3028. yad
Lexical Summary
yad: hand, hands, power

Original Word: יַד
Part of Speech: Noun Feminine
Transliteration: yad
Pronunciation: yahd
Phonetic Spelling: (yad)
NASB: hand, hands, power
Word Origin: [(Aramaic) corresponding to H3027 (יָד - hand)]

1. hand, power

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance
hand, power

(Aramaic) corresponding to yad -- hand, power.

see HEBREW yad

NAS Exhaustive Concordance
Word Origin
(Aramaic) corresponding to yad
Definition
hand
NASB Translation
attempts* (1), hand (12), hands (4), power (1).

Topical Lexicon
Overview of Usage

The Aramaic noun יַד (Strong 3028) appears seventeen times, all in Ezra and Daniel. In every instance it functions metaphorically as well as literally, denoting power, authority, capability, possession, protection or judgment. The recurring theme is that every earthly “hand” ultimately operates under the overruling “hand of God,” thus reinforcing the biblical witness to divine sovereignty.

Distribution in Ezra and Daniel

Ezra (5 occurrences) presents the word in the post-exilic rebuilding era, showing how the “hand” of earthly rulers or of the returned exiles is subordinate to the providential “hand” of the God of heaven (Ezra 5:12; 6:12; 7:14, 25). Daniel (12 occurrences) places the term in royal courts and prophetic visions, contrasting tyrannical human hands with the invincible hand of God that writes on walls (Daniel 5:5), shatters kingdoms (2:34, 45), delivers His saints (3:17; 6:27), and holds every monarch’s very breath (5:23).

The Sovereign Hand of God

1. Authority over Nations
• “He does as He pleases with the army of heaven and the people of the earth. No one can restrain His hand” (Daniel 4:35).
• The stone “struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and crushed them” (Daniel 2:34). Though human empires rise by their own hands, they fall by the unseen hand of God.

2. Judgment and Warning
• The fingers that wrote on Belshazzar’s plaster wall (Daniel 5:5) signal immediate judgment: “the hand was sent from Him” (Daniel 5:24).
• Ezra’s prayer recalls earlier judgment: “He gave them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar” (Ezra 5:12). God’s hand disciplines covenant breakers but it also restores the repentant.

3. Preservation and Deliverance
• “Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the blazing furnace, and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king” (Daniel 3:17).
• “He delivers and rescues; He works signs and wonders… He has delivered Daniel from the power of the lions” (Daniel 6:27). The hand that judges also saves.

Human Hands: Instruments or Opponents

Ezra depicts diligent building work “prospering in their hands” (Ezra 5:8), yet the builders confess that success depends on divine favor, not merely on human skill. Daniel shows human hands boasting (3:15) and even persecuting the saints (7:25), but every oppressive hand is temporary. Whether constructing temples or erecting idols, human hands are accountable to the One who formed them.

Christological Foreshadowing

The stone “cut out without hands” (Daniel 2:34, 45) prefigures the Messiah’s kingdom: not human in origin, invincible in scope. The finger that wrote Belshazzar’s doom anticipates Jesus writing in the dust (John 8:6) and performing signs “by the finger of God” (Luke 11:20), identifying Him with the same divine hand active in Daniel.

Ministerial Applications

• Confidence in Mission: Builders, pastors, and missionaries labor with diligence, yet results “prosper in their hands” only when the work is under God’s hand (Ezra 5:8).
• Humility before Power: Political or ecclesiastical authority is always derivative. Leaders must remember that “the Most High rules the kingdom of men” (Daniel 4:32).
• Courage in Persecution: Believers facing hostile “hands” can rest in the God whose hand no one can restrain (Daniel 4:35) and who is able to deliver (3:17; 6:27).
• Urgency of Repentance: The handwriting on the wall warns every generation that unchecked pride will meet the decisive hand of judgment (Daniel 5:23-28).

Eschatological Outlook

Daniel 7:25 anticipates a final oppressor whose hand will “wear out the saints.” Yet even this climactic persecution is limited: “time, times, and half a time.” The saints’ ultimate vindication underscores that history ends, not in the hands of tyrants, but in the secure hand of God who grants “the kingdom and dominion and greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven… to the saints of the Most High” (Daniel 7:27).

Summary

Strong 3028 יַד threads through Ezra and Daniel as a vivid reminder that all human activity—whether construction, governance, persecution, or idolatry—operates beneath the overarching, irresistible hand of God. That hand disciplines and delivers, topples empires and establishes everlasting rule. For believers, the word summons awe, repentance, diligence, and fearless confidence, knowing that “It is better to fall into the hand of the LORD” than to trust any merely human hand.

Forms and Transliterations
בְּיֶדְהֹֽם׃ בְּיַ֛ד בִּידֵ֔הּ בִּידֵ֛הּ בִּידָ֔ךְ בִידֵ֔הּ בִידַ֔יִן בִידַ֗יִן בִידָֽךְ׃ בִידָךְ֙ ביד בידה בידהם׃ בידין בידך בידך׃ יְדֵ֗הּ יְדָ֑א יְדָ֖ה יְדָ֥ךְ יְדָֽי׃ יַ֖ד יַד־ יד יד־ ידא ידה ידי׃ ידך bə·yaḏ bə·yeḏ·hōm beYad bəyaḏ beyedHom bəyeḏhōm ḇî·ḏa·yin bî·ḏāḵ ḇî·ḏāḵ bî·ḏêh ḇî·ḏêh biDach bîḏāḵ ḇîḏāḵ ḇîḏayin biDeh bîḏêh ḇîḏêh viDach viDayin viDeh vidoCh yad yaḏ yaḏ- yə·ḏā yə·ḏāh yə·ḏāḵ yə·ḏāy yə·ḏêh yeDa yəḏā yeDach yeDah yəḏāh yeDai yəḏāḵ yəḏāy yeDeh yəḏêh
Links
Interlinear GreekInterlinear HebrewStrong's NumbersEnglishman's Greek ConcordanceEnglishman's Hebrew ConcordanceParallel Texts
Englishman's Concordance
Ezra 5:8
HEB: מִתְעַבְדָ֖א וּמַצְלַ֥ח בְּיֶדְהֹֽם׃ ס
NAS: and is succeeding in their hands.
KJV: on, and prospereth in their hands.
INT: is going succeeding their hands

