yatav · do well, be good

What it means

yatav (יָטַב) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “do well, be good”.

Do well, act well; go well for someone; please. Also set something right, prepare it.

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. For it to go well for someone: "that it may go well with you".
2. To act rightly, or mend one's ways.
3. For the heart to be glad, or to do something with care.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

To be well, to be good; in the causative form, to do good, to treat well, or to set something in good order. BDB: to be or make well, literally (sound, beautiful) or figuratively (happy, successful, right). It is of the same family as טוֹב, “good” (H2896).

• “So that it may go well with you” Deuteronomy 5:16
• Doing well, or dealing well with someone Genesis 4:7Genesis 12:16
• Seeming good to someone Genesis 41:37
• Amending one's conduct: “Make good your ways” Jeremiah 7:3
• Tending, setting in order; the heart being glad Exodus 30:7Judges 18:20

How we translate it

“Well” 16 times, “do good” 12, “it may go well” 10, “good” 8, “seemed good” 7, “make good” 5, “thoroughly” 5… mostly in set phrases. יָטַב בְּעֵינֵי is “seemed good in the eyes of”, and יָטַב לֵב, “heart was glad” (Judges 18:20). With the lamps it is translated “tends” (Exodus 30:7), because it means putting them in good order.

How it is translated

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

• well ×16
• do good ×12
• it may go well ×10
• good ×8
• seemed good ×7
• do you good ×5
• it was good ×5
• make good ×5
• thoroughly ×5
• you do well ×4
• others ×35

Related words

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

Where it appears

• Genesis×11
• Exodus×2
• Leviticus×3
• Numbers×3
• Deuteronomy×19
• Joshua×3
• Judges×5
• Ruth×3
• 1 Samuel×6
• 2 Samuel×2
• 1 Kings×3
• 2 Kings×3
• Nehemiah×2
• Esther×5
• Job×1
• Psalms×5
• Proverbs×5
• Ecclesiastes×2
• Isaiah×3
• Jeremiah×17
• Hosea×1
• Jonah×3
• Micah×2
• Nahum×1
• Zephaniah×1
• Zechariah×1

• Genesis 4:7

  If you do well, will there not be a lifting up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and toward you is its desire, but you will rule over it.”

• Genesis 12:13

  Please say you are my sister, so that it may go well with me because of you, and I may stay alive thanks to you.”

• Genesis 12:16

  He dealt well with Abram because of her, and he had sheep, cattle, male donkeys, male slaves, female slaves, female donkeys, and camels.

• Genesis 32:9

  And Jacob said, “Elohim of my father Abraham and Elohim of my father Isaac, YHWH, who said to me, ‘Return to your land and to your kindred, and I will deal well with you,’

• Genesis 32:12

  But you said, ‘I will surely deal well with you and make your offspring like the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted because of its abundance.’”

• Genesis 34:18

  Their words seemed good in the eyes of Hamor and in the eyes of Shechem, Hamor’s son.

• Genesis 40:14

  But think of me when it goes well with you, and show, please, loyal love to me, and mention me to Pharaoh, and get me out of this house.

• Genesis 41:37

  The proposal seemed good in the eyes of Pharaoh and in the eyes of all his servants.

• Genesis 45:16

  The report was heard in the house of Pharaoh, saying, “Joseph’s brothers have come.” And it was good in the eyes of Pharaoh and in the eyes of his servants.

• Exodus 1:20

  And Elohim dealt well with the midwives, and the people multiplied and grew very strong.

• Exodus 30:7

  Aaron shall offer up in smoke on it fragrant incense; every morning, when he tends the lamps, he shall offer it up in smoke,

• Leviticus 5:4

  Or if a person swears, speaking rashly with his lips to do evil or to do good, in any matter that a man may speak rashly in an oath, and it is hidden from him, when he comes to know it he will be guilty in one of these.

• Leviticus 10:19

  Aaron spoke to Moses, “Look, today they have presented their sin offering and their burnt offering before YHWH, and things like these have happened to me; if I had eaten a sin offering today, would it have been good in the eyes of YHWH?”

• Leviticus 10:20

  Moses heard this, and it was good in his eyes.

