לָמַד

From the study of Jeremiah 31:34

Range of meaning

Basic (qal) form: to learn, be trained. Intensive (piel) form: to teach, train, drill, accustom someone to something. It is used for training in war (Judg 3:2), for teaching the statutes (Deut 4:1, 5, 14), and for teaching the young to fear YHWH (Deut 4:10; 31:12–13).

Against the English

English 'teach' is accurate. The Hebrew carries a sense of repeated training, practice drilled until it becomes habit.

Used elsewhere in the period

Deuteronomy, which shaped Jeremiah's world, makes teaching the covenant a household duty (Deut 11:19). Jeremiah uses the same verb for bad training: Judah 'taught their tongue to speak lies' (9:5 ET), followed the Baals 'as their fathers taught them' (9:14 ET), and others 'taught my people to swear by Baal' (12:16).

From the study of Jeremiah 10:2

Range of meaning

To learn, to be trained, to become accustomed. The passive participle limmud means 'trained, used to' (Jer 2:24, a wild donkey 'used to the wilderness'; Jer 13:23, 'you who are accustomed to do evil').

Against the English

'Learn' (most versions) can sound purely intellectual, as if the issue were studying. YLT's 'accustom not yourselves' captures the sense of habit.

Used elsewhere in the period

Deut 18:9 ('do not learn to do like the abominations of those nations'). Psalm 106:35 ('they mixed with the nations and learned their works'). Jeremiah 12:16 (nations learning Israel's ways). It is the same root behind later talmid (disciple) and Talmud.

From the study of Isaiah 48:17

Range of meaning

In the basic stem it means 'to learn'. In the intensive stem used here it means 'to teach, train, drill', including training for war (Judg 3:2; Ps 18:34) and above all teaching the covenant's statutes so they are lived out (Deut 4:1, 5, 10, 14; 5:31). Its noun derivatives include talmid, 'pupil'.

Against the English

English 'teach' can suggest passing on information. The Hebrew sense is formation by repeated training, aimed at doing, not just knowing.

Used elsewhere in the period

Deut 4–6 (teaching statutes); Ps 25:4–5, 9 ('teach me your paths… make me tread [hadrikheni] in your truth'), which pairs lamad and darak exactly as here. Ps 32:8 is close in thought: 'I will teach you in the way you should go' (bederekh-zu telekh). Isa 40:14 asks who ever 'taught' YHWH 'the path of justice'. No one did, and here he is the teacher. Isa 54:13: 'all your children shall be taught [limmude] by YHWH'.