Loved
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יְדִיד (yedid) is the Hebrew word for 'beloved' — the dearly loved one, the friend of the heart, the one who holds a special place of affection. In Scripture, it is most profoundly used of the relationship between YHWH and his people: Israel is YHWH's yedidah (feminine, Jer 11:15), Solomon is YHWH's yedidyah (Jedidiah, 2 Sam 12:25), and Psalm 45's wedding-king poem is a shir yedidot (a song of loves/beloveds).
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Full entry for יְדִיד (H3039) · Open the biblical lexicon
יְדִיד (yedid) is the Hebrew word for 'beloved' — the dearly loved one, the friend of the heart, the one who holds a special place of affection. In Scripture, it is most profoundly used of the relationship between YHWH and his people: Israel is YHWH's yedidah (feminine, Jer 11:15), Solomon is YHWH's yedidyah (Jedidiah, 2 Sam 12:25), and Psalm 45's.
The BSB source-word alignment has 9 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include Your beloved (2), A love (1), for my beloved (1), has My beloved (1), lovely (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Deuteronomy 33:12. Its strongest book concentrations include Psalms (5), Isaiah (2), Deuteronomy (1), Jeremiah (1).
יְדִיד (yedid) is the Hebrew word for 'beloved' — the dearly loved one, the friend of the heart, the one who holds a special place of affection. In Scripture, it is most profoundly used of the relationship between YHWH and his people: Israel is YHWH's yedidah (feminine, Jer 11:15), Solomon is YHWH's yedidyah (Jedidiah, 2 Sam 12:25), and Psalm 45's wedding-king poem is a shir yedidot (a song of loves/beloveds).
Psalm 45:1 gives yedid its most concentrated use as a title: 'My heart overflows with a beautiful matter; I address my verses to the king; my tongue is like the pen of a skilled scribe. A shir yedidot (song of loves, or wedding-song for the beloved).' The Psalm is a royal wedding poem: the king in his splendor (v. 2-9), the bride's call (v. 10-12), the royal procession (v. 13-15). But the yedidot title and the king's eternal throne (v. 6-7 — 'your throne, O God, is forever and ever; the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom') give it a messianic register. Hebrews 1:8-9 quotes Psalm 45:6-7 of the Son, making the beloved-king of Psalm 45 a type of Christ.
Isaiah 5:1 gives yedid its YHWH-as-singer form: 'Let me sing for my yedid (beloved) a song of my beloved about his vineyard. My beloved (dodi, H1730) had a vineyard on a very fertile hill.' Isaiah opens his vineyard parable with the words 'shir yedidi' (a song of my beloved) — the prophet addresses YHWH as his yedid (beloved), then the parable proceeds as YHWH's lament over Israel. The vineyard-beloved who disappoints is Israel; the yedid singing the song is the prophet on YHWH's behalf. The yedid language makes the prophetic lament intimate: this is not merely legal accusation but the grief of a beloved who has been failed by those he cherished.
Jeremiah 11:15 gives yedid its covenant-crisis form: 'What right has my yedidah (my beloved one, feminine) to be in my house when she has done many vile things? Can vows and sacrificial flesh avert your doom? Can you then exult?' YHWH calls Israel his yedidah even in the context of covenant-breaking: the intimacy of the yedid-relationship survives even the accusation. The question is whether the beloved can carry on in YHWH's house while behaving in ways that violate the covenant. The answer is no — but the fact that YHWH still calls Israel his yedidah means the relationship has not been simply discarded.
Psalm 127:2 gives yedid its rest-gift form: 'It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved (yedido) sleep.' YHWH gives sleep to his yedid: the rest that anxious toilers cannot find through their own efforts is given as a gift to those whom YHWH loves. The yedid does not earn rest — it is YHWH's gift of love to the one he cherishes.
