Original Word: לִמּוּד
Part of Speech: Adjective
Transliteration: limmuwd
Pronunciation: lim-MOOD
Phonetic Spelling: (lim-mood')
KJV: accustomed, disciple, learned, taught, used
NASB: accustomed, disciples, disciple, taught
Word Origin: [from H3925 (לָמַד - teach)]

1. instructed

instructed

Or limmud {lim-mood'}; from lamad; instructed:

see HEBREW lamad

Word Origin
from lamad
Definition
taught
NASB Translation
accustomed (2), disciple (1), disciples (2), taught (1).

לִמֻּד adjective taught; — ׳ל Jeremiah 2:24; plural לִמּוּדִים Isaiah 50:4 (twice in verse); construct לִמּוּדֵי Isaiah 54:13; לִמֻּדֵי Jeremiah 13:23; suffix לִמֻּדַי Isaiah 8:16; —

1 taught, as disciples Isaiah 8:16; Isaiah 50:4 (twice in verse); Isaiah 54:13.

2 accustomed to something, לִמֻּד מִדְבָּר Jeremiah 2:24 (wild ass) accustomed to the wilderness; לִמֻּדֵי הָרֵעַ Jeremiah 13:23 accustomed to do evil.

Scope of Usage

לִמּוּד describes a person or creature formed by repeated instruction or habit. The context determines whether the outcome is commendable (“disciple,” “taught of the LORD”) or ruinous (“accustomed to evil”). The term therefore highlights the formative power of whatever voice one consistently heeds.

Occurrences in Isaiah

• Isaiah 8:16 portrays a remnant who receive and guard revelation: “Bind up the testimony and seal the law among My disciples.” Their defining mark is teachability, and through them the prophetic word is preserved for future generations.
• Isaiah 50:4 twice employs the word in the Servant Song. “The Lord GOD has given Me a tongue of those who are instructed … He awakens My ear to listen like those being instructed.” The Servant embodies the perfectly taught disciple whose obedient ear equips a life-giving tongue.
• Isaiah 54:13 projects the blessing to Zion reborn: “All your sons will be taught by the LORD, and great will be their prosperity.” Here limmud anticipates the New Covenant promise that divine instruction will be inward and universal among God’s people (compare Jeremiah 31:33-34).

Occurrences in Jeremiah

• Jeremiah 2:24 compares Judah’s idolatry to “a wild donkey accustomed to the wilderness.” Habitual sin has rendered the nation untamable.
• Jeremiah 13:23 presses the indictment: “Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? Neither can you do good—you who are accustomed to doing evil.” The prophet exposes the bondage created by entrenched practice, underscoring the need for a radical, God-wrought change of heart.

Prophetic and Messianic Dimensions

Isaiah 50:4 shows the Messianic Servant as the consummate limmud—always listening, always obedient. His example validates the pattern later enjoined upon believers: “learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart” (Matthew 11:29). The word arc from Isaiah 8 to Isaiah 54 moves from a small circle of disciples to a worldwide family educated directly by God, fulfilled in the outpouring of the Spirit (John 14:26).

Warning Against Sinful Habituation

Jeremiah’s usage demonstrates that failure to submit to divine teaching results in enslavement to contrary influences. What one repeatedly does becomes what one unreflectively is. The contrast between Isaiah and Jeremiah is not contradictory but complementary: Scripture upholds both the possibility of gracious formation and the peril of self-corruption.

Historical Background

In the ancient Near East, instruction was largely oral and relational. A limmud sat at the teacher’s feet, absorbing words, manner, and values. The Hebrew prophets leveraged this cultural expectation to address the covenant community: Israel must choose whose pupil she will be.

Discipleship and Ministry Application

1. Teachability is prerequisite for usefulness. Leaders must themselves remain limmud, allowing God’s Word to shape their speech, as modeled by the Servant.
2. The church’s calling to “make disciples” (Matthew 28:19) continues the limmud motif; believers are formed by persistent exposure to Scripture and obedient practice.
3. Pastoral care mirrors Isaiah 50:4, sustaining the weary with words gained in the morning classroom of prayerful listening.
4. Habitual sin must be confronted early. Patterns allowed to harden demand the regenerating work of the Spirit, for no merely human effort can erase the ingrained spots of Jeremiah 13:23.

Summary

לִמּוּד traces a line from devoted pupil, through the perfectly instructed Servant, to the Spirit-taught community, while simultaneously warning against habits that estrange from God. Its six appearances invite every reader to ask: whose disciple am I becoming, and what legacy will my learned habits leave?

בְּלִמֻּדָֽי׃ בלמדי׃ כַּלִּמּוּדִֽים׃ כלמודים׃ לִמֻּ֣ד לִמֻּדֵ֖י לִמּוּדִ֔ים לִמּוּדֵ֣י למד למדי למודי למודים bə·lim·mu·ḏāy belimmuDai bəlimmuḏāy kal·lim·mū·ḏîm kallimmuDim kallimmūḏîm lim·mu·ḏê lim·mū·ḏê lim·mū·ḏîm lim·muḏ limMud limmuḏ limmuḏê limmūḏê limmuDei limmuDim limmūḏîmInterlinear Greek • Interlinear Hebrew • Strong's Numbers • Englishman's Greek Concordance • Englishman's Hebrew Concordance • Parallel Texts