Under Your Control (Gen 9:2)

The Flood

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² … they are put in your power. בְּיֶדְכֶ֥ם נִתָּֽנוּ׃

We’ll finish our discussion of v. 2 by looking at these two words and the idiom they combine to make. Then we’ll look at the verse as a whole. It’s always good to make sure your materials are cut and ready before you try to construct anything.

Both of these are among the commonest words in the language; if you know any Hebrew at all, you most likely know them. (If you don’t, make sure to learn them before you call it a day!) יד yad (~ 1600 times in the Bible) means “hand,” but also — as in some dialects of English — “arm”; נתן n‑t‑n (~2000 times in the Bible) is the verb “give,” which can have broader meanings as well, like put and allow. מי יתן mi yitten ‘who will give?’ is the Biblical Hebrew idiom for “if only.”

And when you, or anyone or anything, are in someone’s “hand,” you are (idiomatically) in their power:

^{Prov 18:21} Death and life are in the hand [יַד] of the tongue.