Hebrew word · H2924

טָלֶה

teleh

lamb

'A lamb of milk', a lamb still nursing, so only days or weeks old. Lev 22:27 sets the minimum age for a sacrificial animal at the eighth day.

Appears 2 times in 2 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

lamb

Also means: te.la (טְלָא "lamb" H2922)

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of 1 Samuel 7:9

Range of meaning

'A lamb of milk', a lamb still nursing, so only days or weeks old. Lev 22:27 sets the minimum age for a sacrificial animal at the eighth day.

Against the English

KJV says 'sucking lamb', BSB/WEB/NIV 'suckling lamb', ESV 'nursing lamb'. YLT's 'fat lamb' reads the same consonants as chelev, 'fat'.

Used elsewhere in the period

The Septuagint has arna galathēnon, 'a suckling lamb', which supports the 'milk' reading. The Vulgate has agnum lactentem.

Where it appears

1 Samuel · 1

  1. 1 Samuel 7:9 טְלֵ֤ה a lamb of

    Then Samuel took a suckling lamb and offered it as a whole burnt offering to the LORD. He cried out to the LORD on behalf of Israel, and the LORD answered him.

    Here: A rare word for a young lamb, here in the 'lamb of …' form. Elsewhere it appears only as the lamb lying with the wolf (Isa 65:25) and in the plural for the lambs the shepherd carries (Isa 40:11).

Isaiah · 1

  1. Isaiah 65:25 וְטָלֶ֜ה and lamb

    The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, but the food of the serpent will be dust. They will neither harm nor destroy on all My holy mountain,” says the LORD.

    Here: A young lamb, elsewhere a 'suckling lamb' (1 Sam 7:9): the most defenceless animal in the flock, set right beside its natural killer.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.