For the preacher, יְדִיד (yedid) gives the congregation one of the most intimate OT covenant-relationship words: to be YHWH's yedid is to be the dearly beloved — the one YHWH cherishes, sings for, names (Jedidiah), and gives rest to as a gift of love.
יְדִיד (yedid) appears about 9 times in the local Hebrew index. Its theological center is the intimate covenant-love relationship between YHWH and his people: Israel as YHWH's yedidah (Jer 11:15, 12:7), Benjamin as yedid-YHWH (Deut 33:12), Solomon as Jedidiah/yedidyah (2 Sam 12:25), the Temple as yedidot (lovely/beloved, Ps 84:1), the king's wedding as shir yedidot (Ps 45:1), and YHWH's gift of sleep to his yedid (Ps 127:2). Isaiah 5:1 addresses YHWH as 'my beloved' (yedidi) in the vineyard parable.
My heart is stirred by a noble theme as I recite my verses to the king; my tongue is the pen of a skillful writer.
Shir yedidot — the song of the beloved ones: 'my heart bubbles up with a good word; I speak my poem to the king; my tongue is the pen of a skilled scribe.' The Psalm's superscription calls it a shir yedidot — a wedding song, a song of loves, a song for the beloved king. The king's attributes (v. 2-5: beautiful, gracious, mighty, righteous), his eternal throne (v.
6-7: 'Your throne, O God, is forever'), and his anointing with oil of gladness above his companions (v. 7) make the Psalm point beyond any earthly king. Hebrews 1:8-9 applies v. 6-7 to the Son: 'But of the Son he says, Your throne, O God, is forever and ever.' The beloved-king of Psalm 45 is a type of the ultimate yedid.
I will sing for my beloved a song of his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill.
YHWH as the prophet's yedid: 'I will sing for my yedid (beloved) a shir yedidi (song of my beloved) about his vineyard.' Isaiah addresses YHWH as his yedid — the intimate friend, the beloved on whose behalf the prophet speaks. The vineyard parable (v. 1-7) is YHWH's lament over Israel: he planted the vineyard with care (v. 1-2), expected grapes (v. 2), and got wild grapes.
The lament ends with the allegory broken open (v. 7): 'For the vineyard of YHWH of hosts is the house of Israel.' The yedid-language makes the covenant failure a betrayal of love, not merely a legal breach.
What right has My beloved in My house, having carried out so many evil schemes? Can consecrated meat avert your doom? When you are wicked, then you rejoice.
YHWH's yedidah in covenant crisis: 'what has my yedidah to do in my house when she has done many vile things (zimmot harabbah)?' The feminine yedidah is Israel — the beloved bride who has been unfaithful. YHWH still uses the love-name (yedidah) even in the accusation: the relationship is not abandoned, but the covenant-terms have been violated. This is the yedid-word in its most painful register: the beloved who has betrayed the love they were given.
Jeremiah 12:7 continues: 'I have forsaken my house; I have abandoned my yedidah; I have given the beloved of my soul into the hands of her enemies.'
Concerning Benjamin he said: “May the beloved of the Lord rest secure in Him; God shields him all day long, and upon His shoulders he rests.”
Benjamin as YHWH's yedid: 'of Benjamin he said: the beloved of YHWH (yedid YHWH) shall dwell in safety beside him; the Most High (El Elyon) surrounds him all day long; and he dwells between his shoulders (ben keteiphav).' Moses's tribal blessing gives Benjamin the yedid-designation: YHWH's beloved who dwells in safety under divine protection. The 'dwelling between his shoulders' likely refers to the location of the Temple on Benjamin's tribal border — Benjamin as yedid YHWH is the tribe whose territory holds the ark of YHWH.
The yedid-designation is both relational (YHWH loves Benjamin) and covenantal (Benjamin's land holds YHWH's house).
In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for bread to eat—for He gives sleep to His beloved.
