To bear young ; causatively, to beget ; medically, to act as midwife ; specifically, to show lineage
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יָלַד (yalad) is the Hebrew verb for bearing and begetting — the verb of birth that is indexed in the local Hebrew artifact at about 500 OT occurrences, from the first birth (Gen 4:1) to the eschatological birth of the nation in a day (Isa 66:8). Its theological weight is concentrated at two points: the messianic birth announcements of Isaiah (a son is yalad, 7:14, 9:6) and the divine begetting of Psalm 2:7 ('today.
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Full entry for יָלַד (H3205) · Open the biblical lexicon
יָלַד (yalad) is the Hebrew verb for bearing and begetting — the verb of birth that is indexed in the local Hebrew artifact at about 500 OT occurrences, from the first birth (Gen 4:1) to the eschatological birth of the nation in a day (Isa 66:8). Its theological weight is concentrated at two points: the messianic birth announcements of Isaiah (a son is.
The BSB source-word alignment has 496 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include was the father of (102), bore (20), were born (19), and gave birth to (17), he had become the father of (17).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 3:16. Its strongest book concentrations include Genesis (170), 1 Chronicles (117), Isaiah (24), Jeremiah (23).
יָלַד (yalad) is the Hebrew verb for bearing and begetting — the verb of birth that is indexed in the local Hebrew artifact at about 500 OT occurrences, from the first birth (Gen 4:1) to the eschatological birth of the nation in a day (Isa 66:8). Its theological weight is concentrated at two points: the messianic birth announcements of Isaiah (a son is yalad, 7:14, 9:6) and the divine begetting of Psalm 2:7 ('today I have yalad you'). Both directions — the divine Father begetting the Son, and the human birth of the messianic child — converge in the NT's incarnation.
Psalm 2:7 is the most theologically loaded yalad text in the OT: 'I will tell of the decree: YHWH said to me, "You are my son; today I have yalad you (yĕlidtîkha)."' The divine begetting is royal — this is the enthronement of the Davidic king, and the 'today' is the day of his royal installation. YHWH declares the king to be his son by a specific act of yalad-declaration. The relationship is not merely adoptive in a human sense but is a unique divine bestowal of sonship through the covenant oath.
Isaiah 7:14 introduces the virginal birth-sign: 'Behold, the almah (young woman) will conceive and yalad (bear) a son, and shall call his name Immanuel (God with us).' The yalad here is the ordinary birth-verb, but the context — a miraculous sign given by YHWH to the house of David — marks this yalad as extraordinary. Matthew 1:22-23 quotes this as fulfilled in the birth of Jesus from Mary, with the LXX's parthenos (virgin) making explicit what the Hebrew almah implies in context.
Isaiah 9:6 gives yalad its most comprehensive royal statement: 'For to us a child is yalad (yulad lanu), to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.' The yulad here is the passive of yalad — 'he is born' — emphasizing the gift-character of the birth. The child born is also the 'Mighty God' (El Gibbor) and 'Everlasting Father' (Avi Ad). The yalad of this child opens into divine identity.
For the preacher, יָלַד (yalad) traces the line from ordinary human birth to the divine begetting of the Son to the eschatological birth of a new people — all through the same verb.
יָלַד (yalad) is indexed in the local Hebrew artifact at about 500 OT occurrences. The genealogical lists of Genesis (chapters 5, 10-11, 25, 36) use yalad as their structural verb. The patriarchal narratives use it for the miraculous births of Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. The birth announcements of Judges and Samuel (Samson, Samuel) prepare for the prophetic birth announcements of Isaiah.
Psalm 2 uses it for the divine begetting of the royal son. Isaiah uses it for the Immanuel sign (7:14), the birth of the messianic child (9:6), and the eschatological birth of the new covenant people (66:7-8). The word traces the covenant line from Adam to the Son.
I will proclaim the decree spoken to Me by the Lord: “You are My Son; today I have become Your Father.
The divine yalad of the royal Son: 'today I have yĕlidtîkha (begotten you).' The enthronement decree establishes the Davidic king as son of YHWH through the royal yalad. The 'today' (hayom) is the day of installation, not a past eternal generation — it is a covenant-historical declaration. Hebrews 1:5 and 5:5 quote Psalm 2:7 as fulfilled in Christ's resurrection and exaltation: 'You are my Son, today I have begotten you' is applied to the day of his raising from the dead — the resurrection as the ultimate royal enthronement.
Acts 13:33 makes the same connection.
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon His shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
The yulad gift: 'a child is born (yulad) to us.' The passive emphasizes the gift-nature: this child comes to us, not from us. The name-cluster (Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace) expands exponentially beyond what any human birth could contain. El Gibbor (Mighty God) applies to YHWH elsewhere in Isaiah (10:21); Avi Ad (Father of Eternity/Everlasting Father) stretches human fatherhood to divine scope.
