Strong's Number: H3254
Original Word: yasap
Usage Notes: "to add, continue, do again, increase, surpass." This verb occurs in the northwest Semitic dialects and Aramaic. It occurs in biblical Hebrew (around 210 times), post-biblical Hebrew, and in biblical Aramaic (once).
Basically, yasap signifies increasing the number of something. It may also be used to indicate adding one thing to another, e.g., "And if a man eat of the holy thing unwittingly, then he shall put the fifth part thereof unto it, and shall give it unto the priest …" (Lev 22:14).
This verb may be used to signify the repetition of an act stipulated by another verb. For example, the dove that Noah sent out "returned not again" (Gen 8:12). Usually the repeated action is indicated by an infinitive absolute, preceded by the preposition le, "And he did not have relations with her again." Literally, this reads "And he did not add again [‘ôd] to knowing her [intimately]" (Gen 38:26). In some contexts yasap means "to heighten," but with no suggestion of numerical increase. God says, "The meek also shall increase [yasap] their joy in the Lord …" (Isa 29:19). This same emphasis appears in Psa 71:14: "… and will yet praise thee more and more [yasap] or literally, "And I will add to all Thy praises." In such cases, more than an additional quantity of joy or praise is meant. The author is referring to a new quality of joy or praise, i.e., a heightening of them. Another meaning of yasap is "to surpass." The Queen of Sheba told Solomon, "Thy wisdom and prosperity exceedeth the fame which I heard," or literally, "You add [with respect to] wisdom and prosperity to the report which I heard" (1Kings 10:7).
This verb may also be used in convenantal formulas, e.g., Ruth summoned God's curse upon herself by saying, "The Lord do so to me, and more also [yasap], if ought but death part thee and me," or literally, "Thus may the Lord do to me, and thus may he add, if …" (Ruth 1:17; cf. Lev 26; Deut. 27-28).
