yara · shoot, throw; teach

What it means

yara (יָרָה) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “shoot, throw; teach”.

Throw, cast, shoot arrows; also set or lay. From the same root comes "teach" (point out the way).

How to say it

Approximate pronunciation. Vowels sound as in Spanish (a as in father, e as in bed, i as in machine, o as in note, u as in rule); the syllable in bold is stressed. The voice is your device's.

Its senses in the Bible

1. To hurl something, or set it firmly in place, like a stone.
2. To loose arrows from a bow and wound with them.
3. To show someone the way he should go; to instruct him.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

To throw, cast, shoot arrows; from there to point out, show the way and instruct. From this root comes תּוֹרָה, “instruction” (H8451). BDB: to flow as water; from there to throw, shoot; figuratively, to point out, teach.

• Casting into the sea; shooting arrows Exodus 15:41 Samuel 20:202 Chronicles 26:15
• Setting up a standing stone Genesis 31:51
• “I… will teach you what you shall speak” Exodus 4:12
• The priests teach the law Leviticus 10:11Deuteronomy 33:10
• YHWH “instructs sinners in the way” Psalms 25:8

How we translate it

“Teach” 24 times, “shoot” 10, “instruct” 7, “shot” 7, “archers” 6, “teacher” 4. הוֹרָה is “teach” or “instruct”, and the reason shows in the text: it is of the same root as תּוֹרָה, “instruction” (“your rules to Jacob and your instruction to Israel”, Deuteronomy 33:10); with arrows, “shoot” (1 Samuel 20:20; “shot {with arrows}”, Exodus 19:13).

How it is translated

The words this translation uses for it, most frequent first.

• teach ×24
• shoot ×10
• instruct ×7
• shot ×7
• archers ×6
• teacher ×4
• teaches ×3
• he has cast ×2
• they instruct you ×2
• I have instructed you ×1
• others ×18

Related words

Words of the same family, by Strong’s numbering.

Where it appears

• Genesis×2
• Exodus×8
• Leviticus×2
• Numbers×1
• Deuteronomy×4
• Joshua×1
• Judges×1
• 1 Samuel×7
• 2 Samuel×3
• 1 Kings×1
• 2 Kings×6
• 1 Chronicles×2
• 2 Chronicles×5
• Job×9
• Psalms×12
• Proverbs×6
• Isaiah×7
• Ezekiel×1
• Hosea×2
• Micah×2
• Habakkuk×2

• Genesis 31:51

  Laban said to Jacob, “Look at this heap, and look at the standing stone that I have set up between me and you.

• Genesis 46:28

  He sent Judah ahead of him to Joseph to show the way before him to Goshen; and they came to the land of Goshen.

• Exodus 4:12

  So now, go, and I will be with your mouth and will teach you what you shall speak.”

• Exodus 4:15

  You shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth; and I will be with your mouth and with his mouth, and I will teach you what you shall do.

• Exodus 15:4

  Pharaoh’s chariots and his army he has cast into the sea; and his choicest captains were sunk in the Sea of Reeds.

• Exodus 15:25

  He cried out to YHWH, and YHWH showed him a tree; he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet. There he made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he tested them.

• Exodus 19:13

  No hand shall touch him, for he shall surely be stoned or surely shot with arrows; whether animal or man, he shall not live.’ When the ram’s horn sounds a long blast, they shall go up on the mountain.”

• Exodus 24:12

  YHWH said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain and be there, and I will give you the tablets of stone, with the instruction and the commandment that I have written to teach them.”

• Exodus 35:34

  And the ability to teach he has put in his heart, both him and Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan.

• Leviticus 10:11

  and to teach the sons of Israel all the statutes that YHWH has spoken to them through Moses.”

• Leviticus 14:57

  to teach when it is unclean and when it is clean. This is the instruction for leprosy.”

• Numbers 21:30

  But we shot them down; Heshbon has perished as far as Dibon, and we laid waste as far as Nophah, which reaches as far as Medeba.”

• Deuteronomy 17:10

  And you shall act according to the word that they announce to you from that place that YHWH chooses, and you shall be careful to do according to all that they instruct you.

