yehudi · Jew, Judean

What it means

yehudi (יְהוּדִי) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “Jew, Judean”.

Jew: a person of Judah, first of the kingdom of Judah and then, in general, of the people descended from it. Its first appearance is 2 Kings 16:6, where it names the men of Judah who lived in Elath. It is frequent in Jeremiah, Nehemiah and Esther.

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. Someone from Judah, or the Jewish people.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

Jew: of Judah. At first, someone from the kingdom of Judah; later, in general, a person of the people descended from Judah. It comes from the name Judah (יְהוּדָה).

• The men of Judah in the time of the kings 2 Kings 16:62 Kings 25:25
• The Jews in exile and in the Persian empire Esther 3:13Esther 8:11Jeremiah 52:28
• Mordecai, “the Jew” Esther 5:13Esther 10:3
• Those who returned to Jerusalem Nehemiah 4:1
• “A Jewish man” Zechariah 8:23

Historical and cultural background

Most of its occurrences are in Esther, where Haman's decree ordered the destruction of “all the Jews” (Esther 3:13) and a second decree “granted the Jews” leave to defend themselves (Esther 8:11).

How we translate it

“Jews” 64 times, “Jew” 8, “Jewish” 3. In 2 Kings 16:6, the first time it appears, a note explains that here it names the men of Judah; the same term is kept in Jeremiah, Esther and Nehemiah. It is the same name that the Greek gives as Ἰουδαῖος, which this edition also translates “Jew”.

How it is translated

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

• Jews ×64
• Jew ×8
• Jewish ×3

Related words

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

Where it appears

• 2 Kings×2
• Nehemiah×10
• Esther×52
• Jeremiah×10
• Zechariah×1

• 2 Kings 16:6

  At that time Rezin king of Aram brought back Elath to Aram and drove out the Jews from Elath; and the Edomites came to Elath and have lived there to this day.

• 2 Kings 25:25

  And it happened in the seventh month that Ishmael son of Nethaniah son of Elishama, of the royal offspring, came, and ten men with him, and they struck Gedaliah, and he died, and the Jews and the Chaldeans who were with him at Mizpah.

• Nehemiah 1:2

  that Hanani, one of my brothers, came, he and some men from Judah; and I asked them about the Jews, the escapees who had been left from the captivity, and about Jerusalem.

• Nehemiah 2:16

  And the officials did not know where I had gone or what I was doing; and to the Jews and to the priests and to the nobles and to the officials and to the rest of those doing the work until then I had not told it.

• Nehemiah 4:1

  It happened that when Sanballat heard that we were building the wall, he burned with anger and was greatly irritated, and he mocked the Jews.

• Nehemiah 4:2

  And he spoke before his brothers and the troops of Samaria, and said, “What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they leave them alone? Will they sacrifice? Will they finish in a day? Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubble, when they are burned?”

• Nehemiah 4:12

  It happened that when the Jews who lived beside them came, they said to us ten times, “From all the places where you turn, they will be on us.”

• Nehemiah 5:1

  And there was a great outcry of the people and of their wives against their brothers, the Jews.

• Nehemiah 5:8

  and said to them, “We have bought our brothers, the Jews who were sold to the nations, according to what was in us; and will you also sell your brothers, so that they may be sold to us?” And they were silent and did not find a word.

• Nehemiah 5:17

  And the Jews and the officials, a hundred and fifty men, and those who came to us from the nations that are around us, were at my table.

• Nehemiah 6:6

  In it was written, “Among the nations it has been heard, and Gashmu says it: you and the Jews are planning to rebel; therefore you are building the wall; and you are to become their king, according to these words.

• Nehemiah 13:23

  Also in those days I saw the Jews who had married Ashdodite, Ammonite, and Moabite women.

• Esther 2:5

  There was a Jewish man in Susa, the fortress, and his name was Mordecai, son of Jair, son of Shimei, son of Kish, a Benjaminite,

• Esther 3:4

  And it happened, when they spoke to him day after day and he did not listen to them, that they made it known to Haman, to see whether Mordecai’s words would stand; for he had made known to them that he was a Jew.

• Esther 3:6

  But in his eyes it was beneath him to stretch out his hand against Mordecai alone, for they had made known to him the people of Mordecai; and Haman sought to destroy all the Jews who were in all the kingdom of Ahasuerus, the people of Mordecai.

• Esther 3:10

  And the king removed his ring from his hand and gave it to Haman, son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the adversary of the Jews.

