יַעֲשׂוּ
𐤉𐤏𐤔𐤅
Yaasu
H3299 noun
SILEX Entry
Definition
Personal name designating an Israelite individual, Jaasu or Yaasu, likely meaning 'they will do' or 'Yahweh acts.' The form reflects a verbal sentence and may carry the connotation of God accomplishing or undertaking an action on someone's behalf. Used as a proper name, chiefly in post-exilic lists.
Semantic Range
personal name (Jaasu/Yaasu); verbal sentence (“they will do,” “they will act”); possibly expressing hope or declaration that an act will be done (often by God, though this is implied and not explicit in the form)
Root / Etymology
Derived from the root עשה (to do, to make). The form יַעֲשׂוּ is a third person masculine plural imperfect from עשה ('they will do' or 'they act'), used here as a personal name. The grammatical form suggests an elided subject, possibly with an implicit theological subject (i.e., 'God will act'), common in Israelite naming conventions.
Historical & Contextual Notes
The name יַעֲשׂוּ (Yaasu) appears only in post-exilic genealogical lists (Ezra 2:6, Nehemiah 7:11) among the returnees from Babylon, as part of the genealogical record of those belonging to the laypeople of Israelite descent. As a theophoric sentence-name, it mirrors a wider ancient Near Eastern practice of creating names from compact verbal phrases. While older translations may use English forms like 'Jaasu' and less frequently 'Jaasau,' there is no evidence for the later term 'Jew' applying to this period; the context is specifically that of post-exilic Israelite community members and does not imply later religious or ethnic identities beyond that. Unlike similar roots used for divine action, the name can be either generic (“they will act/do”) or elide the subject as a reference to Israel’s deity, but the text does not make this explicit. This personal name reflects a style typical in the Persian period, favoring imperfect verbs as names, and should not be confused with occupational or descriptive uses of the root.
Original Strong's Gloss (1890)
from עָשָׂה; they will do; Jaasu, an Israelite; Jaasau.
Bantu Hebrew
No Bantu Hebrew comparisons have been submitted for this word yet.
+ Add Bantu Hebrew WordRoot Family
עשה (ʿ-ś-h) — to do, to make, to act
| Strong's | Lemma | SIBI-P1 |
|---|---|---|
| H3300 | יַעֲשִׂיאֵל | And God-has-made |
| H4639 | מַעֲשֶׂה | in your deeds |
| H4640 | מַעֲשַׂי | and Yah-has-performed |
| H4641 | מַעֲשֵׂיָה | Yahweh has accomplished |
| H6213 | עָשָׂה | he did |
Word Forms
2 distinct forms
| SIDANCE | Surface | Transliteration | Morphology | Common | SIBI-P1 | Occurrences |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
H3299-01 |
וְ/יַעֲשָֽׂי | veyaasay | HC/Np |
and Jaasu | They-will-act | 1 |
H3299-02 |
ו/יעשו | vyshv | HC/Np |
and Jaasu | They-will-act | 1 |
Occurrences in Scripture
2 total occurrences
| SIDANCE | Reference | Word | Transliteration | Morphology | Common | SIBI-P1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
H3299-02 |
Ezra 10:37 | ו/יעשו | vyshv | HC/Np |
and Jaasu | They-will-act |
H3299-01 |
Ezra 10:37 | וְ/יַעֲשָֽׂי | veyaasay | HC/Np |
and Jaasu | They-will-act |