Original Word: יָדַד
Part of Speech: verb
Transliteration: yadad
Pronunciation: yah-DAD
Phonetic Spelling: (yaw-dad')
KJV: cast
NASB: cast
Word Origin: [a primitive root]

1. (properly) to handle, i.e. to throw, e.g. lots

cast

A primitive root; properly, to handle (compare yadah), i.e. To throw, e.g. Lots -- cast.

see HEBREW yadah

Word Origin
a prim. root
Definition
to cast a lot
NASB Translation
cast (3). I. [] (compare Ethiopic 👁 Image
immittere, etc, Di⁹³⁵) — only

Perfect3masculine plural Nahum 3:10; Obadiah 11; Joshua 4:3. (Possibly wrongly pointed perfects of

q. v.)

II. (√ of following; love, compare Arabic 👁 Image
love; Aramaic Pa`el 👁 Image
love, also derivatives; Sabean epithet feminine loving-one, friend, amie, DHM^{ZMG 1883, 391}; see also ).

Meaning and Literary Function

The verb יָדַד portrays the deliberate act of “casting lots” or “apportioning” persons and property as spoil. While many Hebrew texts use the noun גּוֹרָל (goral) for lot-casting, יָדַד belongs to a small cluster of verbs that underline the physicality and finality of the act—hurling something beyond recall. Its three appearances are all prophetic oracles exposing the cruelty of pagan conquerors who treat human life as merchandise.

Occurrences and Contexts

1. Joel 3:3 sets the scene on the “Day of the LORD,” where Philistia and Tyre have trafficked Judean sons and daughters. “They cast lots for My people” becomes the opening charge that justifies divine retaliation (Joel 3:7–8).
2. Obadiah 1:11 indicts Edom for standing by while Babylonians plunder Jerusalem: “strangers… cast lots for Jerusalem.” The verb underscores Edom’s complicity; even passive spectators share guilt when human dignity is gambled away.
3. Nahum 3:10 recalls the fall of Thebes as a warning to Nineveh: “They cast lots for her nobles.” Once-proud leaders are reduced to counters in a soldiers’ game, foreshadowing Nineveh’s own downfall (Nahum 3:5–7).

Historical Background

Ancient Near-Eastern armies divided captives and valuables by lot to avoid quarrels and to signal that the gods (or fate) sanctioned the distribution. Tablets from Ugarit and reliefs from Assyria picture slaves and goods lined up for allocation. Prophetic Israel perceives the same ritual as an affront to Yahweh, because Israel was redeemed from slavery to be His covenant people (Exodus 19:4–6). Thus יָדַד becomes a legal indictment.

Theological Significance

1. The cheapening of life: Each passage pairs lot-casting with violence against the defenseless (children in Nahum, minors sold for vice in Joel). It anticipates later scriptural scenes where garments and even the Messiah Himself are subjected to lots (Psalm 22:18; Matthew 27:35; John 19:24), exposing a recurrent human impulse to gamble with what God holds sacred.
2. Divine sovereignty over seeming chance: Proverbs 16:33 states, “The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD.” Even when godless nations cast lots, they cannot escape the ultimate jurisdiction of God, who “will swiftly and suddenly bring down on them what they deserve” (Joel 3:4).
3. Retributive justice: In all three passages יָדַד stands on the threshold of judgment. The same prophetic poems that expose the crime announce its reversal—captors will become captives, spoilers will be spoiled (Joel 3:4–8; Obadiah 1:15; Nahum 3:19).

Prophetic and Eschatological Dimensions

Joel 3 projects forward to the valley of Jehoshaphat, a climactic tribunal where Yahweh will “enter into judgment with all the nations” (Joel 3:2). The misuse of lots operates as a litmus test for that future reckoning. Revelation 18 echoes the same motif when Babylon the Great is condemned for trading “bodies and souls of men” (Revelation 18:13), showing the continuity of the theme from Joel to the Apocalypse.

Ministry Implications

1. Advocacy against human trafficking: יָדַד confronts every form of modern exploitation. Preaching and discipleship must call the Church to defend the voiceless, aligning with God’s ire against commodifying persons.
2. Trust amid injustice: Believers facing dehumanization can rest in God’s sovereignty; though men “cast lots,” heaven rules.
3. Warning to bystanders: Obadiah proves that neutrality in oppression breeds guilt. Pastoral application urges active compassion, echoing James 4:17.

Related Themes and Cross-References

• Divine ownership of Israel – Leviticus 25:55; Deuteronomy 7:6
• Casting lots under God’s direction – Joshua 18:8; Acts 1:26
• Exploitation condemned – Amos 2:6; Micah 2:1–2
• Final justice – Isaiah 61:8; Romans 12:19; Revelation 19:2

יַדּ֣וּ ידו yad·dū yadDu yaddūInterlinear Greek • Interlinear Hebrew • Strong's Numbers • Englishman's Greek Concordance • Englishman's Hebrew Concordance • Parallel Texts

Joel 3:3
HEB: וְאֶל־ עַמִּ֖י יַדּ֣וּ גוֹרָ֑ל וַיִּתְּנ֤וּ
NAS: They have also cast lots
KJV: And they have cast lots for my people;
INT: about my people cast lots Traded

Obadiah 1:11
HEB: וְעַל־ יְרוּשָׁלִַ֙ם֙ יַדּ֣וּ גוֹרָ֔ל גַּם־
NAS: his gate And cast lots
KJV: into his gates, and cast lots
INT: for Jerusalem and cast lots again

Nahum 3:10
HEB: וְעַל־ נִכְבַּדֶּ֙יהָ֙ יַדּ֣וּ גוֹרָ֔ל וְכָל־
NAS: street; They cast lots
KJV: of all the streets: and they cast lots
INT: for her honorable cast lots and all

3 Occurrences

Strong's Hebrew 3032
3 Occurrences

yad·dū — 3 Occ.