Properly, to goad , i.e. (by implication) to teach (the rod being an Oriental incentive )
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לָמַד (lāmad) expresses learning in the Qal stem and teaching or training in the Piel stem. Stem labels describe attested grammatical patterns; Piel should not be reduced to a universal causative-intensive formula.
Reader summary
Full entry for לָמַד (H3925) · Open the biblical lexicon
לָמַד (lāmad) expresses learning in the Qal stem and teaching or training in the Piel stem. Stem labels describe attested grammatical patterns; Piel should not be reduced to a universal causative-intensive formula.
The BSB source-word alignment has 86 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include teach me (7), Learn (5), . . . (4), Teach (4), and teach (3).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Deuteronomy 4:1. Its strongest book concentrations include Psalms (27), Deuteronomy (17), Jeremiah (13), Isaiah (9).
This entry includes 5 verse guides that explain exact original-language forms in context.
לָמַד (lāmad) expresses learning in the Qal stem and teaching or training in the Piel stem. Stem labels describe attested grammatical patterns; Piel should not be reduced to a universal causative-intensive formula. The verb can refer to learning commands, practices, skills, warfare, or foreign ways, so neither learning nor teaching is morally positive apart from its object and context.
Deuteronomy 4:1 and 6:1 describe Moses teaching statutes and commandments, while Deuteronomy 5:1 calls Israel to learn them and do them. These direct H3925 uses connect instruction with attentive hearing and practiced obedience. Deuteronomy 6:7 uses a different verb, H8150, for diligently impressing the words on children; it belongs to the same book context but should not be cited as an H3925 occurrence.
Psalm 25:4 asks the Lord to teach his paths, and Psalm 119:71 says affliction became an occasion for learning the Lord's statutes. The latter does not make suffering a necessary or inherently good method of instruction. Jeremiah 10:2 warns Israel not to learn the way of the nations in the specific context of fear before celestial signs and the practices described in the following verses.
Isaiah 50:4 uses H3928 לִמּוּד, a related noun for those who are taught or are disciples, not H3925 itself. The lexical relationship can support a carefully labeled word-family connection, but the verse must not be listed as a direct occurrence of this Strong's identity. Traditional lexica also associate the root with directing by a goad; that proposal should not control the meaning of passages where the attested sense is simply learning or teaching.
The local artifact counts about 87 H3925 occurrences. The verb's learn and teach patterns appear prominently in Deuteronomy and Psalms, while prophetic uses can describe either faithful instruction or learning practices the Lord forbids.
Listen to the statutes and ordinances I am teaching you to follow.
Moses teaches Israel in preparation for life in the land. Hearing, learning, and doing belong together in the immediate exhortation.
Learn them and carefully observe them.
The Qal form describes Israel learning the statutes, and the coordinated command makes practice rather than information alone the intended result.
These are the commandments, statutes, and ordinances the Lord your God has instructed me to teach you.
The Piel infinitive describes Moses' teaching commission. The Shema follows in the same chapter, while verse 7's child-instruction verb is H8150 rather than H3925.
Show me Your ways, O Lord; teach me Your paths.
The psalmist addresses the Lord as teacher. Path language joins instruction with the life the petitioner seeks to walk.
It was good for me to be afflicted, that I might learn Your statutes.
The speaker testifies that affliction became an occasion for learning. This personal confession does not establish suffering as the required means of all formation.
Do not learn the way of the nations.
Learning can form people in a forbidden direction. The immediate oracle focuses on celestial fear and the practices described in the ensuing comparison with idols and the Lord.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Verse-level guides showing how this original-language form works in its specific context, including grammar, verse function, and guarded interpretation.
Hebrew word. Teaching rooted in disciplinary correction; learning through habituation and practiced exercise, not mere information transfer.
Teaching rooted in disciplinary correction; learning through habituation and practiced exercise, not mere information transfer.
properly, to goad, i.e. (by implication) to teach (the rod being an Oriental incentive) BDB: exercise in Usage: (un-) accustomed, × diligently, expert, instruct, learn, skilful, teach(-er, -ing).
How the stem changes the meaning of this verb across the biblical text.
This verb appears through different tense, voice, mood, or stem patterns. Those forms help readers see how the action is presented in context.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 1 selected witness from 87 lexical occurrence verses.
לָמַד is a primitive root - no further derivation.
Judgment is intended to instruct, yet the wicked refuse.Isaiah 26:7-11
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Lāmad helps teachers present learning as receptive and practiced formation without pretending that the verb always means whole-life discipleship. Deuteronomy explicitly joins learning with careful doing, Psalms place the learner before the Lord as teacher, and Jeremiah shows that people can also learn disordered practices. The object of learning and the authority of the teacher therefore matter as much as the action itself.
Lexical precision strengthens this theme. Deuteronomy 6:7 uses H8150 for impressing words on children, Isaiah 50:4 uses the related H3928 noun for the taught, and Proverbs 22:6 uses another verb for training a child. Those passages may contribute to a canonical theology of formation, but they should be labeled as contextual or word-family parallels rather than silently counted as H3925 occurrences.
New Testament learning and teaching language offers conceptual continuity without a one-to-one lexical chain.
Deut.6.1
Qal forms commonly express learning, while Piel forms commonly express teaching. The related noun H3928 identifies the taught or a disciple. A proposed association with a cattle goad appears in traditional lexical discussion, but it should be treated as etymological background rather than the semantic core imposed on every H3925 occurrence.
The New Testament's learning, disciple, and teaching vocabulary supports a broader canonical theology of formation. Matthew 11:29 and 28:20 are important parallels, but the Greek verbs do not create a direct lexical continuation of H3925. Any connection should rest on shared teaching themes and explicit passage relationships.