To add or augment (often adverbial, to continue to do a thing)
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H3254 describes adding or increasing and frequently functions with another action to express doing it again, continuing it, or doing it no more. The verb can mark growth, repetition, further speech, added guilt, restitution, renewed action, or cessation in a negative construction, so more is neither automatically blessing nor automatically excess.
Reader summary
Full entry for יָסַף (H3254) · Open the biblical lexicon
H3254 describes adding or increasing and frequently functions with another action to express doing it again, continuing it, or doing it no more. The verb can mark growth, repetition, further speech, added guilt, restitution, renewed action, or cessation in a negative construction, so more is neither automatically blessing nor automatically excess.
The BSB source-word alignment has 212 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include again (36), longer (19), severely (12), more (9), Once again (9).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 4:2. Its strongest book concentrations include Isaiah (20), 1 Samuel (17), Deuteronomy (15), 2 Samuel (14).
H3254 describes adding or increasing and frequently functions with another action to express doing it again, continuing it, or doing it no more. The verb can mark growth, repetition, further speech, added guilt, restitution, renewed action, or cessation in a negative construction, so more is neither automatically blessing nor automatically excess. In 1Sam. 3.
6, The Lord calls Samuel again, and the repeated summons gives the child and Eli time to recognize who is speaking. In Prov. 1. 5, the wise are invited to listen and add to their learning, while the discerning acquire guidance rather than assuming they have finished growing. H3254 opens teaching on what is added over time, whether renewed attention, growing wisdom, concrete restitution, repeated rebellion, or a merciful end to harm.
It corrects the assumption that numerical increase always proves divine favor and the opposite assumption that repetition is empty when God patiently calls, teaches, or restores. H3254 makes increase ethically specific: the Lord calls Samuel again as the child learns to listen, the wise person adds instruction through teachability, and a wrongdoer adds a fifth when making restitution to the injured neighbor.
Repetition can train attention, growth can deepen wisdom, and addition can repair loss; other passages show guilt and harm increasing instead. For H3254, responsible teaching keeps lexical meaning, passage context, canonical synthesis, and present application distinguishable. H3254 does not promise unlimited material growth, make every repeated practice faithful, or let an added payment replace confession, changed conduct, and the safety of the person who was wronged.
H3254 appears across passages that develop growth, repeated calling, restitution, continued obedience, accumulated wrongdoing, and wise limits. For H3254, the immediate setting decides which part of the range is active, so the witnesses must remain distinct rather than being merged into one formula.
Once again the Lord called, “Samuel!” So Samuel got up, went to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you have called me.” “My son, I did not call,” Eli replied. “Go back and lie down.”
The Lord calls Samuel again, and the repeated summons gives the child and Eli time to recognize who is speaking.
Let the wise listen and gain instruction, and the discerning acquire wise counsel
The wise are invited to listen and add to their learning, while the discerning acquire guidance rather than assuming they have finished growing.
And must confess the sin he has committed. He must make full restitution, add a fifth to its value, and give all this to the one he has wronged.
A person who confesses wrongdoing must make full restitution and add one fifth, returning the payment to the neighbor who was harmed.
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. Conveys iterative continuation or repeated action; "do again" or "continue doing" beyond initial occurrence.
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 210 lexical occurrence verses.
יָסַף is a primitive root - no further derivation.
The verb communicates the life-preserving effect of reverence toward God.Proverbs 10:27
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
H3254 makes increase ethically specific: the Lord calls Samuel again as the child learns to listen, the wise person adds instruction through teachability, and a wrongdoer adds a fifth when making restitution to the injured neighbor. Repetition can train attention, growth can deepen wisdom, and addition can repair loss; other passages show guilt and harm increasing instead.
H3254 describes adding or increasing and frequently functions with another action to express doing it again, continuing it, or doing it no more. The selected witnesses keep the teaching concrete: 1Sam. 3. 6 shows that the Lord calls Samuel again, and the repeated summons gives the child and Eli time to recognize who is speaking, while Prov. 1. 5 shows that the wise are invited to listen and add to their learning, while the discerning acquire guidance rather than assuming they have finished growing.
Num. 5. 7 adds that a person who confesses wrongdoing must make full restitution and add one fifth, returning the payment to the neighbor who was harmed. H3254 opens teaching on what is added over time, whether renewed attention, growing wisdom, concrete restitution, repeated rebellion, or a merciful end to harm. It corrects the assumption that numerical increase always proves divine favor and the opposite assumption that repetition is empty when God patiently calls, teaches, or restores.
A church teaching H3254 faithfully will name both the promise and the boundary carried by these contexts, attend to vulnerable hearers, and refuse to make the lexical item prove more than its passages support. H3254 does not promise unlimited material growth, make every repeated practice faithful, or let an added payment replace confession, changed conduct, and the safety of the person who was wronged.
1Sam.3.6
H3254 is a Hebrew verb for adding or increasing that often combines with an infinitive or another verbal idea to mean do again, continue, or cease doing when negated.
The Old Testament uses addition language for offspring, years, wisdom, guilt, punishment, and restitution. The New Testament likewise speaks of growth in grace, repeated prayer, generous repair, and warning against adding to Gods word, while using distinct Greek vocabulary for those themes.