H3173 — יָחִיד (yâchîyd)¶

Core Data¶

Strong's: H3173
Original: יָחִיד
Transliteration: yâchîyd
Pronunciation: yaw-kheed'
Part of Speech: Adjective, used substantively
Root: From H3161 יָחַד (yâchad) — "to be united, be joined, act as one"; cognate with H259 אֶחָד (ʼechâd) — "one"
Occurrences: 12 in OT (12 unique verses, 12 tokens)
Books: 7 (Genesis, Judges, Psalms, Proverbs, Jeremiah, Amos, Zechariah)
First Occurrence: Gen 22:2 — "Take now thy son, thine only [son] Isaac, whom thou lovest..."
Hapax Legomenon: No

Lexicon Definition¶

From H3161; properly, united, i.e. sole; by implication, beloved; also lonely; (feminine) the life (as not to be replaced):—darling, desolate, only (child, son), solitary.

The word carries a tight cluster of senses built on the idea of "one-and-only": 1. Sole / unique (of a child with no sibling — the only-begotten of a parent) 2. Beloved / precious (one-of-a-kind → treasured → darling) 3. Solitary / alone (one by oneself → lonely, desolate) 4. The life (feminine substantive in Ps 22:20, 35:17 — the one irreplaceable self)

Translation Distribution (KJV)¶

Translation (KJV)	Count	%
only [son] / thine only	4	33%
my darling	2	17%
an only [son] / of an only [son]	2	17%
only [beloved]	1	8%
desolate	1	8%
the solitary	1	8%
only child	1	8%

Note: KJV brackets (e.g., "thine only [son]") mark words supplied by the translators — yâchîyd alone denotes "only-one" and the noun it modifies is implied from context (son, daughter, soul).

Distribution by Book¶

Book	Count	Per 100 Verses
Psalms	4	0.16
Genesis	3	0.20
Judges	1	0.16
Proverbs	1	0.11
Jeremiah	1	0.07
Amos	1	0.68
Zechariah	1	0.47

Concentrated in narrative of sacrifice (Gen 22 × 3 — the Akedah; Jdg 11:34 — Jephthah's daughter) and prophetic lament / mourning (Jer 6:26; Amos 8:10; Zech 12:10). The three "sacrifice-of-the-only-child" contexts (Gen 22; Jdg 11; Zech 12:10) give the word its defining theological weight. Absent from Pentateuch outside Gen 22, absent from the prophets of the eighth/seventh centuries except the three mourning texts. Density in Amos and Zechariah is comparatively high for such short books.

Semantic Categories¶

1. The Only (and Beloved) Son Offered in Sacrifice — the Akedah Pattern¶

Gen 22:2 — "Take now thy son, thine only [son] Isaac, whom thou lovest, and... offer him there for a burnt offering."
Gen 22:12 — "thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only [son] from me."
Gen 22:16 — "thou hast... not withheld thy son, thine only [son]."

The threefold repetition across one chapter is unique in the Hebrew Bible — yâchîyd is the narrative drumbeat of the Akedah. Ishmael existed, so yâchîyd here does not mean biologically "only child" but rather "one-of-a-kind, the son of promise, uniquely beloved." The LXX fixes this as ἀγαπητός ("beloved") — a translation choice that will be picked up at the baptism and transfiguration of Jesus.

2. The Only Child as Victim of Sacrifice — Jephthah's Daughter¶

Jdg 11:34 — "she [was his] only child; beside her he had neither son nor daughter."

The narrator frames Jephthah's daughter with yâchîyd explicitly to echo Isaac; the LXX renders it with both μονογενής and ἀγαπητή — the only verse in the OT to do so — fusing the two Gen-22 associations (sole-born + beloved) in a single line. Unlike the Akedah, here there is no ram in the thicket.

3. Mourning for an Only Son (Prophetic Simile of Deepest Grief)¶

Jer 6:26 — "make thee mourning, [as for] an only son, most bitter lamentation."
Amos 8:10 — "I will make it as the mourning of an only [son], and the end thereof as a bitter day."
Zech 12:10 — "they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for [his] only [son], and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for [his] firstborn."

Yâchîyd becomes the standard prophetic shorthand for inconsolable grief: the death of an only son is the maximum horizon of human sorrow. Zech 12:10 pairs it with בְּכוֹר (firstborn), and the NT cites this verse at the pierced Messiah (John 19:37; Rev 1:7).

