H3499 — יֶתֶר (yether)¶

Core Data¶

Strong's: H3499
Original: יֶתֶר
Transliteration: yether
Pronunciation: yeh'-ther
Part of Speech: Masculine noun
Root: יָתַר (yathar, H3498) — to jut over, exceed, remain over
Occurrences: 95 unique verses (106 tokens) across 26 books of the OT
First Occurrence: Gen 49:3 — "Reuben... the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power"
Hapax Legomenon: No

Lexicon Definition¶

From H3498; properly, an overhanging, i.e. (by implication) an excess, superiority, remainder; also a small rope (as hanging free): — abundant, cord, exceeding, excellency(-ent), what they leave, that hath left, plentifully, remnant, residue, rest, string, with.

Translation Distribution (KJV)¶

Translation	Verses	%
"the rest" / "the rest of" (various phrases)	~62	65%
"the remnant" / "the residue"	~12	13%
"excellency" / "excellent" / "exceeding"	5	5%
withs / string / cord	4	4%
other ("plentifully", "more", etc.)	~12	13%

Note: KJV frequently embeds yether in full phrases ("Now the rest of the acts of..."), which the DB stores as multi-word translations; grouped above by semantic category.

Distribution by Book¶

Book	Count	Per 100 Verses
2 Kings	23	3.2
1 Kings	14	1.7
2 Chronicles	10	1.2
Nehemiah	5	1.2
Zephaniah	1	1.9
Habakkuk	1	1.8
Joel	1	1.4
Joshua	4	0.6
Judges	4	0.6
2 Samuel	3	0.4
Jeremiah	4	0.3
Isaiah	3	0.2
Job	3	0.3
Psalms	3	0.1
Other (10 books)	12	< 0.3

Pattern: Overwhelmingly concentrated in the historiographic literature (1–2 Kings, 2 Chr) through the regnal-archive formula. Rare in prophetic and wisdom books; when it appears there, it carries different nuances.

Semantic Categories¶

1. Regnal Archive Formula ("the rest of the acts")¶

The single dominant use — an administrative closure formula in Kings and Chronicles marking the end of each king's reign and directing readers to fuller records.

1 Kgs 11:41 — "And the rest of the acts of Solomon, and all that he did, and his wisdom, [are] they not written in the book of the acts of Solomon?"
2 Kgs 10:34 — "Now the rest of the acts of Jehu, and all that he did, and all his might, [are] they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?"
2 Chr 20:34 — "Now the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, first and last, behold, they [are] written in the book of Jehu..."
2 Kgs 25:11 — "Now the rest of the people [that were] left in the city, and the fugitives that fell away to the king of Babylon, with the remnant of the multitude..."

2. Remaining People / Survivors¶

Groups of people left after battle, deportation, or divine judgment. Used for remnants of enemy nations and surviving populations.

Josh 23:12 — "if ye do in any wise go back, and cleave unto the remnant of these nations, [even] these that remain among you"
Neh 4:14 — "I said unto the nobles, and to the rulers, and to the rest of the people, Be not ye afraid of them"
Hab 2:8 — "all the remnant of the people shall spoil thee; because of men's blood"
Zech 14:2 — "the city shall be taken... but the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city"

3. Remaining Portion of Things¶

Leftover quantities of physical items: oil, prey, territory, food, wood, years of life.

Lev 14:17 — "of the rest of the oil that [is] in his hand shall the priest put upon the tip of the right ear"
Joel 1:4 — "that which the palmerworm hath left hath the locust eaten; and that which the locust hath left hath the cankerworm eaten"
Isa 44:19 — "the residue thereof shall I make for an abomination"
Isa 38:10 — "I am deprived of the residue of my years"
Psa 17:14 — "they are full of children, and leave the rest of their [substance] to their babes"

4. Excellence / Surpassing Degree¶

The root sense of "overhang/excess" used metaphorically for superiority or exceptional quality. Rare but early.

