yarad · go down, bring down

What it means

yarad (יָרַד) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “go down, bring down”.

Go down, come down, descend. In the causative form, bring down, take down. Going from Canaan to Egypt is "going down".

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 go from a higher place to a lower one, like from the mountain to the valley.
2. To go down to the grave, die.
3. God comes down to see or act.
4. To bring something or someone to a lower place.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

Go down, descend. BDB defines it as to go downward, literally or by convention (to the coast, to a border, against an enemy); in the causative form, “bring down”. From this verb comes the name of the Jordan, יַרְדֵּן.

• YHWH comes down to see or to speak Genesis 11:5Exodus 19:20
• To go down to Egypt Genesis 12:10Genesis 46:3
• Going up and coming down Genesis 28:12
• To go down to Sheol: to die Genesis 37:35Genesis 44:29

Historical and cultural background

In the story, going from Canaan to Egypt is always “going down” (Genesis 12:10; 46:3) and coming back is “going up” (Genesis 13:1).

How we translate it

“Go down” 85 times, “went down” 77, “come down” 56, “came down” 35, “brought down” 13, “bring down” 10. English chooses “go down” or “come down” according to where the speaker stands; the causative form is “bring down”.

How it is translated

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

• go down ×85
• went down ×77
• come down ×56
• came down ×35
• brought down ×13
• bring down ×10
• coming down ×10
• brought ×9
• bring them down ×8
• going down ×7
• others ×69

Related words

Words of the same family, by Strong’s numbering.

Where it appears

• Genesis×39
• Exodus×20
• Leviticus×1
• Numbers×16
• Deuteronomy×12
• Joshua×19
• Judges×29
• Ruth×2
• 1 Samuel×42
• 2 Samuel×18
• 1 Kings×15
• 2 Kings×26
• 1 Chronicles×4
• 2 Chronicles×6
• Nehemiah×4
• Job×3
• Psalms×24
• Proverbs×7
• Ecclesiastes×1
• Song of Songs×2
• Isaiah×25
• Jeremiah×13
• Lamentations×5
• Ezekiel×29
• Hosea×1
• Joel×3
• Amos×3
• Obadiah×2
• Jonah×4
• Micah×2
• Haggai×1
• Zechariah×2

• Genesis 11:5

  YHWH came down to see the city and the tower that the human beings had built.

• Genesis 11:7

  Come, let us go down and confuse their language there, so that no one will understand the language of his neighbor.”

• Genesis 12:10

  There was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to reside as an alien there, for the famine was severe in the land.

• Genesis 15:11

  The birds of prey came down on the carcasses, and Abram drove them away.

• Genesis 18:21

  Let me go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to its outcry that has come to me; and if not, I will know.”

• Genesis 24:16

  The girl was very beautiful in appearance, a virgin, and no man had known her. She went down to the spring, filled her jar, and came up.

• Genesis 24:18

  She said, “Drink, my lord.” And she quickly lowered her jar onto her hand and gave him a drink.

• Genesis 24:45

  Before I had finished speaking in my heart, look, Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder, and she went down to the spring and drew. I said to her, ‘Please let me drink.’

• Genesis 24:46

  She quickly lowered her jar from her shoulder and said, ‘Drink, and I will also water your camels.’ So I drank, and she watered the camels too.

• Genesis 26:2

  YHWH appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; dwell in the land that I tell you.

• Genesis 28:12

  He dreamed, and look, a ladder set on the earth, and its top reaching to the heavens; and look, the angels of Elohim were going up and coming down on it.

• Genesis 37:25

  Then they sat down to eat bread; and they lifted their eyes and looked, and look, a caravan of Ishmaelites was coming from Gilead, with their camels carrying aromatic gum, balm, and ladanum, on their way to take it down to Egypt.

• Genesis 37:35

  All his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted, and said, “Indeed, I will go down to my son mourning, to Sheol.” Thus his father wept for him.

• Genesis 38:1

  It happened at that time that Judah went down from his brothers and turned aside to a man, an Adullamite, whose name was Hirah.

• Genesis 39:1

  Now Joseph had been brought down to Egypt, and Potiphar, an official of Pharaoh, the chief of the guard, an Egyptian man, bought him from the hand of the Ishmaelites who had brought him down there.

• Genesis 42:2

  He said, “Look, I have heard that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy for us from there, so that we may live and not die.”

• Genesis 42:3

  So Joseph’s ten brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt.

• Genesis 42:38

  But he said, “My son will not go down with you, for his brother is dead, and he alone is left. If harm should befall him on the journey you are making, you would bring down my gray hair in sorrow to Sheol.”

• Genesis 43:4

  If you are sending our brother with us, we will go down and buy food for you.

• Genesis 43:5

  But if you are not sending him, we will not go down, for the man said to us, ‘You will not see my face unless your brother is with you.’”

• Genesis 43:7

  They said, “The man asked closely about us and about our kindred, saying, ‘Is your father still alive? Do you have a brother?’ And we told him according to these words. Could we possibly know that he would say, ‘Bring down your brother’?”

• Genesis 43:11

  Israel their father said to them, “If it must be so, then do this: take some of the choicest products of the land in your containers and carry down to the man a gift: a little balm and a little honey, aromatic gum and ladanum, pistachios and almonds.

• Genesis 43:15

  The men took this gift, and they took double silver in their hand, and Benjamin; and they got up and went down to Egypt and stood before Joseph.

• Genesis 43:20

  and said, “Please, my lord, we did indeed come down the first time to buy food.

• Genesis 43:22

  And other silver we have brought down in our hand to buy food. We do not know who put our silver in our bags.”

• Genesis 44:11

  Quickly each man lowered his bag to the ground, and each man opened his bag.

• Genesis 44:21

  Then you said to your servants, ‘Bring him down to me, so that I may set my eyes on him.’

• Genesis 44:23

  But you said to your servants, ‘Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you will not see my face again.’

• Genesis 44:26

  We said, ‘We cannot go down. If our youngest brother is with us, we will go down; for we cannot see the man’s face if our youngest brother is not with us.’

• Genesis 44:29

  If you take this one also from me and harm befalls him, you will bring down my gray hair in misery to Sheol.’

• Genesis 44:31

  when he sees that the young man is not there, he will die, and your servants will bring down the gray hair of your servant our father in sorrow to Sheol.

• Genesis 45:9

  Hurry and go up to my father and say to him, ‘Thus says your son Joseph: Elohim has made me lord of all Egypt; come down to me; do not delay.

• Genesis 45:13

  Tell my father of all my glory in Egypt and all that you have seen, and hurry and bring down my father here.”

• Genesis 46:3

  He said, “I am El, the Elohim of your father. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you a great nation there.

• Genesis 46:4

  I will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also surely bring you up; and Joseph will put his hand on your eyes.”

• Exodus 2:5

  The daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the Nile, while her young women were walking beside the Nile. She saw the ark among the reeds and sent her maid, and she took it.

• Exodus 3:8

  And I have come down to rescue them from the hand of Egypt and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite.

• Exodus 9:19

  So now, send, bring to safety your livestock and all that you have in the field; every person and animal that is found in the field and is not brought home, the hail will come down on them, and they will die.”’”

• Exodus 11:8

  Then all these servants of yours will come down to me and bow down to me, saying, ‘Go out, you and all the people who follow you!’ And after that I will go out.” And he went out from Pharaoh in hot anger.

• Exodus 15:5

  The deeps covered them; they went down into the depths like a stone.

And 340 more times.