Lexical Summary
yathed: Peg, Pin, Stake
Original Word: יָתֵד
Part of Speech: Noun Feminine
Transliteration: yathed
Pronunciation: yah-TAYD
Phonetic Spelling: (yaw-thade')
KJV: nail, paddle, pin, stake
NASB: pegs, peg, pin, tent peg, spade, stakes
Word Origin: [from an unused root meaning to pin through or fast]
1. a peg
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance
nail, paddle, pin, stake
From an unused root meaning to pin through or fast; a peg -- nail, paddle, pin, stake.
NAS Exhaustive Concordance
Word Originfrom an unused word
Definitiona peg, pin
NASB Translationpeg (6), pegs (11), pin (3), spade (1), stakes (1), tent peg (3).
Brown-Driver-Briggs
Deut 23:14 (Late Hebrew
id.; Arabic
👁 Image) —
Deuteronomy 23:14 9t.; construct
Judges 4:21;
Judges 16:14 (where with article but see Ges
§ 127, R. 4 a); plural
Exodus 38:20; construct
Exodus 27:19 4t.; suffix
Isaiah 54:2;
Exodus 27:19;
Isaiah 33:20;
Exodus 39:40;
Numbers 3:37;
Numbers 4:32; —
pin, peg, especially
tent-pin Judges 5:26; Judges 4:21; Judges 4:22; read perhaps also Job 4:21 (figurative; compare II. ); often of tabernacle Exodus 27:19 (twice in verse); Exodus 35:18 (twice in verse); Exodus 38:20,31,21; "" Exodus 39:40, compare Numbers 3:37; Numbers 4:32 (all P); of Zion under figure of tent Isaiah 33:20; Isaiah 54:2; figurative of ruler as support of state Zechariah 10:4.
Ezekiel 15:3; so figurative of Eliakim Isaiah 22:23,24; of secure position Ezra 9:8 (compare Arabic, see Thes Hi Hariri361Der., 👁 Image
of a king).
Deuteronomy 23:14 (= spade).
the pin or stick used in beating up the woof in the loom Judges 16:14 a, see GFMPAOS, Oct. 1889, clxxvi. ff.; in vb, del (Idib and in comm. on the passage)
Job 39:8, see .
see .
(assumed by Thes as √ of following; compare Arabic 👁 Image
beat with a club, chastise; 👁 Image
club; BaNB 294 derives as loan-word from Assyrian tarta—u = club (or javelin, compare DlHWB 630)).
Topical Lexicon
General Meaning and Material Culture A יָתֵד is a stake, peg, or pin fashioned from wood or bronze for fastening, hanging, or anchoring. In the pastoral and nomadic life of Israel, tent pegs were indispensable; they penetrated the soil of desert or pastureland, holding family dwellings, military shelters, and the sanctuary itself. Smaller versions served in domestic crafts such as weaving (Judges 16:14), or as an everyday tool (Deuteronomy 23:13), while larger bronze pegs secured the holy courts (Exodus 27:19).
Role in the Tabernacle
Thirteen of the twenty-four occurrences cluster around the wilderness sanctuary (Exodus 27:19; 35:18; 38:20, 31; 39:40; Numbers 3:37; 4:32). Bronze pegs tethered both the tabernacle and its surrounding courtyard, ensuring stability amid shifting sands. The repeated inventory stresses that nothing in God’s dwelling was left to human improvisation. Just as every board, socket, and cord was fixed by a peg, so worship, doctrine, and community life are to be anchored by divine specification, not cultural whim. The pegs’ portability also foreshadows the pilgrim character of God’s people, journeying yet always securely ordered by His word.
Domestic and Military Usage
Outside cultic settings the peg appears in everyday and combat scenes. Deuteronomy 23:13 requires every soldier to carry a peg-spade to keep the camp ritually pure—sanctity reaches even the latrine. Jael, dwelling in a tent culture, wields what is at hand: “Then Jael…took a tent peg, seized a hammer… and she drove the peg through his temple” (Judges 4:21). Her ordinary household implement becomes a weapon of decisive victory, celebrated in Judges 5:26. In Judges 16:14 Delilah weaves Samson’s locks into a loom and fastens them with a peg, revealing that pegs held looms as surely as they held tents.
