StrongerBible

mishkan

מִשְׁכָּן

HebrewH4908tabernacle, dwelling, ...

Appears 139 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Exo 25:9Exo 26:1Exo 26:6Exo 26:7Exo 26:12Exo 26:13Exo 26:15Exo 26:17Exo 26:18Exo 26:20Exo 26:22Exo 26:23Exo 38:21Exo 39:32Exo 40:2Exo 40:6Exo 40:29Lev 15:31Lev 17:4Lev 26:11Num 1:50Num 1:53 (2×)Num 10:11Num 16:9Num 16:24Num 24:5Jos 22:292Sa 7:62Ch 29:6Job 18:21Job 21:28Job 39:6Psa 43:3Psa 46:4(5)Psa 49:11(12)Psa 78:28Psa 84:1(2)Psa 87:2Psa 132:5Psa 132:7Sng 1:8Isa 22:16Isa 32:18Isa 54:2Jer 9:19(18)Jer 30:18Jer 51:30Ezk 25:4Ezk 37:27Hab 1:6
Root family
Word studymish-KAHNnoun

What mishkan means

a dwelling place: where someone or something resides, most often the LORD's tent-sanctuary in the wilderness

TranslatabilityPartialCertaintySettled

The word names the place where someone settles down and lives. It is built straight off the verb "to dwell," so at root it means simply "a residence," and it stretches from the grandest case to the humblest: the tent where God chose to live among Israel, the tents and homes of people and even animals, and by extension the place where the dead finally lie.

By far its most common use is technical. From Exodus through Numbers it is the standard name for the portable sanctuary God told Moses to build, usually translated "tabernacle" but meaning literally "the dwelling," because it was the structure in which the LORD came to live in the middle of the camp. That heavy concentration in the law and the wilderness narratives is what makes the word feel like a temple term, but the underlying idea never changes.

The same word is used for ordinary dwellings, the tents of Jacob, the lairs of wild creatures, the homes of nations and of the wicked, and in poetry it carries a warmth or a threat depending on whose dwelling is in view. In a few places it points to the grave as a person's last and permanent home.

Because the core sense ("a place to dwell") holds across all of these, this is one word with one meaning whose senses differ only by who lives there, not a set of unrelated words.

Nuances

1athe tabernacle: the portable tent-sanctuary in which the LORD dwelt among Israel in the wilderness
Exo 25:9Exo 26:1Exo 26:30Exo 38:21Exo 39:32Exo 40:2Exo 40:17Exo 40:34Exo 40:35Exo 40:38Lev 8:10Lev 15:31
1ba dwelling place of people or animals: a home, tent, or lair where a living thing settles
Num 16:24Num 16:27Num 24:5Job 18:21Job 21:28Job 39:6Psa 78:28Psa 87:2Sng 1:8Isa 32:18Isa 54:2Jer 9:19(18)
1cthe grave as a final dwelling: the place a person comes to rest for good
Psa 49:11(12)Isa 22:16

What scholars say about mishkan

Standard lexica treat מִשְׁכָּן as a single noun derived from שָׁכַן "to dwell, settle," with the basic sense "dwelling place" and a dominant specialized use as the wilderness tabernacle. BDB and HALOT list the general sense (dwellings of people, animals, the dead) alongside the technical sanctuary sense without positing separate roots. TDOT connects the term to the theology of God "tabernacling" among his people, a thread the New Testament picks up with the related Greek vocabulary.

Sources

  • HALOT, s.v. מִשְׁכָּןlexicon
  • BDB, s.v. מִשְׁכָּןlexicon
  • TDOT, s.v. שָׁכַן / מִשְׁכָּן (vol. 14)theological-dictionary
  • DCH, s.v. מִשְׁכָּןlexicon

All attested forms of מִשְׁכָּן

m s absolute

מִּשְׁכָּן, מִשְׁכָּן

Exo 25:9, Exo 26:1, Exo 26:6, Exo 26:7, Exo 26:12, Exo 26:13, Exo 26:15, Exo 26:17

m s construct

מִשְׁכַּן, מִּשְׁכַּן

Exo 38:21, Exo 39:32, Exo 40:2, Exo 40:6, Exo 40:29, Lev 17:4, Num 1:50, Num 1:53

f p construct

מִשְׁכְּנוֹת

Job 18:21, Job 21:28, Psa 87:2, Sng 1:8, Isa 32:18

f p construct

מִשְׁכְּנוֹתָיו, מִשְׁכְּנֹתָיו

Job 39:6, Psa 132:7, Psa 78:28, Jer 30:18

f p construct

מִשְׁכְּנוֹתֶיךָ, מִשְׁכְּנֹתֶיךָ

Psa 43:3, Psa 84:1, Num 24:5

m s construct

מִשְׁכָּנִי

Lev 15:31, Lev 26:11, Ezk 37:27

f p absolute

מִשְׁכָּנוֹת

Psa 132:5, Hab 1:6

f p construct

מִשְׁכְּנוֹתֵינוּ

Jer 9:19

f p construct

מִשְׁכְּנוֹתַיִךְ

Isa 54:2

f p construct

מִשְׁכְּנֹתֶיהָ

Jer 51:30

f p construct

מִשְׁכְּנֹתָם

Psa 49:11

m p construct

מִשְׁכְּנֵי

Psa 46:4

m p construct

מִשְׁכְּנֵיהֶם

Ezk 25:4

m s construct

מִשְׁכָּנוֹ

Jos 22:29