To go (causatively, bring ) out , in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively, direct and proxim.
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יָצָא (yatsa) is the Hebrew verb of going out — and in its most theologically charged form, it is the verb of the exodus. YHWH is the God who brought Israel out (hetseti, Hiphil of yatsa) of Egypt, out of the house of slavery (Exod 20:2).
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Full entry for יָצָא (H3318) · Open the biblical lexicon
יָצָא (yatsa) is the Hebrew verb of going out — and in its most theologically charged form, it is the verb of the exodus. YHWH is the God who brought Israel out (hetseti, Hiphil of yatsa) of Egypt, out of the house of slavery (Exod 20:2).
The BSB source-word alignment has 1,068 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include went out (55), came out (39), . . . (26), go out (22), Come out (13).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 1:12. Its strongest book concentrations include Exodus (94), Genesis (79), Ezekiel (74), Jeremiah (70).
This entry includes 11 verse guides that explain exact original-language forms in context.
יָצָא (yatsa) is the Hebrew verb of going out — and in its most theologically charged form, it is the verb of the exodus. YHWH is the God who brought Israel out (hetseti, Hiphil of yatsa) of Egypt, out of the house of slavery (Exod 20:2). This formula, repeated often in the OT, makes yatsa one of the most theologically loaded departures in the Bible: many later going-out themes are measured against YHWH's great yatsa from Egypt. The local Hebrew index currently counts about 1,076 occurrences.
Exodus 20:2 gives yatsa its foundational covenantal use: 'I am YHWH your God, who brought you out (hetseti, Hiphil causative) of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.' The Ten Commandments begin not with a command but with a declaration of identity grounded in the divine yatsa. Before YHWH says 'you shall have no other gods before me' (v. 3), he says who he is: the one who did the yatsa. The covenant obligation rests on the prior act of redemption. The Hiphil form (hetseti, I caused you to go out, I brought you out) makes clear that Israel's departure from Egypt was not Israel's achievement — it was YHWH's. He is the subject of the yatsa; Israel is the object.
Isaiah 52:12 gives yatsa its new-exodus form: 'For you shall not go out (tetse'u) in haste, and you shall not go in flight, for YHWH will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard.' The return from Babylon is a new yatsa — but greater than the first: the first exodus was hurried (Exod 12:33), the new exodus will not be. YHWH will again be the one who goes before and behind his people in their yatsa.
Isaiah 55:11 gives yatsa its word-of-YHWH use: 'so shall my word be that goes out (yatsa) from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.' The word of YHWH is itself a yatsa — a purposeful going out that never fails to arrive. This is the theology of divine speech as effective act: YHWH speaks and his word yatsa's, and the yatsa of his word is as certain as the yatsa from Egypt.
Genesis 4:16 gives yatsa its negative counterpart: 'Then Cain went out (vayetse) from the presence of YHWH and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.' Cain's yatsa from YHWH's presence is the opposite of the worshiper's coming in: it is exile, banishment, the loss of the face of YHWH. Every wanderer's yatsa echoes Cain's.
Zechariah 14:8 gives yatsa its eschatological use: 'On that day living waters shall go out (yetse'u) from Jerusalem, half of them to the eastern sea and half of them to the western sea.' The living waters' yatsa from Jerusalem is the eschatological reversal of Cain's yatsa from YHWH's presence — from the city of YHWH, life itself goes out to water the whole earth.
For the preacher, יָצָא (yatsa) gives the congregation the grammar of redemption: you were brought out. The covenant always begins with the divine yatsa before it issues any covenant demand.
יָצָא (yatsa) appears about 1,076 times in the local Hebrew index — a high-frequency Hebrew verb. Its theological center is the exodus formula (YHWH brought Israel out of Egypt, Exod 20:2) repeated throughout Deuteronomy, the Psalms, and the prophets as the covenant preamble. The verb also covers: going out to war (1Sam 8:20), the sun going out (Ps 19:5), the word of YHWH going out (Isa 55:11), exile from YHWH's presence (Gen 4:16), and the eschatological waters going out from Jerusalem (Zech 14:8).
The Hiphil causative (hotsi, to bring out, to lead out) is the exodus form: YHWH is the subject who causes Israel to go out.
“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
The covenant preamble and the theological center of yatsa: 'I am YHWH your God who brought you out (hetseti) of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.' The Hiphil causative (hetseti, I brought out) makes YHWH the active subject: the exodus was his yatsa, not Israel's achievement. The Ten Commandments rest on this prior act of redemption — YHWH declares who he is before he says what he requires.
This formula becomes the covenant-identity signature repeated throughout the OT: 'YHWH your God who brought you out of Egypt.'
For you will not leave in a hurry nor flee in haste, for the Lord goes before you, and the God of Israel is your rear guard.
