Word study
Teach
6 Hebrew and 7 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: teach, teaching, taught, teaches, teachings. English often uses one word where Hebrew or Greek has several, each with its own shade of meaning. Under each word are verses where it is translated this way; choose the word itself for its full study: every verse, how else it is translated, the forms it takes and what the dictionaries say.
At a glance
How often each original word is translated “teach” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side Compare the Greek words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- לָמַד lâmadexercise in, learntranslated this way 47 times of its 82 uses · Strong’s H3925Verb · Translated: teach 29, learn 14, taught 13, trains 3Full study and all 78 verses →
Deuteronomy 4:1 Hear now, O Israel, the statutes and ordinances I am teaching you to follow, so that you may live and may enter and take possession of the land that the LORD, the God of your fathers, is giving you.
Judges 3:2 if only to teach warfare to the subsequent generations of Israel, especially to those who had not known it formerly:
- יָרָה yârâhthrow, shoottranslated this way 28 times of its 78 uses · Strong’s H3384Verb · Translated: teach 20, shoot 9, instruct 6, shot 5Full study and all 72 verses →
Exodus 4:12 Now go! I will help you as you speak, and I will teach you what to say.”
Leviticus 10:11 so that you may teach the Israelites all the statutes that the LORD has given them through Moses.”
- יָדַע yâdaknowtranslated this way 9 times of its 914 uses · Strong’s H3045Verb · Translated: know 453, known 53, knows 48, knew 38Full study and all 863 verses →
Deuteronomy 4:9 Only be on your guard and diligently watch yourselves, so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen, and so that they do not slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and grandchildren.
1 Samuel 14:12 So the men of the outpost called out to Jonathan and his armor-bearer, “Come on up, and we will teach you a lesson!” “Follow me,” Jonathan told his armor-bearer, “for the LORD has delivered them into the hand of Israel.”
- תּוֹרָה tôrâhdirection, instruction, lawtranslated this way 6 times of its 220 uses · Strong’s H8451Noun · Translated: law 173, instruction 17, laws 15, teaching 5Full study and all 214 verses →
Proverbs 1:8 Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction, and do not forsake the teaching of your mother.
Proverbs 3:1 My son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments;
- אָלַף âlaphlearntranslated this way 2 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s H502Verb · Translated: instructs 1, teach 1, teaches 1, learn 1Full study and all 4 verses →
Job 33:33 But if not, then listen to me; be quiet, and I will teach you wisdom.”
Job 35:11 who teaches us more than the beasts of the earth and makes us wiser than the birds of the air?’
- לֶקַח leqachlearning, teachingtranslated this way 2 times of its 9 uses · Strong’s H3948Noun · Translated: instruction 3, teaching 2, doctrine 1, persuasion 1Full study and all 9 verses →
Deuteronomy 32:2 Let my teaching fall like rain and my speech settle like dew, like gentle rain on new grass, like showers on tender plants.
Proverbs 4:2 For I give you sound teaching; do not abandon my directive.
Greek words (New Testament)
- διδάσκω didáskōI teachtranslated this way 94 times of its 97 uses · Strong’s G1321Verb · Translated: teach 34, teaching 26, taught 24, began to teach 5Full study and all 91 verses →
Matthew 4:23 Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people.
Mark 1:21 Then Jesus and His companions went to Capernaum, and right away Jesus entered the synagogue on the Sabbath and began to teach.
- διδαχή didachḗteaching, doctrinetranslated this way 28 times of its 30 uses · Strong’s G1322Noun · Translated: teaching 26, instruction 2, taught 1, teachings 1Full study and all 29 verses →
Matthew 7:28 When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were astonished at His teaching,
Mark 1:22 The people were astonished at His teaching, because He taught as one who had authority, and not as the scribes.
- διδασκαλία didaskalíainstruction, teachingtranslated this way 14 times of its 21 uses · Strong’s G1319Noun · Translated: teaching 11, doctrine 4, instruction 3, teachings 2Full study and all 21 verses →
Romans 12:7 if it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach;
Ephesians 4:14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed about by the waves and carried around by every wind of teaching and by the clever cunning of men in their deceitful scheming.
- λόγος lógosa word, speech, divine utterance, analogytranslated this way 3 times of its 311 uses · Strong’s G3056Noun · Translated: word 142, words 52, message 32, account 10Full study and all 298 verses →
John 6:60 On hearing it, many of His disciples said, “This is a difficult teaching. Who can accept it?”
2 Timothy 1:13 Hold on to the pattern of sound teaching you have heard from me, with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.
- διδακτός didaktóstaught, instructedtranslated this way 3 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s G1318Adjective · Translated: taught 3Full study and all 2 verses →
John 6:45 It is written in the Prophets: ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from Him comes to Me —
1 Corinthians 2:13 And this is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom, but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.
- ἑτεροδιδασκαλέω heterodidaskaléōI teach different thingstranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s G2085Verb · Translated: teach false doctrines 1, teaches another doctrine 1Full study and all 2 verses →
1 Timothy 1:3 As I urged you on my departure to Macedonia, you should stay on at Ephesus to instruct certain men not to teach false doctrines
1 Timothy 6:3 If anyone teaches another doctrine and disagrees with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and with godly teaching,
- διδακτικός didaktikósable to teach, apt to teachtranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s G1317Adjective · Translated: able to teach 2Full study and all 2 verses →
1 Timothy 3:2 An overseer, then, must be above reproach, the husband of but one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach,
2 Timothy 2:24 And a servant of the Lord must not be quarrelsome, but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, and forbearing.
How to study a word well
- Start from the verse, not the dictionary. Find which Hebrew or Greek word stands in the verse you are studying. One English word often translates several different original words.
- Read every place the word is used. A word means what its writers used it to mean. The list of verses and the count by book show its range, and who uses it most.
- Look at how it is translated. A word rendered five different ways has a wider meaning than any one English word can carry.
- Notice the form. A command is not a statement, and a passive verb is something done to the subject. The form in your verse is part of the meaning.
- See what it keeps company with. The words that appear beside it again and again show how the Bible itself connects ideas.
- Then read the dictionaries. They give the considered view of scholars, with their evidence.
- Come back to the verse. Context decides. A word does not carry every one of its meanings into every verse, and where a word came from does not settle what it means in a sentence written centuries later.
Scripture text and translation counts: Berean Standard Bible. Full entry: Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906, public domain), in the digital edition Brown-Driver-Briggs Enhanced by unfoldingWord (Joel Ruark, J. de Joode), based on data by Eliran Wong and Stephen Ku; its additions are used under CC BY 4.0. Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary: Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible Project, CC BY 4.0. Hebrew-to-English verse numbering: original work of the Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible available at https://github.com/openscriptures/morphhb, CC BY 4.0. We reformatted the data, linked the references to this site’s Bible text and left out words in other scripts that the source holds only as images. These are historical reference works; an entry gives its authors’ view, and a word’s meaning in any verse depends on how it is used there.