4. The Beloved/Precious Life (Feminine Substantive, "Soul" Parallel)¶

Ps 22:20 — "Deliver my soul (nephesh) from the sword; my darling (yâchîydâh) from the power of the dog."
Ps 35:17 — "rescue my soul from their destructions, my darling from the lions."

A poetic parallelism in which yâchîyd stands in the B-colon matching nephesh in the A-colon — "my one-and-only (life)." The feminine form personifies the speaker's single irreplaceable self. LXX renders both as μονογενῆ (μου). Ps 22 is the Passion psalm; the convergence of "pierced hands and feet" (v. 16), "my darling/only-one" (v. 20), and the mourning of Zech 12:10 tightens the sacrificial thread.

5. Lonely / Desolate / Solitary (Isolated as "One Alone")¶

Ps 25:16 — "have mercy upon me; for I [am] desolate (yâchîyd) and afflicted."
Ps 68:6 — "God setteth the solitary (yâchîyd) in families."
Pro 4:3 — "I was my father's son, tender and only [beloved] in the sight of my mother."

When the relational opposite "family / companions" is absent, yâchîyd slides from "uniquely cherished" to "left alone." Pro 4:3 keeps the cherished sense (cp. LXX ἀγαπώμενος); Ps 25:16 and 68:6 bend toward isolation. Same word, opposite emotional valence, determined by context.

Common Collocations¶

Word	Strong's	Co-occurrences	Typical Pattern
בֵּן (bên) — son	H1121	5x (42%)	"thy son, thine only [son]" — the son-plus-yachid construction
נֶפֶשׁ (nephesh) — soul/life	H5315	2x (17%)	Ps 22:20, 35:17 — yachidah parallels nephesh ("my soul / my darling")
אֵבֶל (ʼêbel) — mourning	H60	2x (17%)	"mourning as for an only son" (Jer 6:26; Amos 8:10)
שַׂק (saq) — sackcloth	H8242	2x (17%)	Grief attire paired with only-son lament
חָשַׂךְ (châsak) — withhold	H2820	2x (17%)	Gen 22:12, 22:16 — "not withheld thy son, thine only"
בַּיִת (bayith) — house	H1004	3x (25%)	House of David (Zech 12:10); Jephthah's house (Jdg 11:34); the solitary in families (Ps 68:6)
אֱלֹהִים (ʼĕlôhîym)	H430	2x (17%)	Gen 22:12 fearing God; Ps 68:6 God sets the solitary
בַּת (bath) — daughter	H1323	2x (17%)	Jephthah's daughter (Jdg 11:34); daughter of my people (Jer 6:26)

Typical pattern: yâchîyd very seldom appears alone — it almost always modifies a noun (usually בֵּן "son" or a feminine soul/daughter) and sits inside a sentence about withholding, offering, mourning, or rescuing that one-and-only.

Word Family / Cognates¶

H3161 יָחַד (yâchad) — verb: be united, be joined
H3162 יַחַד (yachad) — adverb/noun: together, unitedly, altogether (frequent — "as one")
H259 אֶחָד (ʼechâd) — numeral: one (Deut 6:4 "the LORD is one")
H3175 יָחִיל (yâchîyl) — expectant/waiting (unrelated root, easily confused graphically)

Synonyms¶

H5315 נֶפֶשׁ (nephesh) — surfaced by search_relationships.py because the feminine yᵉchidah in Psa 22:20 and 35:17 parallels nephesh as the one irreplaceable self/life; this is a poetic overlap, not a general substitute.

Antonyms¶

No antonym entries were returned by search_relationships.py for H3173.

Easily Confused Words¶

Word	Strong's	Shared Translation	Key Difference
אֶחָד (ʼechâd)	H259	"one" / "only"	ʼechâd = numerical or unity "one"; yâchîyd = relational "one-and-only, irreplaceable"
בָּדַד (bâdad) / בָּד (bad)	H910/H905	"alone" / "solitary"	bâdâd = physical separateness; yâchîyd = "only" in a relational sense (sole child, sole self)
בְּכוֹר (bᵉkôwr)	H1060	"firstborn" (paralleled with yachid in Zech 12:10)	bᵉkôwr = rank-in-birth-order; yâchîyd = "only-one" regardless of rank
יְדִיד (yᵉdîyd)	H3039	"beloved" (shares KJV overlap via darling)	yᵉdîyd = beloved from root "to love"; yâchîyd = beloved because sole/unique

Semantic Domains¶

UBS / Relationship Domains¶

[002003002009] Dissociate — reflects the solitary/desolate edge of the word ("alone," "solitary").
[002001002012] Great — a secondary value/intensity association that fits the "precious / uniquely weighty" nuance of the only child.
[003001016] Self — matches the psalmic uses where yᵉchidah parallels nephesh as the irreplaceable self or life.

