tablet
lu.ach denotes a tablet or panel: chiefly stone tablets bearing written words, and also boards or surfaces for building and inscription.
The dominant use denotes paired stone tablets that receive written words, are carried, broken, replaced, and placed in an ark. Other verses use the term for construction panels or boards, surfaces used for writing, and figurative inner surfaces described as a heart.
Senses in use
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Stone tablets bearing written words · dominant
In Exodus 32:15, the plural construct forms occur with two tablets in Moses' hand, described in the APB as inscribed on both sides. Exodus 32:16 has plural absolute forms where the writing is engraved on the tablets, while Deuteronomy 10:2 describes words written on them and their placement in the ark.
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Construction panel or board · common
In 1 Kings 7:36, the plural absolute form is the surface on which cherubim, lions, and palm trees are engraved. Exodus 27:8 and Exodus 38:7 use plural absolute forms in descriptions of hollow construction, and Song of Songs 8:9 refers to a cedar plank.
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Surface for a written record · occasional
Habakkuk 2:2 places the plural absolute form after the command to write the vision and make it plain. Isaiah 30:8 uses the singular absolute form in the command to write before the people, with a scroll also named in the verse.
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Figurative tablet of the heart · occasional
In Proverbs 3:3 and Proverbs 7:3, the singular construct form occurs in the instruction to write what is commanded upon the tablet of the heart. Jeremiah 17:1 likewise uses the singular construct form for the tablet of Judah's heart, where sin is said to be engraved.
In the Anselm Project Bible: The APB commonly renders the term “tablets” in passages about stone objects bearing written words, such as Exodus 32:15 and Deuteronomy 10:2. Elsewhere it uses “panels,” “boards,” “plank,” or “tablet”; These renderings only indicate the verse-level presentation.