• Deuteronomy 17:11

  According to the instruction that they instruct you and according to the judgment that they tell you, you shall act; you shall not turn aside from the word that they announce to you, to the right or the left.

• Deuteronomy 24:8

  Be on your guard in a plague of leprosy, taking great care to do according to all that the Levitical priests instruct you; as I commanded them, you shall take care to do.

• Deuteronomy 33:10

  They shall teach your rules to Jacob and your instruction to Israel; they shall put incense before you and whole burnt offering on your altar.

• Joshua 18:6

  And you shall write the land in seven portions and bring it to me here, and I will cast for you a lot here before YHWH our Elohim.

• Judges 13:8

  Then Manoah pleaded with YHWH and said, “Pardon, Adonai, let the man of Elohim whom you sent come again, please, to us and teach us what we should do for the boy who will be born.”

• 1 Samuel 12:23

  As for me, far be it from me to sin against YHWH by ceasing to pray for you; and I will instruct you in the good and right way.

• 1 Samuel 20:20

  And I will shoot three arrows to its side, as if shooting at a target.

• 1 Samuel 20:36

  He said to his boy, “Run, find, please, the arrows that I shoot.” The boy ran, and he shot the arrow to make it pass beyond him.

• 1 Samuel 20:37

  The boy came as far as the place of the arrow that Jonathan had shot, and Jonathan called after the boy and said, “Is not the arrow beyond you?”

• 1 Samuel 31:3

  The battle pressed hard against Saul, and the archers, men with the bow, found him, and he trembled greatly because of the archers.

• 2 Samuel 11:20

  then if the king’s wrath rises, and he says to you, ‘Why did you go near to the city to fight? Did you not know that they would shoot from the wall?

• 2 Samuel 11:24

  Then the archers shot at your servants from the wall, and some of the servants of the king died; and your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.”

• 1 Kings 8:36

  then you listen in the heavens, and forgive the sin of your servants and of your people Israel, for you instruct them in the good way in which they should walk; and give rain on your land that you have given to your people as an inheritance.

• 2 Kings 12:2

  Joash did what was right in the eyes of YHWH all his days, in which Jehoiada the priest instructed him.

• 2 Kings 13:17

  He said, “Open the window toward the east.” And he opened it. Elisha said, “Shoot.” And he shot. He said, “An arrow of victory of YHWH, and an arrow of victory against Aram! You will strike Aram at Aphek until you have finished it.”

• 2 Kings 17:27

  The king of Assyria commanded, saying, “Take there one of the priests whom you carried into exile from there, and let them go and live there, and let him instruct them in the custom of the god of the land.”

• 2 Kings 17:28

  One of the priests whom they had carried into exile from Samaria came and lived in Bethel, and he was instructing them how they should fear YHWH.

• 2 Kings 19:32

  Therefore thus says YHWH concerning the king of Assyria: He will not come into this city and will not shoot there an arrow, and will not come before it with a shield, and will not heap up against it a siege ramp.

• 1 Chronicles 10:3

  And the battle pressed hard against Saul, and the archers, men with the bow, found him, and he trembled because of the archers.

• 2 Chronicles 6:27

  then you listen in the heavens and forgive the sin of your servants and of your people Israel, for you instruct them in the good way in which they should walk; and give rain on your land that you gave to your people as an inheritance.

• 2 Chronicles 15:3

  Many days Israel was without the true Elohim, and without a priest who taught, and without instruction.

• 2 Chronicles 26:15

  He made in Jerusalem devices, the invention of an inventor, to be on the towers and on the corners, to shoot arrows and large stones. And his name went out far, for he was marvelously helped until he was strong.

• 2 Chronicles 35:23

  The archers shot at King Josiah, and the king said to his servants, “Take me away, for I am badly wounded.”

• Job 6:24

  Teach me, and I will be silent; and make me understand how I have erred.

• Job 8:10

  Will they not teach you, tell you, and from their heart bring forth words?

• Job 12:7

  But ask, please, the beasts, and they will teach you; and the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you;

• Job 12:8

  or speak to the earth, and it will teach you; and the fish of the sea will recount it to you.

And 44 more times.