LXX Mapping¶

Yâchîyd has one of the cleanest and most theologically freighted LXX profiles in the Hebrew Bible. All 12 Hebrew occurrences are rendered by just four Greek lexemes, and the split by context is consistent:

Greek Equivalent	Strong's	Count	KJV-H3173 Contexts
ἀγαπητός (agapētós) — beloved	G27	7	Gen 22:2, 22:12, 22:16; Jdg 11:34 (paired); Jer 6:26; Amos 8:10; Zech 12:10
μονογενής (monogenḗs) — only-born, sole	G3439	4	Jdg 11:34 (paired); Ps 22:20; Ps 25:16; Ps 35:17
ἀγαπώμενος (passive ptc. of ἀγαπάω) — beloved	G25	1	Pro 4:3
(paraphrased, not rendered word-for-word)	—	1	Ps 68:6 — "solitary" sense handled via broader clause

Two streams, one source. - Where yâchîyd modifies the son/child in a sacrifice or mourning frame, the LXX reaches for ἀγαπητός. This is the Greek word the voice from heaven uses of Jesus at his baptism and transfiguration (Matt 3:17; 17:5; Mark 1:11; 9:7; Luke 3:22; 9:35 var.) and that Paul applies to the Son in Rom 8:32 ("he that spared not his own Son," verbally echoing Gen 22:16 LXX οὐκ ἐφείσω τοῦ υἱοῦ σου τοῦ ἀγαπητοῦ). - Where yâchîyd describes the psalmist's one-irreplaceable-life (Pss 22, 25, 35) or an only child abstractly, the LXX reaches for μονογενής. This is the Greek word John uses of the Son (John 1:14, 18; 3:16, 18; 1 John 4:9) and Hebrews 11:17 uses of Isaac.

Hebrews 11:17 is the keystone. Hebrews calls Isaac Abraham's μονογενής even though Isaac was not Abraham's only biological son — the author is importing the Hebrew yâchîyd sense ("sole, uniquely-one-of-a-kind, son of promise") directly into Greek via a word the LXX already used to render yâchîyd in the Psalms. The semantic bridge runs yâchîyd → μονογενής / ἀγαπητός → the Christological titles "beloved Son" and "only-begotten Son."

PMI-ranked alignment scores (from the whole OT corpus, not just the 12 verses):

Greek	Co-occ	PMI	Score
G27 ἀγαπητός	7	9.52	19.80
G3439 μονογενής	4	10.88	17.52
G5207 υἱός (son — context noun)	5	1.51	2.70

The extremely high PMI for G3439 (10.88) reflects that μονογενής is very rare in the LXX and almost exclusively pulled in to translate yâchîyd — a near-exclusive lexical pairing.

Semantic-Domain Note: "Only Child in a Sacrifice Context"¶

Of the 12 OT occurrences, 5 (42%) stand in a context of actual or imagined sacrificial death of the only child: - Gen 22:2, 12, 16 — Isaac on Moriah (averted) - Jdg 11:34 — Jephthah's daughter (not averted) - Zech 12:10 — the pierced one mourned as an only son (future / Messianic)

Add the 3 mourning-simile verses (Jer 6:26; Amos 8:10; the other half of Zech 12:10) and over half the attestations cluster in the semantic field of grief-over-the-loss-of-one's-sole-heir. This tight pattern is the reason the word exerts such gravity on NT Christology: when John and Hebrews and Paul reach for "only/beloved Son" language, they are reaching for a Hebrew word whose dominant associative field is a father giving up the one he cannot afford to lose. The Akedah is the master-type; Jephthah is the tragic foil; Zech 12:10 is the prophetic forward-echo; and the LXX's split rendering (ἀγαπητός for the son-contexts, μονογενής for the soul-contexts) seeds both halves of the NT vocabulary.