Together

"together; alike; all at once; all together." Yah?ad appears about 46 times and in all periods of biblical Hebrew. Used as an adverb, the word emphasizes a plurality in unity. In some contexts the connotation is on community in action. Goliath challenged the Israelites, saying: "I defy the armies of Israel this day; give me a man, that we may fight together" (1Sam 17:10). Sometimes the emphasis is on commonality of place: "… and it came to pass, that they which remained were scattered, so that two of them were not left together" (1Sam 11:11). The word can be used of being in the same place at the same time: "And he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them in the hill before the Lord: and they fell all seven together…" (2Sam 21:9). In other passages yah?ad means "at the same time": "O that my grief were thoroughly weighed, and my calamity laid in the balances together!" (Job 6:2).

In many poetic contexts yah?ad is a near synonym of kullam, "altogether." Yah?ad, however, is more emphatic, meaning "all at once, all together." In Deut 33:5 (the first biblical occurrence) the word is used emphatically, meaning "all together," or "all of them together": "And he was king in Jeshurun, when the heads of the people and the tribes of Israel were gathered together." Cf.: "Surely men of low degree are vanity, and men of high degree are a lie: to be laid in the balance, they are altogether lighter than vanity" (Psa 62:9). In such contexts yah?ad emphasizes the totality of a given group (cf. Psa 33:15).

Yah?ad also sometimes emphasizes that things are "alike" or that the same thing will happen to all of them: "The fool and the stupid alike must perish" (Psa 49:10, rsv).

"all alike; equally; all at once; all together." The second adverbial form, yah?daw appears about 92 times. It, too, speaks of community in action (Deut 25:11), in place (Gen 13:6, the first biblical appearance of this form), and in time (Psa 4:8). In other places it, too, is synonymous with kullam, "altogether." In Isa 10:8 yah?daw means "all alike," or "equally": "Are not my princes altogether kings?" In Exod 19:8 this word implies "all at once" as well as "all together": "And all the people answered together, and said…." The sense "alike" appears in Deut 12:22: "Even as the roebuck and the hart is eaten, so thou shalt eat them: the unclean and the clean shall eat of them alike."

Usage Number: 3
Part of Speech: Verb
Original Word: yah?ad

Usage Notes:Yah?ad means "to be united, meet." This verb appears in the Bible 4 times and has cognates in Aramaic, Ugaritic, Arabic, Ethiopic, and Akkadian. One occurrence is in Gen 49:6: "O my soul, come not thou into their secret; unto their assembly, mine honor, be not thou united…."

"very self, only; solitary; lonely." This word appears 12 times as a noun or as an adjective. Yah?îd has cognates in Ugaritic, Aramaic, and Syriac. The word can be used meaning "self, my soul": "Deliver my soul from the sword, my life [nasb, "only life"; kjv, "darling"] from the power of the dog" (Psa 22:20, rsv; cf. Psa 35:17).

Sometimes this word means "only": "Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest…" (Gen 22:2, the first biblical occurrence of the word). In two passages this word means "solitary" or "lonely": "Turn thee unto me, and have mercy upon me; for I am desolate [rsv, "lonely"] and afflicted" (Psa 25:16; cf. Psa 68:6).

The noun yah?ad occurs only once to mean "unitedness." David said to the Benjaminites: "If ye be come peaceably unto me to help me, mine heart shall be knit unto you [I am ready to become one (or united) with you]…" (1Chron 12:17). This usage of the word as a substantive is unusual.

used in connection with place, in Joh 21:2, Act 2:1 (in the best texts), RV, "together" (AV, "with one accord," translating the inferior reading homothumadon: see ACCORD, A), is used without the idea of place in Joh 4:36, Joh 20:4.

"at once," is translated "together" in Rom 3:12, 1Th 4:17, 1Th 5:10. See EARLY, Note, WITHAL.

Notes: (1) For pamplethei, Luk 23:18, RV, see ONCE, Note. (2) In 1Th 5:11, AV, allelous, "one another" (RV), is rendered "yourselves together;" in Luk 23:12, AV, meta allelon, lit., "with one another," is rendered "together" (RV, "with each other"); so in Luk 24:14, AV, pros allelous, RV, "with each other." (3) In the following, "together" translates the phrase epi to auto, lit., "to (upon, or for) the same," Mat 22:34, Luk 17:35, Act 1:15, Act 2:44 (Act 3:1, in some texts); Act 4:26, 1Co 7:5, 1Co 14:23, RV: see PLACE, A, Note (7). (4) In Act 14:1, it translates kata to auto, "at the same;" it may mean "in the same way" (i.e., as they had entered the synagogue at Pisidian Antioch). (5) In many cases "together" forms part of another word.