Instrument of Deliverance and Judgment
The tent peg is twice an agent of divine triumph. Through Jael it crushes Sisera, delivering Israel from Canaanite oppression. Through Delilah it exposes Samson’s vulnerability, heralding judgment on a judge who had grown lax. In both narratives the peg unmasks the unseen sovereignty of the Lord: He can save or chasten by the simplest object.
Symbol of Security and Permanence
Ezra 9:8 rejoices that God has granted “a peg in His holy place,” a metaphor for a secure foothold for the returned remnant. Isaiah enlarges the imagery. “Look upon Zion… a tent that will not be moved; its stakes will never be pulled up” (Isaiah 33:20). So certain is Jerusalem’s ultimate peace that its tent pegs are declared immovable. The call to “drive your stakes deep” (Isaiah 54:2) summons the restored city to expansive faith, confident that what God secures no enemy can uproot.
Messianic and Eschatological Resonances
Isaiah 22 sets the peg within royal prophecy. Of Eliakim the Lord says, “I will drive him like a peg into a firm place” (Isaiah 22:23), prefiguring a dependable ruler who bears “all the glory of his father’s house.” Yet the passage ends, “The peg driven into a firm place will give way” (Isaiah 22:25), pushing the reader beyond any merely human fulfillment. Zechariah 10:4 resolves the tension: “From Judah will come the cornerstone, the tent peg, the battle bow.” The Messiah, springing from Judah, unites the imagery: cornerstone for the house, tent peg for the camp, battle bow for victory. In the New Testament age, Jesus Christ embodies the unshakable peg; in Him every promise is fastened and every burden may hang.
Ministry Applications
1. Stability in Truth. Like bronze pegs in holy ground, biblical doctrine must be driven deep, resisting the winds of relativism (Ephesians 4:14).
2. Readiness and Mobility. The pegs allowed swift striking or breaking of camp. Churches today must be equally anchored in Christ yet ready to move at His command (Acts 16:6-10).
3. Ordinary Instruments Made Mighty. Jael’s tent peg teaches that God often works through commonplace skills and tools when placed at His disposal (1 Corinthians 1:27).
4. Secure Hope. Believers possess “a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul” (Hebrews 6:19), echoing the prophetic peg imagery; assurance flows from Christ’s finished work, not personal merit.
5. Expansive Vision. Isaiah 54:2 invites ministries to lengthen cords and drive stakes deeper—growth coupled with depth—so that numerical enlargement never outruns spiritual foundation.
Thus יָתֵד traces a line from wilderness worship to eschatological glory, illustrating how the God who secures tents in the desert also secures the salvation of His people in Christ, the final and unfailing peg driven into a firm place.
Forms and Transliterations
בַּיָּתֵ֔ד ביתד הַיְתֵדֹ֞ת הַיְתַ֥ד הַיָּתֵ֔ד הַיָּתֵד֙ היתד היתדת וְהַיָּתֵ֖ד וְיָתֵ֛ד וִֽיתֵדֹתָם֙ וִיתֵדֹתֶ֑יהָ וִיתֵדֹתַ֖יִךְ וִיתֵדֹתָ֖ם והיתד ויתד ויתדתיה ויתדתיך ויתדתם יְתֵֽדֹתָיו֙ יְתֵדֹתָ֛יו יְתַ֨ד יִתְדֹ֥ת יִתְדֹ֧ת יָתֵ֔ד יָתֵ֖ד יתד יתדת יתדתיו לַיָּתֵ֣ד ליתד baiyaTed bay·yā·ṯêḏ bayyāṯêḏ haiyaTed hay·ṯaḏ hay·ṯê·ḏōṯ hay·yā·ṯêḏ hayTad hayṯaḏ hayteDot hayṯêḏōṯ hayyāṯêḏ laiyaTed lay·yā·ṯêḏ layyāṯêḏ vehaiyaTed veyaTed vitedoTam vitedoTayich vitedoTeiha wə·hay·yā·ṯêḏ wə·yā·ṯêḏ wəhayyāṯêḏ wəyāṯêḏ wî·ṯê·ḏō·ṯa·yiḵ wî·ṯê·ḏō·ṯām wî·ṯê·ḏō·ṯe·hā wîṯêḏōṯām wîṯêḏōṯayiḵ wîṯêḏōṯehā yā·ṯêḏ yaTed yāṯêḏ yə·ṯaḏ yə·ṯê·ḏō·ṯāw yeTad yəṯaḏ yetedoTav yəṯêḏōṯāw yiṯ·ḏōṯ yitDot yiṯḏōṯ
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