yachach · reprove, decide

What it means

yachach (יָכַח) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “reprove, decide”.

Decide who is right; reprove, correct, rebuke; also argue a case. In the passive, be shown to be in the right.

How to say it

Approximate pronunciation. Vowels sound as in Spanish (a as in father, e as in bed, i as in machine, o as in note, u as in rule); the syllable in bold is stressed. The voice is your device's.

Its senses in the Bible

1. To point out someone's fault so that he corrects it.
2. To judge a matter and decide who is right.
3. To lay out the case before someone to reason with him.
4. For someone to be proven right, or to be the one chosen and marked out.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

To make clear who is in the right: hence to decide between two parties, to judge, to argue, and also to reprove or correct the one who does wrong. In Genesis 24 it has the sense of appointing, designating.

• Rebuking one’s neighbor, one’s son Leviticus 19:17Proverbs 3:12Proverbs 9:8
• YHWH rebukes and corrects Psalms 6:12 Samuel 7:14Psalms 105:14
• Deciding between peoples; judging between two Isaiah 2:4Isaiah 11:4Genesis 31:37
• “Come now, and let us argue {it out}” Isaiah 1:18Job 13:3
• Appointing: the wife for Isaac Genesis 24:14Genesis 24:44

Historical and cultural background

The law of Leviticus 19:17 joins not hating one’s brother with the duty of rebuking him: “You shall surely rebuke your neighbor, and you shall not bear sin because of him”.

How we translate it

According to the context: “reprove” (9 times, “reproves” 8) and “rebuke” (“will rebuke” 5, “rebuke” 4, “he rebuked” 3) when the one who does wrong is corrected; “decide” (5) in Isaiah 2:4 and 11:4, where the king or YHWH settles disputes; “argue” (8) when a case is presented; “appointed” in Genesis 24; “you are vindicated” in Genesis 20:16.

How it is translated

The words this translation uses for it, most frequent first.

• reprove ×9
• argue ×8
• reproves ×8
• decide ×5
• will rebuke ×5
• rebuke ×4
• he rebuked ×3
• rebuke me ×3
• Arguing ×1
• He is also rebuked ×1
• others ×12

Where it appears

• Genesis×6
• Leviticus×2
• 2 Samuel×1
• 2 Kings×1
• 1 Chronicles×2
• Job×17
• Psalms×7
• Proverbs×10
• Isaiah×6
• Jeremiah×1
• Ezekiel×1
• Hosea×1
• Amos×1
• Micah×2
• Habakkuk×1

• Genesis 20:16

  And to Sarah he said, “Look, I have given your brother a thousand pieces of silver; look, it is for you a covering for the eyes for all who are with you; and before everyone you are vindicated.”

• Genesis 21:25

  But Abraham reproached Abimelech about a well of water that the servants of Abimelech had seized.

• Genesis 24:14

  Let it be that the girl to whom I say, ‘Please lower your jar so that I may drink,’ and she says, ‘Drink, and I will also water your camels,’ she is the one you have appointed for your servant Isaac. By this I will know that you have shown loyal love to my lord.”

• Genesis 24:44

  and who says to me, “Drink, you too, and I will also draw water for your camels,” she is the woman whom YHWH has appointed for the son of my lord.’

• Genesis 31:37

  Now that you have felt through all my goods, what have you found of all the goods of your house? Put it here before my brothers and your brothers, and let them decide between the two of us.

• Genesis 31:42

  Had not the Elohim of my father, the Elohim of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, been with me, surely now you would have sent me away empty-handed. Elohim has seen my affliction and the toil of my hands, and he rebuked you last night.”

• Leviticus 19:17

  You shall not hate your brother in your heart. You shall surely rebuke your neighbor, and you shall not bear sin because of him.

• 2 Samuel 7:14

  I will be to him a father, and he will be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will rebuke him with the rod of men and with the blows of human beings,

• 2 Kings 19:4

  Perhaps YHWH your Elohim will hear all the words of the Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master has sent to taunt the living Elohim, and will rebuke him for the words that YHWH your Elohim has heard; so lift up a prayer for the remnant that is left.’”

• 1 Chronicles 12:17

  David went out before them and answered and said to them, “If you have come to me in peace, to help me, I will have toward you a heart united; but if it is to deceive me in favor of my adversaries, though there is no violence in my palms, may the Elohim of our fathers see and judge.”

• 1 Chronicles 16:21

  He did not allow anyone to oppress them, and he rebuked kings on their account:

• Job 5:17

  Look, happy is the mortal whom Eloah reproves; so do not despise the correction of Shaddai.

• Job 6:25

  How hard are sayings of uprightness, but what does reproof from you reprove?

• Job 6:26

  Do you think to reprove words, and the sayings of one in despair as wind?

• Job 9:33

  There is not between us an arbiter who might lay his hand on us both.

• Job 13:3

  But I would speak to Shaddai, and to argue with El I desire.

• Job 13:10

  He will surely reprove you if in secret you show partiality.

• Job 13:15

  Look, though he slays me, for him I will wait; yet my ways to his face I will argue.

• Job 15:3

  Arguing with a word that does not profit, and with words that are of no use?

• Job 16:21

  that he may argue for a man with Eloah, as a son of man for his companion.

• Job 19:5

  If indeed you magnify yourselves against me and argue against me with my reproach,

• Job 22:4

  Is it for your fear that he reproves you, that he enters with you into judgment?

• Job 23:7

  There an upright man could argue with him, and I would go free forever from my judge.

• Job 32:12

  And to you I paid attention, and look, there was no one to argue against Job, none of you answering his sayings.

• Job 33:19

  He is also rebuked with pain on his bed, and all his bones in constant pain,

• Job 40:2

  “Will the one who corrects contend with Shaddai? Let the one who argues against Eloah answer this.”

• Psalms 6:1

  For the director. With stringed instruments, on the eighth. A psalm of David. YHWH, do not rebuke me in your anger, nor correct me in your fury.

• Psalms 38:1

  A psalm of David. For bringing to remembrance. YHWH, do not rebuke me in your wrath, nor correct me in your fury.

• Psalms 50:8

  Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you, and your burnt offerings are before me continually.

• Psalms 50:21

  These things you have done, and I kept silent; you thought that I would surely be like you. I will rebuke you and lay it out before your eyes.

• Psalms 94:10

  He who corrects nations, does he not reprove? he who teaches human beings knowledge!

• Psalms 105:14

  He did not allow anyone to oppress them, and he rebuked kings on their account:

• Psalms 141:5

  Let the righteous strike me— it is loyal love; and let him rebuke me— it is oil for the head; let my head not refuse it, for still is my prayer against their evils.

• Proverbs 3:12

  for whom YHWH loves he reproves, and as a father reproves the son in whom he delights.

• Proverbs 9:7

  He who corrects a scoffer gets disgrace for himself, and he who reproves a wicked man gets his blemish.

• Proverbs 9:8

  Do not reprove a scoffer, lest he hate you; reprove a wise man, and he will love you.

• Proverbs 15:12

  A scoffer does not love one who reproves him; to the wise he will not go.

• Proverbs 19:25

  Strike a scoffer, and the simple will become shrewd; and reprove the discerning, and he will understand knowledge.

• Proverbs 24:25

  but to those who rebuke it will be pleasant, and on them will come a blessing of good.

• Proverbs 25:12

  A ring of gold and an ornament of fine gold is a wise reprover to a listening ear.

And 19 more times.