to cover or screen something by spreading a covering over or around it, often to shelter and protect
TranslatabilityApproximateCertaintySettled
At its heart this word pictures putting something over or around another thing so it is screened from view or from harm. It describes the veil drawn across the ark, the outspread wings of the carved creatures above it, and a hand or a wing held over a person to keep them safe.
From that basic picture the word reaches in two directions. It can stress protection, as when God is said to shelter the trusting with his feathers or to shield a head in the day of battle. It can also stress enclosure, shutting something in or fencing it off, as when the sea is shut behind doors or a life feels walled in on every side.
A near neighbor is the ordinary word for covering, כָּסָה; the difference is that this word leans toward screening and sheltering rather than simply laying something on top.
Nuances
1ato screen or cover an object by placing a covering over it
1cto shut in, fence about, or screen off with a barrier
Job 3:23Job 38:8Lam 3:43Lam 3:44
1dto "cover the feet", a polite expression for stepping aside to relieve oneself
TranslatabilityPartial
Jdg 3:24*1Sa 24:3(4)*
2
to weave or knit together, to lace separate strands into one whole
TranslatabilityApproximateCertaintyStrong
Here the word steps away from covering and means to weave or knit strands into a single whole. Job speaks of a body laced together with bones and sinews, and Psalm 139 uses it for the forming of a person hidden in the womb. The image is of separate threads drawn together into one living fabric.
A related picture of skilled weaving appears in רָקַם, the word for intricate needlework; this word is the plainer act of interlacing.
Job 10:11Psa 139:13*
3
to stir people up against one another, to incite to conflict
TranslatabilityApproximateCertaintyStrong
This is a rarer, forceful use in which someone stirs people up against one another. The prophets use it for God rousing enemies against a nation and for setting a people at war within itself, neighbor against neighbor and city against city. The idea is not gentle covering but active agitation, throwing rival parties into conflict.
names a covering that screens or shelters, usually to protect what is underneathPsa 91:4
Both
both describe placing something over another so that it is hidden or enclosedExo 40:21
Only cover
the plain English "cover" can mean merely laying a lid or layer on top, with none of the sheltering, protecting intent this word usually carries
“overshadow”
Comparison data is not available for this English gloss yet.
“defend”
Comparison data is not available for this English gloss yet.
“knit together”
Comparison data is not available for this English gloss yet.
How sakhakh differs from similar Hebrew words
כָּסָהthe ordinary, general word for covering or concealing; this word leans toward screening and sheltering rather than simply laying something over the top.
סָתַרto hide or conceal from sight; this word covers in order to shelter or screen, not mainly to keep something out of view.
גָּנַןto throw a shield over and defend; this word shelters by covering or overshadowing rather than by warding off an attacker.
The basic picture is something spread out over something else: wings stretched above the ark, a curtain hung in front of it, God's hand held over Moses while his glory passes by.Exo 25:20Exo 40:3Exo 33:22
The same covering can shut someone in rather than shelter him. Job says God has fenced his way so he cannot get out, the sea is shut in behind doors, and a mourner complains that God has wrapped himself in a cloud so that no prayer gets through.Job 3:23Job 38:8Lam 3:44
It reaches into plain, everyday uses that have nothing to do with rescue: a body knit together in the womb, shade thrown by trees over a resting animal, and the discreet phrase for a man relieving himself alone in a cave.Psa 139:13Job 40:221Sa 24:3
In Isaiah the word turns in another direction again, for God setting one group against another, where translators give it as "stir up" rather than "cover".Isa 9:11Isa 19:2
Both
Where the two overlap, each pictures God standing between his people and a hostile force so the blow does not land: he shields Jerusalem while Assyria is at the gate, and he covers a head on the day of battle.Isa 37:35Psa 140:7
Both are used as grounds for confidence rather than as flat description, turning up in promises and prayers about being kept safe.Zec 9:15Psa 91:4Psa 5:11
Every use is God rescuing a place or a people under attack, and God is always the one doing the protecting. It is never used of a person, an animal, or an object shielding something.2Ki 19:34Isa 38:6Zec 12:8
It promises safety without picturing anything laid over the top. Nothing is spread, hung, or wrapped; the whole point is that the attack will not get through, which is why English Bibles give it as "defend" or "shield".2Ki 20:6Isa 37:35Zec 9:15
Most of its uses sit inside a single crisis, the promise that Jerusalem will survive the Assyrian siege, so it reads less like a general word for protection and more like one pledge repeated.2Ki 19:342Ki 20:6Isa 31:5
רָקַםto weave with skill, as in embroidery; this word's weaving sense is the plainer interlacing of strands into one fabric.
סוּתto entice or instigate a single person to act; this word's forceful sense sets whole groups against one another.
sakhakh in the other biblical languages
ἐπισκιάζωGreek“to overshadow”the New Testament word for overshadowing, close to this word's sense of a protective covering settling over someone.
καλύπτωGreek“to cover”the common New Testament word for covering or hiding, matching the plainer covering sense.
What scholars say about sakhakh
The root סכך (also written with שׂ) is grouped by the standard lexica around the idea of covering and screening, which BDB derives from a sense of interlacing or interweaving. Beyond the dominant covering and sheltering uses, a weaving sense appears in Job 10:11 and Psalm 139:13, where the body is laced or knit together. The doubled (pilpel) form סכסך in Isaiah 9:11 and 19:2 means to incite or set one party against another, and is sometimes traced to a distinct root of confusing or agitating. The Septuagint renders the covering uses variously with σκεπάζω, καλύπτω, and ἐπισκιάζω. Whether the covering, weaving, and inciting senses reflect one polysemous root or several homonyms is a matter of lexicographic arrangement rather than doubt about any individual sense.
Where scholars disagree about sakhakh
Whether the forms gathered under this number reflect one polysemous root or several homonyms: a covering and screening root, a weaving root, and the doubled form meaning to set one party against another.
majorityOne overlapping root, in which the senses of covering, screening, and sheltering all grow from an underlying idea of interlacing or interweaving.; BDB, s.v. סכך
minorityDistinct homonyms, treating the covering sense, the weaving sense, and the doubled inciting form as separate roots that happen to share a spelling.; HALOT, s.v. סכך