The yalad of this child opens immediately into divine identity — the birth is the beginning of the story, not its limits.
Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin will be with child and give birth to a son, and will call Him Immanuel.
The sign-yalad: the almah conceives and yalad Immanuel (God with us). The context is the Syro-Ephraimite crisis — a sign given to the house of David that YHWH has not abandoned his covenant. The yalad here carries the weight of divine faithfulness: before the threatening kings' plots mature, the sign of the child will come. Matthew 1:23 sees the ultimate Immanuel in Jesus — 'which means God with us' — where the yalad of the sign becomes the incarnation.
Who has heard of such as this? Who has seen such things? Can a country be born in a day or a nation be delivered in an instant? Yet as soon as Zion was in labor, she gave birth to her children.
The eschatological yalad of a nation in a day: Zion yalads before labor, the nation is brought forth at once. The impossibility of natural birth (nations do not come in a day) is inverted in the eschatological yalad — the new covenant people born in the outpouring of the Spirit (Acts 2) is exactly this: a people yalad suddenly, in one day, by divine action. The eschatological yalad of Isaiah 66 is the background for Jesus' 'you must be born again' (John 3:3) — the new birth from above is the individual experience of the nation's eschatological yalad.
So Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised.
The covenant-birth yalad: Sarah yalads Isaac at the appointed time (moed, H4150) which God had spoken. The yalad follows the promise, the long wait, the impossibility, and the divine appointment. The pattern — promise, delay, birth at God's time — is the template for every subsequent covenant-birth: Samson, Samuel, John the Baptist, Jesus. The yalad at the moed is not coincidental; it is the fulfillment of the divine word on the divine schedule.
Abraham's faith was accounted as righteousness (Gen 15:6) precisely because he believed the yalad-promise when all natural evidence was against it.
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How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Hebrew word. Encompasses entire reproductive spectrum: biological bearing, paternal generation, midwifery assistance, and genealogical declaration of lineage.
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.
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יָלַד is a primitive root - no further derivation.
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
יָלַד (yalad) traces the covenant line through birth: from the impossible yalad of Isaac (Gen 21:2) through the royal divine yalad of Psalm 2:7 to the messianic yalad of Isaiah 9:6 and the new-covenant yalad of Isaiah 66:8. The preacher who follows yalad follows the thread by which YHWH fulfills his promises — always through birth, always at the right time (moed), always beyond human capacity.
Psalm 2:7 and the NT's application of it (Acts 13:33, Heb 1:5, 5:5) shows that the resurrection is the ultimate yalad: the Son is declared and installed through the royal begetting that the resurrection enacts. For the congregation, the new birth (John 3:3-8) is the individual's participation in the eschatological yalad of Isaiah 66:8 — born not of flesh and blood but of the Spirit, at the Spirit's sovereign initiative (John 3:8, 'the wind blows where it wishes').
The preacher can hold together two movements with yalad: the human birth that the Messiah entered (he was yulad, born into history, among us), and the divine birth by which we enter his kingdom (born again, born from above, born of God). Both are yalad — both are gifts, not achievements.
Ps.2.7
יָלַד (yalad) has three main stems: the Qal (to bear/give birth, used of the mother), the Hiphil (to beget, used of the father), and the Pual/Hophal passive (to be born). The noun toledot (H8435, generations/genealogy) comes from yalad — the toledot formulas of Genesis ('these are the generations of...') are the yalad-chains that structure the book. The Greek equivalent gennao (G1080) appears in Matthew 1's genealogy (X egennesen Y), in John 3:3 ('born again/from above' — gennao anothen), and in Hebrews 1:5 quoting Psalm 2:7.
The NT uses both gennao (to beget, the father's action) and tikto (G5088, to bear, the mother's action) for the incarnation, preserving the double-sided yalad theology of the OT.
The NT's yalad-theology clusters at three points: the incarnation, the resurrection-enthronement, and the new birth. The incarnation: Matthew 1:16 and Luke 2:11 use tikto and gennao for Jesus' birth, and Matthew 1:23 quotes Isa 7:14's yalad directly. Luke 1:35 interprets the virginal conception as the Spirit overshadowing Mary — the divine agency of the yalad.
The resurrection-enthronement: Acts 13:33 applies Psalm 2:7 ('today I have begotten you') to the resurrection of Jesus; Hebrews 1:5 applies it to his exaltation as Son. The new birth: John 3:3-8 introduces the radical yalad from above — birth of water and Spirit, sovereign, from God. First John 5:1 — 'everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born (gennao) of God' — is the individual-level yalad that Isaiah 66:8's national yalad describes at corporate scale.
Revelation 12:5 portrays the heavenly woman birthing the male child who will rule the nations — the messianic yalad of Psalm 2:7-9 in apocalyptic form.
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