Hebrew word · H8567
תָּנָה
yetanu
to recount
To repeat, rehearse, recount or recite aloud. It belongs to the same family as the Aramaic tena / teni, 'to repeat, to teach by repetition'. Later Hebrew built mishnah ('repetition, teaching by repeating') and tanna ('one who repeats' tradition) from that family.
Appears 2 times in 2 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·
What it means
(Piel) to recount, rehearse, tell again
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 Judges 11:40
- Range of meaning
To repeat, rehearse, recount or recite aloud. It belongs to the same family as the Aramaic tena / teni, 'to repeat, to teach by repetition'. Later Hebrew built mishnah ('repetition, teaching by repeating') and tanna ('one who repeats' tradition) from that family. In the Bible it occurs only twice, both times in Judges.
- Against the English
KJV, ESV and NRSV say 'lament'. NIV and NASB say 'commemorate'. WEB says 'celebrate', and YLT and the KJV margin say 'talk to / talk with'. 'Lament' names a feeling the word does not state. 'Celebrate' suggests a cheerful occasion to a modern reader. 'Talk to' turns a public retelling into a private visit.
- How it drifted
Ancient translators guessed from context. The Greek Septuagint uses thrēnein ('to sing a dirge') and the Latin Vulgate uses plangere ('to beat the breast, mourn'), and English Bibles followed them. That is a sensible guess, because the story is tragic. But it swaps the act (reciting, retelling) for the mood (grief).
- Used elsewhere in the period
Judges 5:11, in the Song of Deborah: 'there they recount (yetannu) the righteous acts of the LORD'. That is the public retelling of a victory at the watering places. Aramaic and later Hebrew use the same root for passing on tradition by repeating it out loud (BDB, HALOT s.v. תנה).
- Range of meaning
To repeat, retell or recite. The verb occurs only twice, here and in Judges 11:40. It corresponds to the Aramaic tənāʾ / šənâ 'to repeat, to teach by repetition'. Later rabbinic Hebrew built on this idea of learning by repetition: the 'Tannaim' were the 'repeaters' of oral tradition, and the 'Mishnah' is 'repetition'.
- Against the English
KJV 'rehearse' meant 'recite, tell over' in 1611. Today 'rehearse' suggests practising before a performance, which misleads. 'Recount' (BSB), 'repeat' (ESV) and 'recite' (NIV) are better.
- How it drifted
In English, 'rehearse' shifted from 'repeat aloud, narrate' toward its theatrical sense of 'practise beforehand'.
- Used elsewhere in the period
Judges 11:40 says the daughters of Israel went yearly 'to commemorate' (lətannôt) Jephthah's daughter. This is a recurring recital in the community, close to the sense here.
Where it appears
Judges · 2
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Judges 5:11 יְתַנּוּ֙ they will recount
the voices of the singers at the watering places. There they shall recount the righteous acts of the LORD, the righteous deeds of His villagers in Israel. Then the people of the LORD went down to the gates:
Here: To repeat or retell, as in reciting a story or song again and again. Its only other use is Judges 11:40, where the daughters of Israel yearly 'commemorate' Jephthah's daughter. The verb form can describe what people regularly do ('they recount') or call for it ('let them recount').
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Judges 11:40 לְתַנּ֕וֹת to recount
that each year the young women of Israel go out for four days to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite.
Here: A rare verb meaning to repeat aloud, retell or recite. It occurs elsewhere only in Judges 5:11, where people 'recount' the LORD's victories. Here it means a yearly retelling or chanting of her story. Mourning is implied by the context, but the word itself does not say it.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.