YHWH gives sleep to his yedid: 'for he gives to his beloved (yedido) sleep.' Psalm 127's anti-anxiety meditation is a yedid-gift: what the anxious toiler cannot achieve through early rising and late working, YHWH gives as a gift to those he loves. The sleep (shenah, H8142) is the sleep of the nuach (rest) that YHWH gives — it is not earned, it is given. The yedid's rest is YHWH's free gift of love.
Compare Psalm 23:2 (the shepherd leads beside the waters of rest): the beloved sheep lies down not by effort but by the shepherd's gift.
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. Beloved as object of exclusive divine affection; denotes intimate, chosen relationship rather than general love
Beloved as object of exclusive divine affection; denotes intimate, chosen relationship rather than general love
loved BDB: beloved Usage: amiable, (well-) beloved, loves.
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
יְדִיד is built from this root:
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
יְדִיד (yedid) gives the congregation one of the most intimate OT covenant-relationship words. YHWH is not merely Israel's God, suzerain, king, or lawgiver: he is the one who calls Israel his yedidah — his beloved. Isaiah approaches the throne of the holy God by singing a song for 'my beloved' (Isa 5:1). Jeremiah has to deliver the hardest of judgments against the yedidah who has broken the covenant (Jer 11:15, 12:7) — but even in judgment, YHWH does not stop using the love-name.
The yedid-word is what makes biblical covenant theology distinct from mere legal-contract theology: this is not a business arrangement between parties but a love relationship that persists even through covenant crisis. The NT yedid is the Greek agapetos (G27, beloved) — the word used of Jesus at his baptism ('This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased,' Matt 3:17) and transfiguration (Matt 17:5).
Jesus is presented as the ultimate Beloved, the one YHWH calls 'my beloved' — and in him, believers receive the yedid-status: 'as God's beloved (agapetoi) children' (Eph 5:1). The congregation stands within the inheritance of beloved status — not because they earned the love-name but because the beloved Son has made them beloved in him.
Ps.45.1
יְדִיד (yedid) is related to the root יָדַד (yadad, to love, to be beloved — appearing in Pual in Jer 11:15) and to דוֹד (dod, H1730, beloved/love/uncle — the word used for 'my beloved' throughout the Song of Songs). The compound form is Jedidiah (יְדִידְיָה, yedidyah — 'beloved of YHWH,' Solomon's throne-name given by Nathan in 2 Sam 12:25). The plural yedidot appears in Psalm 45:1 (shir yedidot, song of loves/beloveds) and Psalm 84:1 (mah yedidot mishkenotekha — 'how lovely/beloved are your dwelling places').
In NT Greek, the primary heir is agapetos (G27, beloved, dearly loved) — the word used of Jesus at his baptism (Matt 3:17) and of believers in epistolary address ('beloved brothers and sisters,' Rom 12:19, 1 Cor 15:58, Eph 5:1). The LXX translates yedid with agapetos in key passages. The Hebrew ahav (H157, to love) and yedid share overlapping semantic territory — yedid is specifically the beloved person (the one who is loved) while ahav is the love-action itself.
The NT's yedid-heir is agapetos (G27, beloved). Matthew 3:17 — 'This is my beloved Son (huios mou agapetos), in whom I am well pleased (eudokesa)' — is the heavenly voice using the yedid-language of the OT covenant for Jesus: the one YHWH calls 'my beloved' is Jesus, not merely the nation. The Transfiguration repeats this (Matt 17:5: 'This is my beloved Son, listen to him').
Hebrews 1:8-9 quotes Psalm 45:6-7 of the Son — the shir yedidot's beloved king is identified as Christ. Ephesians 5:1-2 makes the yedid-status available to believers: 'be imitators of God as beloved (agapeta) children, and walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us' — the agapeta (beloved ones) who imitate God's love are doing so as recipients of yedid-status through Christ.
Jude 1 opens with the most concentrated yedid-address in the NT epistles: 'To those who are called, beloved (egapemenois, perfect passive participle of agapao) in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ.' The beloved-status is a completed action maintained by God.
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