# H3045 - yada **Strong's:** [H3045](https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h3045/) · BLB lookup **Pronunciation:** yaw-dah' **Part of speech:** verb (Qal, Hiphil, Pual, Hophal, Hithpael) **OT occurrences:** ~947 **Greek equivalent (LXX):** *ginōskō* (G1097); occasionally *eidō* / *oida* (G1492) ## Semantic range The Hebrew *yada* spans a **wide-relational sense of knowing**, far beyond English "to know intellectually": 1. **Intellectual / propositional knowledge**, knowing facts, information 2. **Experiential / participatory knowledge**, knowing-by-experience 3. **Personal / relational knowledge**, knowing-someone-personally 4. **Sexual intimacy** ([Genesis 4:1](/codex/genesis-4-1/), Adam *knew* Eve his wife) 5. **Skill / expertise** ([Genesis 25:27](/codex/genesis-25-27/), Esau "knew" hunting) 6. **Acknowledgment / recognition / approval** in some contexts The semantic range is **integrated**, Hebrew *yada* refuses the modern Western split between cognitive and relational knowing. To *yada* God is at once to know about Him *and* to know Him personally. ## Theological force ### Knowing God The most theologically loaded use of *yada* is **knowing God**: - **[Hosea 6:6](/codex/hosea-6-6/)**, "I delight in *hesed* rather than sacrifice, and in the *da'at Elohim* (knowledge of God) rather than burnt offerings" - **[Hosea 4:1](/codex/hosea-4-1/), [6](/codex/hosea-4-6/)**, "there is no *emet*, no *hesed*, no *da'at Elohim* in the land… My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge" - **[Jeremiah 9:23-24](/codex/jeremiah-9-23-24/)**, "let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and *yada*-s Me" - **[Jeremiah 22:16](/codex/jeremiah-22-16/)**, "is not this what it means to *yada*-know Me?" (= caring for the poor) - **[Jeremiah 31:34](/codex/jeremiah-31-34/)**, new covenant: "all… will know Me, from the least to the greatest" - **[Habakkuk 2:14](/codex/habakkuk-2-14/)**, "the earth will be filled with the *da'at* of the glory of the LORD" The pattern: *yada* God is the highest spiritual goal; lack of it is spiritual disaster; the new covenant's promise is universal knowledge of God. ### Sexual intimacy *Yada* is famously used for sexual intimacy: - **[Genesis 4:1](/codex/genesis-4-1/), [17](/codex/genesis-4-17/), [25](/codex/genesis-4-25/)**, Adam *yada*-knew Eve - **[Genesis 19:5](/codex/genesis-19-5/), [8](/codex/genesis-19-8/)**, Sodom; Lot's daughters - **[Genesis 24:16](/codex/genesis-24-16/); 38:26**, Rebekah; Tamar - **[Numbers 31:17-18](/codex/numbers-31-17-18/), [35](/codex/numbers-31-35/); [Judges 11:39](/codex/judges-11-39/); 21:11-12**, military / ritual contexts - **[1 Kings 1:4](/codex/1-kings-1-4/)**, Abishag and David - **[1 Samuel 1:19](/codex/1-samuel-1-19/)**, Elkanah and Hannah The Hebrew euphemism captures the **deep relational-experiential** sense, sexual union is *knowing* in a profoundly personal-relational way. ### God's *yada* of His people - **[Genesis 18:19](/codex/genesis-18-19/)**, "I have *yada*-known Abraham" - **[Exodus 33:12](/codex/exodus-33-12/), [17](/codex/exodus-33-17/)**, "I have *yada*-known you by name" - **[Deuteronomy 34:10](/codex/deuteronomy-34-10/)**, Moses, "whom the LORD *yada*-knew face to face" - **[Psalm 1:6](/codex/psalms-1-6/)**, "the LORD *yada*-knows the way of the righteous" - **[Psalm 139:1](/codex/psalms-139-1/), [23](/codex/psalms-139-23/)**, "O LORD, You have *yada*-searched me and *yada*-known me… search me, O God, and *yada*-know my heart" - **[Jeremiah 1:5](/codex/jeremiah-1-5/)**, "before I formed you in the womb I *yada*-knew you" - **[Amos 3:2](/codex/amos-3-2/)**, "you only have I *yada*-known of all the families of the earth" These uses of God's *yada* go beyond mere cognitive awareness, they signal **covenantal-personal relationship**. To be *yada*-known by God is to be elected, loved, in relationship. The NT parallel: [Galatians 4:9](/codex/galatians-4-9/), "having *gnontes* God, or rather, having been *gnōsthentes* by God"; [1 Corinthians 8:3](/codex/1-corinthians-8-3/), "if anyone loves God, he is *egnōstai hyp' autou*, known by Him." ### [Genesis 3](/codex/genesis-3/), the tree of *yada* of *tov v'ra* The Fall narrative engages *yada* directly: - [Genesis 2:9](/codex/genesis-2-9/), [17](/codex/genesis-2-17/), *etz ha-da'at tov va-ra*, tree of the knowledge of good and evil - [Genesis 3:5](/codex/genesis-3-5/), the serpent: "you will be like God, *yodei tov va-ra*" - [Genesis 3:7](/codex/genesis-3-7/), [22](/codex/genesis-3-22/), humans now *know* good and evil (with the corrupting consequence) The Fall is humanity grasping at autonomous moral *yada*, to determine good and evil independently of God. **The verb choice is itself an argument.