H3948 H3948
Learning, teaching, or instruction received; also persuasiveness or the alluring power of speech.
Derived from the root laqach ('to take, receive'), this noun captures knowledge as something received and internalized. Moses likens his teaching to rain that soaks the earth (Deut 32:2), and Proverbs repeatedly commends the wise person who 'increases learning' (Prov 1:5; 9:9). The word can denote both the subjective acquisition of knowledge (what the learner gains) and the objective content being taught (what the teacher gives, as in Prov 4:2). A striking secondary sense appears in Proverbs 7:21, where the seductress overcomes her victim with her leqach -- not instruction but persuasiveness, the dangerous power of compelling speech.
Senses
1. teaching, instruction, learning — The core sense of teaching, instruction, or learning -- knowledge that is received and absorbed. Subjectively, it is what a wise person accumulates: 'a wise man will hear and increase learning' (Prov 1:5; 9:9). Objectively, it is the content transmitted: Moses' teaching drops like rain (Deut 32:2), and Job asserts 'my teaching is pure' (Job 11:4). Proverbs 4:2 and Isaiah 29:24 further confirm this double perspective. Arabic laqah ('understanding') and the consistent multilingual rendering as 'instruction/enseignement/enseñanza' anchor the sense. 8×
AR["تَعْليمي", "تَعْليمًا", "تَعْلِيمِي", "عِلْمًا"]·ben["আমার-শিক্ষা", "শিক্ষা", "শিক্ষায়"]·DE["[לקחי]", "mein-teaching", "nahm"]·EN["in-learning", "instruction", "learning", "my-teaching", "teaching", "teaching-my"]·FR["[לקח]", "instruction", "mon-instruction-moi", "mon-teaching"]·heb["לקח", "לקחי"]·HI["मेरी-शिक्षा", "शिक्षा", "शिक्षा-को", "सीख"]·ID["ajaran", "ajaranku", "pelajaran", "pengajaran"]·IT["in-learning", "learning", "mio-teaching", "prese", "teaching", "teaching-my-mio"]·jav["piwulang", "piwulang-Kawula", "piwulang-kawula"]·KO["교훈을", "나의-가르침-은", "내-가르침이", "배움을", "학식-을"]·PT["ensinamento", "ensino", "meu-ensinamento", "meu-ensino"]·RU["наставлению", "учение", "учение,", "учение-моё"]·ES["aprendizaje", "enseñanza", "es-mi-doctrina,", "mi-enseñanza", "persuasión"]·SW["elimu", "mafundisho", "mafundisho-yangu", "mafunzo"]·TR["ders", "öğrenmesini", "öğrenmeyi", "öğretim", "öğretisi", "öğretiyi"]·urd["تعلیم", "سبق", "سیکھنا", "میری-تعلیم", "میری-تعلیم-ہے"]
2. persuasiveness, persuasion — A specialized sense of persuasiveness or alluring speech-power, attested in Proverbs 7:21 where the seductress overcomes her victim 'with her persuasion' (liqqachah). Here leqach is no longer neutral instruction but the seductive force of compelling words -- what Proverbs 16:21 calls the 'persuasiveness' that sweetness of lips increases. The shift from received wisdom to manipulative eloquence is subtle but lexically real, marked by context and confirmed by the Spanish persuasion and English 'her-persuasion' in the translation evidence. 1×
AR["عِلْمِهَا"]·ben["তার-প্ররোচনা"]·DE["[לקחה]"]·EN["her-persuasion"]·FR["sa-instruction-elle"]·heb["לקחה"]·HI["सीख-अपनी-से"]·ID["bujuk-rayunya"]·IT["sua-persuasion-sua"]·jav["piwulang"]·KO["그녀-의-학식-의"]·PT["seu-ensino"]·RU["уговоров-своих,"]·ES["persuasión-de-ella"]·SW["ushawishi-wake"]·TR["ikna-gücünün-onun"]·urd["کلام-اُس-کے"]
Related Senses
H3808 1. simple negation (not) (4839×)G1722 1. locative: in, within (2442×)H1004b 1. house, dwelling, building (2015×)G3756 1. not (negation particle) (1635×)H4480a 1. source or separation (1198×)H5892b 1. city, town (1093×)G1519 1. direction: into, to, toward (1061×)H3427 1. Qal: to dwell, inhabit (937×)G1537 1. from, out of (source/origin) (886×)H8034 1. Name (designation / identifier) (856×)G3361 1. subjective negation (not) (834×)G1909 1. on, upon (spatial surface) (757×)H0369 1. existential negation: there is not (738×)H5869a 1. in the eyes/sight of (evaluative) (734×)H5650 1. Servant, attendant, subject (723×)H0408 1. prohibitive negation do-not (712×)G2443 1. so that, in order that (purpose/result) (665×)G0575 1. from (649×)G1223 1. through, by means of (582×)H3541 1. thus, so, in this manner (569×)
BDB / Lexicon Reference
† לֶ֫קַח n.m. Pr 4:2 learning, teaching (concrete; prob. what is received);—ל׳ abs. Is 29:24 + 5 times; sf. לִקְחִי Dt 32:2 Jb 11:4; לִקְחָהּ Pr 7:21;— 1. instruction, subjective, as personal acquirement; יִלְמְדוּ לֶ֑קַח Is 29:24; they shall learn instruction (‖ בִּינָה); וְיוֹסֶף לֶ֑קַח Pr 1:5 a wise man will hear and will increase (his) learning, so 9:9. 2. teaching, obj., as thing taught,…