לִ/לְח֣וֹם
𐤋/𐤋𐤇𐤅𐤌
lâcham
to eat
To engage in battle or wage war; to fight in armed conflict, either as an individual or a group. In rarer contexts, the verb can connote struggle, contend, or engage in conflict of a non-military nature. The sense of 'feed on' or 'devour' is not attested in Biblical Hebrew for this root, and likely arises from confusion with similar roots.
Proverbs 23:1 · Word #3
Lexicon H3898
| Lemma | לָחַם |
| Lemma (Paleo) | 𐤋𐤇𐤌 |
| Transliteration | lâcham |
| Strong's | H3898 |
| Definition | To engage in battle or wage war; to fight in armed conflict, either as an individual or a group. In rarer contexts, the verb can connote struggle, contend, or engage in conflict of a non-military nature. The sense of 'feed on' or 'devour' is not attested in Biblical Hebrew for this root, and likely arises from confusion with similar roots. |
Morphology HR/Vqc
All morphology codes
| Part of Speech | V — Verb — An action or state |
| Binyan | q — Qal — Simple active |
| Conjugation | c — Infinitive Construct — The verbal noun ("to ...") |
Common Translation
| Phrase | to eat |
SIBI-P1 Translation H3898-10
to wage war
| Morphological Notes | Verb, Qal stem, infinitive construct; simple active action of the root. |
| Rendering Rationale | The Qal infinitive construct expresses the simple verbal action of the root לחם, meaning to engage in battle. "To wage war" preserves the martial core meaning without importing the unrelated sense of "eat." |
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