Lexicon
אָלַף
a.laph
H0502
H:V Hebrew

to teach/learn

4
Occurrences
2
Books
Hebrew
Language

a.laph describes teaching someone, or learning a way from another person.

The attested Piel forms describe teaching: a lip teaches iniquity, a speaker offers wisdom, and God teaches through animals and birds. The Qal form describes learning another person's way, in a warning against adopting it.

Senses in use

  1. Teaching or instructing · dominant

    In Job 15:5, the Piel imperfect has the speaker's lip teaching iniquity; in Job 33:33, the first-person Piel imperfect introduces an offer to teach wisdom. Job 35:11 uses a Piel active participle for the one who teaches through the animals of the land and birds of heaven.

  2. Learning another's way · rare

    In Proverbs 22:25, the Qal imperfect occurs in a warning that the addressee might learn another person's way and so take a snare for his soul.

In the Anselm Project Bible: The APB renders the Piel-clause contexts with “teaches” and “I will teach,” while Proverbs 22:25 has “learn.” These renderings confirm the verse-level contrast between instructing and learning rather than fix a separate English equivalent for every form.

Passages featuring this word

Across Scripture