Aramaic word · H8421

תּוּב

yetuv

reply

Basic stem: to return. Causative stem (the form here): to bring back, send back, and with a word or counsel as object, to reply or answer.

A Biblical Aramaic word, from the parts of the Old Testament written in Aramaic. Why Aramaic?

Appears 8 times in 7 verses of the Aramaic of the Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) to return, come back

1a) (P'al) to return, come back

1b) (Aphel)

1b1) to restore, give back, answer

1b2) to return

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Daniel 3:16

Range of meaning

Basic stem: to return. Causative stem (the form here): to bring back, send back, and with a word or counsel as object, to reply or answer.

Against the English

“Answer” is correct. NIV and NLT's “defend ourselves” spell out the legal setting the verb has here. It is an interpretation, but a reasonable one.

Used elsewhere in the period

Daniel 2:14 (Daniel “returned counsel and discretion,” meaning he replied tactfully); Ezra 5:5 (“then they would return a letter about this,” using the same ʿal-denâ, “about this”); Ezra 5:11 (“thus they returned us a word”). In these passages it is the language of officials replying to an inquiry.

Where it appears

Ezra · 3

  1. Ezra 5:5 יְתִיב֥וּן they will send back

    But the eye of their God was on the elders of the Jews, so that they were not stopped until a report was sent to Darius and written instructions about this matter were returned.

  2. Ezra 5:11 הֲתִיב֣וּנָא they sent back to us

    And this is the answer they returned: “We are servants of the God of heaven and earth, and we are rebuilding the temple that was built many years ago, which a great king of Israel built and completed.

  3. Ezra 6:5 יַהֲתִיב֗וּן let them send back

    Furthermore, the gold and silver articles of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took from the temple in Jerusalem and carried to Babylon, must also be returned to the temple in Jerusalem and deposited in the house of God.

Daniel · 5

  1. Daniel 2:14 הֲתִיב֙ he sent back

    When Arioch, the commander of the king’s guard, went out to execute the wise men of Babylon, Daniel responded with discretion and tact.

  2. Daniel 3:16 לַהֲתָבוּתָֽךְ׃ to send back to you

    Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter.

    Here: Literally “to cause to return to you”: to send back a reply. In this courtroom-like scene it carries the sense of a formal response to a charge, which is why some versions say “defend ourselves.”

  3. Daniel 4:34 יְת֔וּב it returned

    But at the end of those days I, Nebuchadnezzar, looked up to heaven, and my sanity was restored to me. Then I praised the Most High, and I honored and glorified Him who lives forever: “For His dominion is an everlasting dominion, and His kingdom endures from generation to generation.

    Here: 'Returned'. The verb form is the one usually used for unfinished action, here inside a past narrative. Some take it to describe the result that followed his upward look. The same verb is used again in 4:36 for the return of his kingship.

  4. Daniel 4:36 יְת֣וּב יְת֣וּב it returned

    At the same time my sanity was restored, my honor and splendor returned to me for the glory of my kingdom. My advisers and nobles sought me out, and I was restored to my throne, and surpassing greatness was added to me.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.