Hebrew word · H8637
תִּרְגַּל
tirgalti
to teach
"Made to go on foot," "taught to walk." The verb is built from the common noun regel, "foot," and this is its only appearance in the Hebrew Bible. Its meaning comes from that root and from the context of a child in verses 1–4.
Appears once in the Hebrew Old Testament. ·
What it means
1) to go on foot, spy out, cause to walk
1a) (Tiphel) to teach to walk
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
- Range of meaning
"Made to go on foot," "taught to walk." The verb is built from the common noun regel, "foot," and this is its only appearance in the Hebrew Bible. Its meaning comes from that root and from the context of a child in verses 1–4.
- Against the English
"Taught to walk" (BSB, WEB) gets the sense well. KJV's "to go" is older English for the same idea. YLT's "caused … to go on foot" keeps the foot in view. NJPS departs from this with "pampered," reading the word as general childcare.
- How it drifted
No real drift, but "taught" can suggest instruction by words. This word is about hands, balance and a child's first steps. It also has nothing directly to do with the later religious idiom of one's "walk" with God, which in Hebrew uses a different verb (halakh).
- Used elsewhere in the period
Found only here. Its form is rare: a causative with an initial t-, closer to Aramaic patterns and comparable to a verb in Jeremiah 12:5 and 22:15 (GKC §55h). The Septuagint's synepodisa means "I bound the feet," and the Vulgate paraphrases with "like a foster-parent" (nutritius). Those differences suggest ancient translators found the word difficult.
Where it appears
Hosea · 1
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Hosea 11:3 תִרְגַּ֙לְתִּי֙ I taught to walk
It was I who taught Ephraim to walk, taking them by the arms, but they never realized that it was I who healed them.
Here: A verb built from the word for "foot" (regel), found only here. It pictures a parent getting a toddler up on its feet, which is physical and patient work, not a lesson in words.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.