** If the author of Genesis wanted to say Adam gained wisdom or intellectual mastery, Hebrew had a whole wisdom vocabulary available: *chakam* (be wise, the standard wisdom verb), *bin* (understand, discern, as in [1 Kings 3:9](/codex/1-kings-3-9/)), *sakal* (have insight, act wisely). [Genesis 3:22](/codex/genesis-3-22/) uses none of them. It says Adam became one who *yada*-knows good and evil, the broadest and most experiential of the knowing-verbs, the same verb used of Adam knowing Eve one chapter later. The narrative confirms the experiential sense at [Genesis 3:7](/codex/genesis-3-7/): their eyes were opened and they "knew that they were naked," not a new fact but a new experience of shame. Augustine drew the mode-distinction that follows: God knows evil as the physician knows disease, as Judge; fallen man knows evil as the patient suffers it. Same verb, different mode of knowing. This grounds the patristic answer to the "God admitted the serpent was right" objection; see [Genesis 3.22](/codex/genesis-3-22/) and [Tree of Knowledge Objection](/codex/tree-of-knowledge-objection/). ## Apologetic / epistemological significance *Yada* anchors: 1. **Christian epistemology**, knowing-God is integrated relational-cognitive, not bifurcated 2. **The relational nature of biblical truth**, knowledge *of God* (vs knowledge *about God*) 3. **Sexual ethics**, sex as relational-personal knowing, not casual physicality 4. **Election / covenant**, God's *yada* of His people grounds salvation 5. **The new covenant promise**, universal knowledge of God in the eschaton 6. **Anti-modern-Western-rationalism**, biblical knowledge is relational, not detached ## Notable verses ### Knowing God - **[Hosea 4:1](/codex/hosea-4-1/), [6](/codex/hosea-4-6/); 6:6; 13:4**, *da'at Elohim* / lack of it - **[Jeremiah 9:23-24](/codex/jeremiah-9-23-24/); 22:16; 31:34**, knowing the LORD - **[Habakkuk 2:14](/codex/habakkuk-2-14/)**, eschatological *da'at* - **[Isaiah 11:9](/codex/isaiah-11-9/)**, "the earth will be full of the *da'at YHWH*" - **[John 17:3](/codex/john-17-3/)**, "this is eternal life, that they may *ginōskōsin* the only true God, and Jesus Christ" - **[Philippians 3:8](/codex/philippians-3-8/), [10](/codex/philippians-3-10/)**, "the surpassing value of *gnōsis Christou Iēsou*" ### God's knowing - **[Psalm 139:1-6](/codex/psalms-139-1-6/), [23](/codex/psalms-139-23/)**, God *yada*s us - **[Jeremiah 1:5](/codex/jeremiah-1-5/)**, knew you in the womb - **[Amos 3:2](/codex/amos-3-2/)**, "you only have I known" - **[John 10:14-15](/codex/john-10-14-15/)**, "I know My own and My own know Me, even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father" ### Knowledge / wisdom contrast - **[Genesis 2:9](/codex/genesis-2-9/), [17](/codex/genesis-2-17/); 3:5, 22**, tree of *yada* - **[Proverbs 1:7](/codex/proverbs-1-7/)**, *yir'at YHWH* the beginning of *da'at* - **[Proverbs 9:10](/codex/proverbs-9-10/); 30:3-4**, knowledge of the Holy ### Sexual intimacy - **[Genesis 4:1](/codex/genesis-4-1/), [17](/codex/genesis-4-17/), [25](/codex/genesis-4-25/)**, relational knowing ## Patristic / scholarly note Patristic engagement: Augustine (*De Trinitate*) on the relation between cognitive *cogitatio* and contemplative *visio Dei*. The mystical / contemplative tradition (Bernard of Clairvaux; Bonaventure; Teresa of Avila) develops *knowing God* in the depth-relational sense. Modern Christian engagement: - J. I. Packer (*Knowing God*, 1973), the classic devotional treatment - Kevin Vanhoozer (*Is There a Meaning in This Text?*, 1998), biblical hermeneutics - John Frame (*The Doctrine of the Knowledge of God*, 1987), Reformed epistemology ## See also - H1847 - daat, knowledge (cognate noun) - [G1097 - ginosko](/codex/g1097-ginosko/), Greek to know - *G1492 - eido*, Greek to perceive / know - [H7307 - ruach](/codex/h7307-ruach/), Spirit (knowing through the Spirit) - [Genesis 1.27](/codex/genesis-1-27/), *imago Dei* (epistemic capacity) - [Romans 1.18-21](/codex/romans-1-18-21/), knowing God through general revelation - [Argument from the Reliability of Reason](/codex/argument-from-the-reliability-of-reason/), epistemological apologetic ## Notes _Lexical workspace for yada._