The new exodus yatsa: 'you shall not go out (tetse'u) in haste.' Isaiah's second-exodus promise exceeds the first: the flight from Egypt was hurried (Exod 12:33); the return from Babylon will be unhurried, because YHWH again goes before and behind his people. The yatsa of the new exodus is greater than the first precisely because it is not driven by terror — it is led by YHWH. This passage grounds the NT's presentation of Jesus as the new Moses leading the new exodus.
So My word that proceeds from My mouth will not return to Me empty, but it will accomplish what I please, and it will prosper where I send it.
The word of YHWH as yatsa: 'my word that goes out (yatsa) from my mouth shall not return empty.' The word of YHWH has its own yatsa — a purposeful departure that accomplishes its mission. YHWH's word does not merely inform; it goes out and acts. The certainty of the divine yatsa (which brought Israel out of Egypt) is now applied to the divine word: as certain as the exodus yatsa, so certain is the accomplishing yatsa of YHWH's speech.
So Cain went out from the presence of the Lord and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.
The negative yatsa: 'Cain went out (vayetse) from the presence of YHWH.' This is the counterpart to the blessed yatsa from Egypt: to yatsa from YHWH's presence is exile, not redemption. Cain's eastward departure from YHWH's face is the pattern of every subsequent exile — the one who goes out from YHWH's presence wanders in the land of wandering (Nod, from the root nud, to wander). The trajectory of the Bible is to reverse Cain's yatsa: to bring wanderers back into the presence of YHWH.
And on that day living water will flow out from Jerusalem, half of it toward the Eastern Sea and the other half toward the Western Sea, in summer and winter alike.
Eschatological yatsa: 'living waters shall go out (yetse'u) from Jerusalem.' The eschatological reversal of Cain's exile: from the city of YHWH, life itself yatsa's to water the whole earth. This is the OT source behind Ezekiel 47:1-12 (the river from the temple) and Revelation 22:1-2 (the river of the water of life flowing from the throne of God and the Lamb). The divine yatsa that began with the exodus ends with living water going out from Jerusalem to the whole creation.
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Hebrew word. Foundational exit-verb; literal departure expands to birth, emission, utterance, and divine emanation throughout OT narrative.
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 5 selected witnesses from 1,076 lexical occurrence verses.
יָצָא 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.
יָצָא (yatsa) teaches the congregation that the grammar of the covenant pattern begins with YHWH's prior act of redemption. Exodus 20:2 — 'I am YHWH your God who brought you out' — comes before any commandment. The ten words are not a ladder to climb to YHWH but the covenant obligations of a people already brought out. The preacher can ask the congregation: what is the yatsa that defines your identity?
For Israel, prayer, Sabbath, and festival life were anchored in 'YHWH who brought us out of Egypt.' For the NT believer, the anchor is the greater exodus: YHWH who brought us out of the dominion of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son (Col 1:13). In the covenant pattern, the yatsa precedes the demand. And Isaiah 55:11 extends the yatsa into the word of YHWH itself: the same God who brought Israel out of Egypt sends his word out and it does not return empty.
The sermon preached, the promise proclaimed, the gospel announced — it is a yatsa of YHWH's word, and it will accomplish what he purposes.
Exod.20.2
יָצָא (yatsa) is the primary Hebrew verb for going out and departing, paired with בּוֹא (bo, H935, to come in/enter) as the fundamental directional pair: 'going out and coming in' (yatsa uvo, Deut 28:6, 19; Ps 121:8) covers the totality of daily movement and life. The Hiphil of yatsa (hotsi, to bring out, to cause to go out) is the exodus form: YHWH is always the Hiphil subject — the one who brings out, not merely the one who permits departure.
The formula 'who brought you out (asher hotseti) of the land of Egypt' appears over 130 times in the OT — making it the single most repeated theological formula in the Hebrew Bible. In Aramaic, the cognate netseq carries similar meanings. The NT equivalent of the exodus yatsa is exago (to lead out), used in Acts 7:36, 40 of the exodus and in Hebrews 13:20 of YHWH who brought up (anago) from the dead the great shepherd of the sheep.
The NT's primary heir of the exodus yatsa is the language of redemption from bondage. Colossians 1:13 — 'he has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son' — is the NT form of 'who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery' (Exod 20:2). Luke's Gospel presents Jesus's death as his exodus (eksodon, Luke 9:31, his 'departure' discussed at the Transfiguration with Moses and Elijah) — the divine yatsa accomplished in Jerusalem.
John 8:32, 36 ('the truth will set you free... if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed') applies the exodus yatsa to freedom from sin. Hebrews 13:12 ('Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood') draws on the imagery of the animals sacrificed outside the camp — a deliberate yatsa from the city that echoes the exodus.
Revelation 22:1-2's river of life flowing from the throne is the ultimate yatsa — the living waters going out to the new creation.
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