• Esther 3:13

  And letters were sent by the hand of the couriers to all the king’s provinces, to destroy, to kill, and to make perish all the Jews, from the young man to the old man, little ones and women, on one day, the thirteenth of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar, and to plunder their spoil.

• Esther 4:3

  And in every province, in the place where the word of the king and his law reached, there was great mourning among the Jews, and fasting and weeping and lamenting; sackcloth and ashes were spread out for many.

• Esther 4:7

  And Mordecai made known to him all that had happened to him, and the sum of the silver that Haman had said he would weigh out to the king’s treasuries for the Jews, to make them perish.

• Esther 4:13

  And Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, “Do not imagine for yourself that you will escape in the king’s house more than all the Jews.

• Esther 4:14

  For if you really keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and the house of your father will perish. And who knows whether for a time like this you have come to the kingdom?”

• Esther 4:16

  “Go, gather all the Jews who are present in Susa, and fast for me, and do not eat and do not drink for three days, night and day. I also and my young women will fast in the same way; and so I will go in to the king, which is not according to the law; and if I perish, I perish.”

• Esther 5:13

  Yet all this is not worth anything to me every time that I see Mordecai the Jew sitting in the king’s gate.”

• Esther 6:10

  And the king said to Haman, “Hurry, take the robe and the horse, as you have spoken, and do so to Mordecai the Jew who sits in the king’s gate; do not let anything fall from all that you have spoken.”

• Esther 6:13

  And Haman recounted to Zeresh his wife and to all his friends all that had happened to him; and his wise men and Zeresh his wife said to him, “If Mordecai, before whom you have begun to fall, is of the offspring of the Jews, you will not prevail against him, but you will surely fall before him.”

• Esther 8:1

  On that day King Ahasuerus gave to Esther the queen the house of Haman, the adversary of the Jews; and Mordecai came before the king, for Esther had made known what he was to her.

• Esther 8:3

  And Esther spoke again before the king, and fell before his feet, and wept and implored him to take away the evil of Haman the Agagite and his plot that he had plotted against the Jews.

• Esther 8:5

  and she said, “If it seems good to the king, and if I have found favor before him, and the matter is right before the king, and I am pleasing in his eyes, let it be written to turn back the letters, the plot of Haman, son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, which he wrote to make perish the Jews who are in all the king’s provinces.

• Esther 8:7

  And King Ahasuerus said to Esther the queen and to Mordecai the Jew, “Look, the house of Haman I have given to Esther, and him they have hanged on the pole, because he stretched out his hand against the Jews.

• Esther 8:8

  And you, write concerning the Jews as seems good in your eyes, in the name of the king, and seal it with the king’s ring; for a writing that is written in the name of the king and sealed with the king’s ring cannot be turned back.”

• Esther 8:9

  And the king’s scribes were summoned at that time, in the third month, which is the month of Sivan, on the twenty-third day of it; and it was written according to all that Mordecai commanded, to the Jews and to the satraps and the governors and the officials of the provinces that are from India to Cush, a hundred and twenty-seven provinces, to each province according to its script and each people according to its language, and to the Jews according to their script and according to their language.

• Esther 8:11

  in which the king granted the Jews who were in every city permission to assemble and to stand for their lives, to destroy, to kill, and to make perish any army of any people or province that might harass them, little ones and women, and to plunder their spoil,

• Esther 8:13

  A copy of the writing, to be given as law in every province, was published to all the peoples, and that the Jews should be ready for this day to avenge themselves on their enemies.

• Esther 8:16

  For the Jews there was light and gladness, and joy and honor.

• Esther 8:17

  And in every province, and in every city, in the place where the word of the king and his law reached, there was gladness and joy for the Jews, a banquet and a good day; and many of the peoples of the land became Jews, for the dread of the Jews had fallen on them.

• Esther 9:1

  And in the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar, on the thirteenth day of it, when the word of the king and his law came to be carried out, on the day when the enemies of the Jews hoped to rule over them, it was turned around, so that the Jews themselves ruled over those who hated them.

• Esther 9:2

  The Jews assembled in their cities in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus to stretch out their hand against those who sought their harm; and no one stood before them, for the dread of them had fallen on all the peoples.

• Esther 9:3

  And all the officials of the provinces, and the satraps, and the governors, and those who did the king’s work, were supporting the Jews, for the dread of Mordecai had fallen on them.

• Esther 9:5

  And the Jews struck all their enemies with a blow of the sword, and slaughter, and ruin, and they did to those who hated them according to their will.

• Esther 9:6

  And in Susa, the fortress, the Jews killed and made perish five hundred men,

And 35 more times.