What Does Genesis 29:35 Mean?
And she conceived again, and bore a son, and she said, Now I will extend my hands to the LORD. Therefore she called his name Judah, Praise, and she stood from bearing.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And she conceived again, and bare a son: and she said, Now will I praise the LORD: therefore she called his name Judah; and left bearing.THE KEY
Leah’s spoken praise becomes the name Judah, carrying that moment forward as a living identity.
THE MEANING
You hear Leah’s praise become a name: what she says about the LORD is carried forward in “Judah.” The verse holds a stopping beside that praise too, she leaves bearing, so the joy does not erase the ending.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Praise is only a passing feeling; here, it is preserved in the name Judah.
THE ROOT
אֹדֶה
odeh
GROWS FROM
ידה
y-d-h
To acknowledge, give thanks, or praise.
“extend my hands to the LORD” in this verse is odeh. The form odeh is Leah’s “I will praise,” and the name Judah echoes the same root. Hebrew lets the spoken praise and the naming ring together: praise becomes part of the child’s name.
ALSO GROWS
Yehudah: Judah; the name is linked here to praise.
יְהוּדָה
Leah’s naming makes the praise she speaks audible in her son’s name.
todah: Thanksgiving or an expression of thanks.
תּוֹדָה
This related form shows praise as acknowledgment spoken aloud, the same movement Leah expresses.
THE PATTERN
Praise makes the source of what is received explicit by naming the LORD aloud.
Extend your hands in thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his faithful love reaches to the ages.Through him, then, let us always carry up a sacrifice of praise to God, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name.THE THREAD
Judah, the praised one, your brothers shall praise you. Your hand shall be in the neck of your enemies; the sons of your father shall bow down before you.The verb translated “praise” comes from yadah, the same root Leah speaks when she says “I will praise.” The name Judah is held between her praise here and his brothers’ praise there, so the root makes the naming itself part of the connection.
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