Tela (H2922) is an Aramaic-influenced Hebrew word for a young lamb. It appears in the context of pastoral imagery central to biblical life and worship. The lamb was the quintessential sacrifice — the Passover lamb (Exod 12), the daily burnt offering (Exod 29:38-41), the lamb that Abraham saw in the thicket (Gen 22:8). From the first sacrifice in Eden (implied in Gen 3:21) to the final vision of the Lamb on the throne (Rev 5), the lamb carries the full weight of substitutionary atonement.
The Lamb of God (John 1:29) is the fulfillment of every lamb offered in Israel's worship. When John the Baptist declared 'Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world,' he was speaking to a people who had offered millions of lambs and knew what the lamb meant: innocent blood given for the guilty. Every tela in the flock of Israel whispered of Christ. The Revelation of John climaxes not with a conquering lion alone but with a Lamb standing as though slain (Rev 5:6) — the paradox of the Gospel.