Gen 49:3 — "Reuben, thou [art] my firstborn, my might... the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power"
Prov 17:7 — "Excellent speech becometh not a fool: much less do lying lips a prince"
Job 4:21 — "Doth not their excellency [which is] in them go away? they die, even without wisdom"
Dan 8:9 — "a little horn, which waxed exceeding great, toward the south, and toward the east"

5. Physical Cord or String¶

The literal "hanging free" sense: bowstrings, animal cords, restraining ropes.

Judg 16:7 — "If they bind me with seven green withs that were never dried, then shall I be weak"
Judg 16:8–9 — seven green withs used to bind Samson; he broke them
Psa 11:2 — "they make ready their arrow upon the string, that they may privily shoot at the upright"
Job 30:11 — "Because he hath loosed my cord, and afflicted me"

Common Collocations¶

Word	Strong's	Co-occ	Typical Pattern
מֶלֶךְ (melek)	H4428	47x	"the rest of the acts of [king]"
דָּבָר (dabar)	H1697	45x	"the rest of the acts/words/deeds"
כָּתַב (kathab)	H3789	43x	"are they not written...?" (archival close)
סֵפֶר (sepher)	H5612	41x	"written in the book of the chronicles"
יוֹם (yom)	H3117	36x	"book of the chronicles of the days"
יִשְׂרָאֵל (Yisrael)	H3478	29x	"kings of Israel" in the formula
יְהוּדָה (Yehudah)	H3063	25x	"kings of Judah" in the formula
גְּבוּרָה (geburah)	H1369	10x	"his might" — stock phrase in regnal formula
שָׁאַר (shaar)	H7604	8x	parallel "remaining/left" vocabulary

Word Family / Cognates¶

H3498 יָתַר (yathar) — root verb: to jut over, exceed; to remain, be left over; to cause to abound. Translated "the rest" 8x, "remain" many times.

Synonyms¶

search_relationships.py surfaced only H3503 Yithrow / Jethro as a same-root neighbor, not a separate common-noun equivalent. No discrete synonym list was returned for H3499 beyond that root-related proper name.

Antonyms¶

No antonyms returned by search_relationships.py for H3499.

Easily Confused Words¶

Word	Strong's	Shared Translation	Key Difference
יָתַר (yathar)	H3498	"the rest," "remnant," "residue"	Verb root of yether; the action vs. the resulting quantity
שְׁאָר (shear)	H7605	"rest," "remnant," "other," "residue"	More focused on persons or groups surviving judgment; used in prophetic restoration contexts
שְׁאֵרִית (shearith)	H7611	"remnant," "residue," "rest"	Feminine noun; the theologically loaded "remnant of Israel" in the writing prophets (66 uses, predominantly Jeremiah/Ezekiel)
מְנוּחָה (menuchah)	H4496	"rest"	Menuchah = rest as repose/cessation; no lexical overlap with yether's surplus sense

UBS Semantic Domains¶

Code	Domain Label	Notes
002002001015	Remain	Primary remainder/residue field, matching the dominant "rest / remnant" usage.
001002008001004	Cords	Captures the literal rope/string sense in Samson and Psalms passages.
002001002012	Great	Covers the "excellency / exceeding" sense in Gen 49:3 and Dan 8:9.
002001003019	Well	Secondary positive/excess field, fitting usages of superiority, plenty, or advantageous surplus.

search_relationships.py returned a broader semantic cloud because yether spans residue, superiority, and cord senses. The rows above are the clearest matches to the categories already established in this study.

LXX Mapping¶

Greek Equivalent	Strong's	Co-occ	PMI	Notes
λοιποί (loipoi)	G3062	45	7.20	Primary — "the remaining ones/things"
κατάλοιπος (kataloipos)	G2645	17	5.61	"left down/behind" — used for surviving remnants
ἐπίλοιπος (epiloipos)	G1954	4	6.17	"left over" — occasional

Note: G975 βιβλίον (book) and G1125 γράφω (write) appear as high co-occurrences due to the regnal archive formula context, not as direct renderings of yether.