Hebrew word · H3854

לַ֫הַג

velahag

study

Found only here, so its meaning is inferred. Proposals: (1) 'study, devotion to learning', compared with Arabic lahija, 'to be devoted to, attached to' (BDB); (2) linked with hagah, 'to murmur, recite, meditate' (Ps 1:2), so 'reciting/poring over texts'; (3) 'talk, chatter', a minority view.

Appears once in the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

study, studying, devotion to study

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 Ecclesiastes 12:12

Range of meaning

Found only here, so its meaning is inferred. Proposals: (1) 'study, devotion to learning', compared with Arabic lahija, 'to be devoted to, attached to' (BDB); (2) linked with hagah, 'to murmur, recite, meditate' (Ps 1:2), so 'reciting/poring over texts'; (3) 'talk, chatter', a minority view.

Against the English

All the major English versions say 'study' (NASB: 'excessive devotion to books'). That is a fair guess, but modern 'study' suggests silent reading and research. Ancient study meant reciting and memorising texts aloud.

How it drifted

This is uncertainty more than drift: 'study' comes from the ancient versions, not from other biblical uses.

Used elsewhere in the period

LXX meletē, 'practice, meditation, study'; Vulgate meditatio. Rabbinic tradition (e.g. Jerusalem Talmud, Sanhedrin 10:1) linked the word to hagah, 'to recite', reading the verse as 'they were given for reciting, not for wearying the flesh'.

Where it appears

Ecclesiastes · 1

  1. Ecclesiastes 12:12 וְלַ֥הַג and study

    And by these, my son, be further warned: There is no end to the making of many books, and much study wearies the body.

    Here: A word found only here in the Bible. Ancient translations took it as 'meditation' or 'study'. It probably means intense absorption in texts, possibly reading or reciting them aloud, which was how study was done.

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