB's hiphil definitions: (1) to throw, cast; (2) to confess, give thanks to, praise — with acknowledgment as the common thread.
The word family includes: תּוֹדָה (todah, H8426, thanksgiving, thank-offering — the noun form); יְהוּדָה (Judah, the tribal name). The LXX most commonly translates יָדָה with ἐξομολογέω (to confess, to acknowledge, to give thanks) and αἰνέω (to praise). The same Greek word covers both confession (Matt 3:6) and praise/thanksgiving (Rom 14:11, Phil 2:11), preserving the semantic range of the Hebrew original.
The NT's primary equivalent of יָדָה is ἐξομολογέω (to confess, acknowledge, give thanks) and εὐχαριστέω (to give thanks). Romans 14:11, citing Isaiah 45:23, declares that 'every knee shall bow (κάμψει, the equivalent of שָׁחָה) and every tongue shall confess (ἐξομολογήσεται, the equivalent of יָדָה) to God.' The eschatological worship scene is the convergence of both OT worship verbs: prostration and acknowledgment before the one who is Lord of all.
Philippians 2:10-11 repeats the structure: 'at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.' The pairing of כָּרַע/שָׁחָה (bow) with יָדָה (confess/acknowledge) in Isaiah 45:23 becomes the NT's eschatological worship declaration. The Psalms' thanksgiving יָדָה formula also lives in NT doxology: 'thanks be to God' (εὐχαριστῶ τῷ θεῷ) in Paul's letters is the NT continuation of the Psalm 107 and 136 pattern — grounded, specific acknowledgment of what God has done.
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