The Hebrew noun daat (דַּעַת) comes from the verb yada (H3045, to know) and signifies knowledge, understanding, or experiential discernment. It encompasses both intellectual understanding and intimate, relational knowing.
The 'tree of the knowledge (daat) of good and evil' (Genesis 2:17) introduces this word with cosmic weight — the knowledge that God withheld was not merely information but the autonomous right to define good and evil independently of God. In contrast, the fear of the LORD is described as 'the beginning of knowledge (daat)' (Proverbs 1:7) — true knowledge is grounded in divine relationship. God declares through Hosea: 'My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge (daat)' (Hosea 4:6). Biblical knowledge is fundamentally relational and covenantal, not merely propositional.