Ezra 5:12
HEB: יְהַ֣ב הִמּ֔וֹ בְּיַ֛ד נְבוּכַדְנֶצַּ֥ר מֶֽלֶךְ־
NAS: He gave them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar
KJV: them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar
INT: gave them the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king

Ezra 6:12
HEB: דִּ֣י ׀ יִשְׁלַ֣ח יְדֵ֗הּ לְהַשְׁנָיָ֛ה לְחַבָּלָ֛ה
KJV: that shall put to their hand to alter
INT: who shall put to their hand to change to destroy

Ezra 7:14
HEB: אֱלָהָ֖ךְ דִּ֥י בִידָֽךְ׃
NAS: of your God which is in your hand,
KJV: of thy God which [is] in thine hand;
INT: of your God which your hand

Ezra 7:25
HEB: אֱלָהָ֤ךְ דִּֽי־ בִידָךְ֙ מֶ֣נִּי שָׁפְטִ֞ין
NAS: which is in your hand, appoint
KJV: of thy God, that [is] in thine hand, set
INT: of your God which your hand appoint magistrates

Daniel 2:34
HEB: דִּי־ לָ֣א בִידַ֔יִן וּמְחָ֤ת לְצַלְמָא֙
NAS: out without hands, and it struck
KJV: without hands, which smote
INT: out without hands struck the statue

Daniel 2:38
HEB: שְׁמַיָּא֙ יְהַ֣ב בִּידָ֔ךְ וְהַשְׁלְטָ֖ךְ בְּכָלְּה֑וֹן
NAS: He has given [them] into your hand and has caused you to rule
KJV: hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler
INT: of the sky has given your hand to rule all

Daniel 2:45
HEB: דִּי־ לָ֣א בִידַ֗יִן וְ֠הַדֶּקֶת פַּרְזְלָ֨א
NAS: without hands and that it crushed
KJV: without hands, and that it brake in pieces
INT: forasmuch without hands crushed the iron

Daniel 3:15
HEB: יְשֵֽׁיזְבִנְכ֖וֹן מִן־ יְדָֽי׃
NAS: can deliver you out of my hands?
KJV: you out of my hands?
INT: deliver of hand

Daniel 3:17
HEB: יָקִֽדְתָּ֛א וּמִן־ יְדָ֥ךְ מַלְכָּ֖א יְשֵׁיזִֽב׃
NAS: and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king.
KJV: [us] out of thine hand, O king.
INT: of blazing of of your hand king will deliver

Daniel 4:35
HEB: דִּֽי־ יְמַחֵ֣א בִידֵ֔הּ וְיֵ֥אמַר לֵ֖הּ
NAS: one can ward off His hand Or say
KJV: stay his hand, or say
INT: can ward his hand say What

Daniel 5:5
HEB: אֶצְבְּעָן֙ דִּ֣י יַד־ אֱנָ֔שׁ וְכָֽתְבָן֙
NAS: of a man's hand emerged
KJV: of a man's hand, and wrote
INT: the fingers forasmuch hand of a man's writing

Daniel 5:5
HEB: חָזֵ֔ה פַּ֥ס יְדָ֖ה דִּ֥י כָתְבָֽה׃
NAS: the back of the hand that did the writing.
KJV: saw the part of the hand that wrote.
INT: saw the back of the hand did the writing

Daniel 5:23
HEB: דִּֽי־ נִשְׁמְתָ֥ךְ בִּידֵ֛הּ וְכָל־ אֹרְחָתָ֥ךְ
NAS: in whose hand are your life-breath
KJV: and the God in whose hand thy breath
INT: which are your life-breath hand and whose all and your ways

Daniel 5:24
HEB: פַּסָּ֣א דִֽי־ יְדָ֑א וּכְתָבָ֥א דְנָ֖ה
NAS: Then the hand was sent
KJV: was the part of the hand sent
INT: was the part forasmuch the hand inscription and this

Daniel 6:27
HEB: לְדָֽנִיֵּ֔אל מִן־ יַ֖ד אַרְיָוָתָֽא׃
NAS: Daniel from the power of the lions.
KJV: Daniel from the power of the lions.
INT: Daniel from the power of the lions

Daniel 7:25
HEB: וְדָ֔ת וְיִתְיַהֲב֣וּן בִּידֵ֔הּ עַד־ עִדָּ֥ן
NAS: and they will be given into his hand for a time,
KJV: and they shall be given into his hand until
INT: law will be given his hand until A time

17 Occurrences

Strong's Hebrew 3028
17 Occurrences


bə·yaḏ — 1 Occ.
bə·yeḏ·hōm — 1 Occ.
bî·ḏāḵ — 1 Occ.
bî·ḏêh — 2 Occ.
ḇî·ḏāḵ — 1 Occ.
ḇî·ḏa·yin — 2 Occ.
ḇî·ḏêh — 1 Occ.
ḇî·ḏāḵ — 1 Occ.
yaḏ- — 2 Occ.
yə·ḏā — 1 Occ.
yə·ḏāḵ — 1 Occ.
yə·ḏāh — 1 Occ.
yə·ḏāy — 1 Occ.
yə·ḏêh — 1 Occ.

3027
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