Conference yukon::christian_v7

881.0. "YADAH = Praise, Give Thanks, & Confess..." by SUBPAC::HIRMER () Sat Apr 06 1996 11:40

While doing a word study on the word(s) "Confess, Confessing, Confession" I 
came across some interesting information concerning the Hebrew word 
"yadah."  What's interesting about this word is that the NIV translators 
translate it a number of different ways, including Praise, Give Thanks, 
and Confess.

I cross referenced the NIV with the NAS to make sure the same English word
is used in the NAS for each of the three different word translations
in the NIV.  And it is.

What I'm wondering is, if anyone has a Hebrew dictionary or other reference
book that could give me some background on the word "YADAH" that
would shed some light on why it can be translated into "Praise," "Give 
Thanks," or "Confess" among others.  If you could also give the name of 
reference book so I can update my library it would be appreciated.

Below are the word with the G/K and Strong Numbers for YADAH and NIV 
and NAS scriptures for each of the three translations as examples.
 
      YADAH	G/K# 3344   Strong's #3034

CONFESS
	
LEVITICUS 16:21
NIV    ...on the head of the live goat and confess over it all 

NAS   ...on the head of the live goat and confess over it all 

PSALMS 32:5
NIV   ...I will confess my transgressions to the Lord

NAS  ...I will confess my transgressions to the Lord


PRAISE

PSALMS 67:3
NIV    May the peoples praise you, O God, may all
	   the peoples praise you.

NAS    Let the peoples praise Thee, O God, let all
	    the peoples praise Thee.


GIVE THANKS	
 
PSALM 136:1a, 2a, 3a
NIV    Give thanks to the Lord for he is good,
	   Give thanks to the God of gods,
	   Give thanks to the Lord of lords,

NAS   Give thanks to the Lord for he is good,
	   Give thanks to the God of gods,
	   Give thanks to the Lord of lords,
	
Hope everyone had an excellent Easter and remembered to get up an hour 
earlier to make to service on time.

In His Love,

Peter (who won't be back until Wednesday)
                     

    "Hebrew Word Pictures" by Frank T. Seekins
    "Living Israeli Hebrew" by Danny Ben-Gigi

    RE: .0
    
    Hi, Peter.
    
    I claim to be no Hebrew scholar.  I do, however, spend a good deal of
    time trying to understand my English language into which Hebrew and
    Greek were translated.
    
    More often than not, the original Hebrew and Greek words hold a
    richness of meaning that a single English word cannot adequately
    comprehend.  Thus, a single Hebrew word might be translated into a
    different English word, depending upon context.
    
    In the case of YADAH, the English word confess actually is quite good,
    but I think we really don't appreciate the full meaning of confess in
    common usage.  We've come to understand confession in terms of the
    negative, i.e., disclosing fault or sin.
    
    But, the core meaning of confess is to concede or say truth.  In other
    words, to confess something is to say the truth about it.
    
    Now, take your cases where different words are rendered from YADAH and
    substitute the core meaning of confess as "concede or say the truth
    (about)."
    
    Ps.32:5 - ...I will concede the truth about my transgressions to the
    Lord.
    
    Ps.67:3 - May the peoples concede the truth about you, O God, may all
    the peoples concede the truth about you.
    
    Ps.136:1a - Concede the truth to the Lord for He is good.
    

    Now consider what action or response might accrue to conceding or saying
    truth in the context of the referenced verses.  Would we not acknowledge
    fault, extol virtue and express gratitude, respectively?

    /Wayne