The Hebrew verb tirgal is a rare Pilpel form meaning to teach to walk, to train in walking, or 'to cause to walk.' Related to regel (foot), it depicts the act of holding up and guiding a small child as it learns to take its first steps.
Tirgal appears in one of the tenderest passages in the entire Old Testament — Hosea 11:3, where God says of Israel: 'Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk (tirgalti), I took them by the arms.' This divine parenting image is strikingly gentle: YHWH is not merely the sovereign lawgiver but the Father who crouches down, holds up his toddler child, and guides those first wobbling steps. The image anticipates the New Testament's 'Abba, Father' (Romans 8:15; Galatians 4:6) — the intimacy of a daddy holding the child who cannot yet walk alone. Every step of faith is a step taught and held by this God who delights in teaching his children to walk in his ways.