Bible Word Study
יוֹרָה
Yôwrâh · Jorah, an Israelite
יוֹרָה
Jorah, an Israelite
Definition
Yôwrâh (יוֹרָה) is a proper noun referring to an Israelite man named Jorah, who is listed among the exiles returning from Babylon to Jerusalem. The name appears only once in the Old Testament, in Ezra 2:18 (parallel to Nehemiah 7:24). As a personal name, it carries the meaning 'rainy' or 'he teaches,' derived from the Hebrew root יָרָה (yārâ). In the biblical context, it functions solely as an identifier for a specific individual within a genealogical record, with no additional narrative or descriptive details provided about his life or actions.
Biblical Usage
This word is used exclusively as a personal name in a single context: the post-exilic census list. It appears in Ezra 2:18 (and its parallel in Nehemiah 7:24) as the name of the head of a family group ('the children of Jorah') who returned from captivity. The usage is purely administrative and genealogical, documenting the restoration community. There are no other occurrences or varied usages in the Hebrew Bible.
Etymology
The name Yôwrâh is derived from the Hebrew root יָרָה (yārâ, H3384), which has a primary meaning of 'to throw, shoot (arrows),' or 'to point out, instruct, teach.' A secondary, homonymous root relates to rainfall. Thus, the name likely means 'rainy' or 'he teaches/instructs.' It is related to words like תּוֹרָה (tôrâh, H8451), meaning 'law' or 'instruction,' which comes from the same instructive sense of the root.
Semantic Range
In ancient Israelite culture, personal names often held significant meaning, reflecting circumstances of birth, parental hopes, or attributes of God. A name meaning 'rainy' could invoke blessing and fertility, as rain was a vital sign of God's provision in the agrarian society (Deuteronomy 11:14). A name meaning 'he teaches' might express a desire for wisdom or divine instruction. The recording of Jorah's name in the post-exilic lists underscores the importance of lineage and tribal identity for re-establishing the covenant community in the land. Yô'ēl (יוֹאֵל, H3100) — A more common name meaning 'Yahweh is God,' also borne by a prophet. Yirmeyâh (יִרְמְיָה, H3414) — A name meaning 'Yahweh exalts' or 'Yahweh loosens,' borne by the prophet Jeremiah. Both are theophoric names (containing God's name), whereas Yôwrâh is not explicitly theophoric.
Word Details
How this works
Definitions are from the Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Lexicon (BDB, 1906, public domain). Concordance and morphology data are from the OSHB (Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible).
Full methodology & sources →References
- Abbott-Smith, G. (1921) A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament. Edinburgh: T&T Clark. [Public Domain]
- Brown, F., Driver, S.R. and Briggs, C.A. (1906) A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament. Oxford: Clarendon Press. [Public Domain]
- Tyndale House, Cambridge (n.d.) Tyndale Brief lexicon of Extended Strongs for Greek (TBESG). STEPBible. Available at: https://www.stepbible.org. [CC BY 4.0]
- Tyndale House, Cambridge (n.d.) Translators Formatted full LSJ (TFLSJ). STEPBible. Available at: https://www.stepbible.org. [CC BY 4.0]
- Thayer, J.H. (1889) A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament. [Public Domain]
- Gesenius, W. (1846) Gesenius' Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon to the Old Testament. [Public Domain]
- Dodson, J. (2010) Greek Lexicon. Biblical Humanities. [CC0]