StrongerBible

lishkah

לִשְׁכָּה

HebrewH3957chamber, storeroom, ...

Appears 47 times · tap a cell to see the verses

1Sa 9:222Ki 23:111Ch 9:261Ch 9:331Ch 23:281Ch 28:122Ch 31:11Ezr 8:29Ezr 10:6Neh 10:37(38)Neh 10:38(39)Neh 10:39(40)Neh 13:4Neh 13:5Neh 13:8Neh 13:9Jer 35:2Jer 35:4 (3×)Jer 36:10Jer 36:12Jer 36:20Jer 36:21Ezk 40:17 (2×)Ezk 40:38Ezk 40:44Ezk 40:45Ezk 40:46Ezk 41:10Ezk 42:1Ezk 42:4Ezk 42:5Ezk 42:7 (2×)Ezk 42:10Ezk 42:13 (3×)Ezk 44:19Ezk 45:5Ezk 46:19
Root family
Word studylish-KAHnoun

What lishkah means

a chamber: a room built into or alongside a larger building, almost always the temple

TranslatabilityApproximateCertaintySettled

This is a plain architectural word for a room set within a bigger structure. It is not a freestanding house and not the main hall of worship: it is one of the side rooms, offices, lodgings, and storage spaces that ringed a major building. In the Bible that building is nearly always the temple, so the word becomes a kind of shorthand for the working rooms of the sanctuary complex, though it can also name a side room at a hilltop shrine or a room in the royal quarter.

The rooms differ only by who used them and for what. Some held the temple's wealth: the tithes of grain, wine, and oil, the sacred vessels, and the priests' stored portions. Some belonged to particular priests and Levites, who lodged, robed, and ate the holy offerings there. Some were the offices of royal scribes and officials whose work touched the temple. And in one early scene the word names a dining hall at a local shrine where a feast was served.

Because the room is defined by its place and its use rather than by any special form, the same word covers all of these. English translators reach for storeroom, chamber, hall, room, or office depending on the scene, but the underlying picture is constant: a built room serving the larger house it belongs to.

Nuances

1aa temple storeroom for tithes, offerings, and sacred vessels
1Ch 9:261Ch 28:122Ch 31:11Ezr 8:29Ezr 10:6Neh 10:37(38)Neh 10:38(39)Neh 10:39(40)Neh 13:5Neh 13:9
1ba chamber set apart for priests and Levites to lodge, robe, or eat the holy offerings
1Ch 9:331Ch 23:28Ezk 40:17 (2×)Ezk 40:38Ezk 40:44Ezk 40:45Ezk 40:46Ezk 42:1Ezk 42:13 (3×)Ezk 44:19Ezk 45:5Ezk 46:19
1ca side room or office used by an official or scribe in the temple or palace precinct
2Ki 23:11Neh 13:4Neh 13:8Jer 35:2Jer 35:4 (3×)Jer 36:10Jer 36:12Jer 36:20Jer 36:21
1da dining hall where a meal is hosted
1Sa 9:22

What scholars say about lishkah

The standard lexica (BDB, HALOT, DCH) treat לִשְׁכָּה as a single concrete noun meaning "chamber, room, hall": a built room within or attached to a larger structure, overwhelmingly the temple, and they subdivide it by function rather than by distinct lexical sense: storerooms for tithes and sacred vessels, chambers for priests and Levites, rooms used by officials and scribes, and a dining hall (1 Sam 9:22). It clusters heavily in Ezekiel 40 to 46, Chronicles, Ezra to Nehemiah, and Jeremiah, the literature of the temple and its administration. The byform נִשְׁכָּה (H5393, Neh 3:30; 12:44; 13:7) is widely judged the same word with an interchange of the opening consonant; a non-Semitic (possibly Egyptian or Anatolian) loan origin has been proposed but remains uncertain.

Sources

  • BDB, s.v. לִשְׁכָּהlexicon
  • HALOT, s.v. לִשְׁכָּהlexicon
  • DCH, s.v. לִשְׁכָּהlexicon

All attested forms of לִשְׁכָּה

f p absolute

לְּשָׁכוֹת, לְשָׁכוֹת, לְשָׁכֹת, לְּשָׁכֹת

1Ch 9:26, 1Ch 23:28, 1Ch 28:12, Neh 10:38, Neh 10:39, Neh 13:9, Jer 35:2, Ezk 41:10

f s construct

לִשְׁכַּת, לִּשְׁכַּת

2Ki 23:11, Ezr 10:6, Neh 13:4, Jer 35:4, Jer 35:4, Jer 35:4, Jer 36:10, Jer 36:12

f p construct

לִשְׁכוֹת, לִּשְׁכוֹת, לִשְׁכֹת

Neh 10:37, Ezk 40:44, Ezk 42:13, Ezk 42:13, Ezk 42:13, Ezr 8:29, Ezk 46:19, Ezk 44:19

f s absolute

לִּשְׁכָּה, לִשְׁכָּה, לִשְׁכָּתָ

Neh 13:8, Ezk 40:45, Ezk 40:46, Ezk 42:1, Neh 13:5, Ezk 40:38, 1Sa 9:22