Yehudah is the name of the fourth son of Jacob and Leah, derived from the verb yadah (to praise, to give thanks). Leah named him saying, "This time I will praise the LORD" (Genesis 29:35). Judah became the ancestor of the tribe from which David and ultimately Jesus descended. The southern kingdom after Solomon's division also bore this name.
Judah's trajectory in Genesis is one of the Bible's most compelling character arcs: from cowardly complicity in selling Joseph (Genesis 37) to self-sacrificing intercession for Benjamin (Genesis 44:33–34). This transformation becomes the prototype of true repentance and leadership. The messianic blessing of Genesis 49:8–12 declares that the scepter will not depart from Judah — a promise fulfilled in Jesus, the "Lion of the tribe of Judah" (Revelation 5:5). Judah's name meaning (praise) foreshadows a kingdom marked by worship.