• Numbers 10:29

  And Moses said to Hobab son of Reuel the Midianite, Moses’ father-in-law, “We are setting out for the place of which YHWH said, ‘I will give it to you.’ Come with us, and we will do you good, for YHWH has spoken good concerning Israel.”

• Numbers 10:32

  And if you go with us, then whatever good that YHWH does for us, we will do the same good to you.”

• Deuteronomy 1:23

  The thing was good in my eyes, and I took twelve men from among you, one man for each tribe.

• Deuteronomy 4:40

  Keep his statutes and his commandments that I am commanding you today, so that it may go well with you and with your children after you, and so that you may prolong your days on the land that YHWH your Elohim is giving you all the days.

• Deuteronomy 5:16

  Honor your father and your mother, as YHWH your Elohim has commanded you, so that your days may be long and so that it may go well with you on the land that YHWH your Elohim is giving you.

• Deuteronomy 5:28

  YHWH heard the voice of your words when you spoke to me, and YHWH said to me, “I have heard the voice of the words of this people, which they have spoken to you. They have done well in all that they have spoken.

• Deuteronomy 5:29

  If only they had this heart of theirs to fear me and to keep all my commandments all the days, so that it might go well with them and with their children forever!

• Deuteronomy 6:3

  Hear, Israel, and be careful to do it, so that it may go well with you and so that you may multiply greatly, as YHWH, the Elohim of your fathers, has spoken to you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.

• Deuteronomy 6:18

  Do what is right and good in the eyes of YHWH, so that it may go well with you, and you may go in and take possession of the good land that YHWH swore to your fathers,

• Deuteronomy 8:16

  who fed you manna in the wilderness, which your fathers did not know, in order to afflict you and in order to test you, to do you good in the end;

• Deuteronomy 9:21

  And your sin that you had made, the calf, I took and burned it with fire and crushed it, grinding it thoroughly, until it was fine as dust; and I threw its dust into the stream that came down from the mountain.

• Deuteronomy 12:25

  You shall not eat it, so that it may go well with you and with your sons after you, because you will do what is right in the eyes of YHWH.

• Deuteronomy 12:28

  Keep and listen to all these words that I am commanding you, so that it may go well with you and with your sons after you forever, because you will do what is good and right in the eyes of YHWH your Elohim.

• Deuteronomy 13:14

  then you shall seek and investigate and ask thoroughly. And look, if it is true and the matter certain, that this abomination has been done among you,

• Deuteronomy 17:4

  and it is told to you and you hear of it, then you shall seek thoroughly. And look, if it is true and the matter certain, that this abomination has been done in Israel,

• Deuteronomy 18:17

  And YHWH said to me, “They have spoken well in what they have spoken.

• Deuteronomy 19:18

  And the judges shall inquire thoroughly, and look, if the witness is a false witness, if he has testified falsely against his brother,

• Deuteronomy 22:7

  You shall surely send away the mother, and the young you may take for yourself, so that it may go well with you and you may prolong your days.

• Deuteronomy 27:8

  And you shall write on the stones all the words of this instruction very plainly.”

• Deuteronomy 28:63

  And it shall be that as YHWH rejoiced over you to do you good and to multiply you, so YHWH will rejoice over you to make you perish and to destroy you; and you will be torn from off the land that you are entering there to possess it.

• Deuteronomy 30:5

  And YHWH your Elohim will bring you into the land that your fathers possessed, and you will possess it; and he will do you good and multiply you more than your fathers.

• Joshua 22:30

  And Phinehas the priest, and the chiefs of the community, and the heads of the thousands of Israel who were with him, heard the words that the sons of Reuben, the sons of Gad, and the sons of Manasseh spoke, and it was good in their eyes.

• Joshua 22:33

  And the report was good in the eyes of the sons of Israel; and the sons of Israel blessed Elohim, and did not speak of going up against them with the army to destroy the land where the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad lived.

• Joshua 24:20

  If you abandon YHWH and serve foreign gods, then he will turn and do harm to you, and consume you, after having done good to you.”

• Judges 17:13

  And Micah said, “Now I know that YHWH will do good to me, for the Levite has become my priest.”

• Judges 18:20

  And the priest’s heart was glad, and he took the ephod, the teraphim, and the carved image, and went in the midst of the people.

And 72 more times.