StrongerBible

sevakhah

שְׂבָכָה

HebrewH7639network, lattice, ...

Appears 16 times · tap a cell to see the verses

1Ki 7:17 (2×)1Ki 7:181Ki 7:201Ki 7:411Ki 7:42 (2×)2Ki 1:22Ki 25:17 (2×)2Ch 4:122Ch 4:13 (2×)Job 18:8Jer 52:22Jer 52:23
Word studyseh-vah-KHAHnoun

What sevakhah means

an interwoven mesh of metal or cord: latticework, network, or the meshes of a net

TranslatabilityApproximateCertaintySettled

The word names anything woven into a crisscross mesh, a grid of strands with openings between them. Its most frequent use is architectural: the ornamental bronze network that wrapped the tops of the two great pillars, Jachin and Boaz, at the entrance of Solomon's temple, hung with rows of bronze pomegranates. Ten of its twelve verses describe that one feature, which is why English Bibles usually render it "network" there.

The same word stretches to cover a household lattice, the screen through which King Ahaziah fell in 2 Kings 1:2, and in poetry the meshwork of a hunting trap that catches a man by the feet (Job 18:8). What ties these uses together is the pattern rather than the purpose: interlaced strands leaving a web of holes, whether cast in bronze for beauty or knotted in cord to snare prey.

A close relative, רֶשֶׁת, covers much the same ground, serving both as the bronze grating of the altar and as the hunter's net.

Nuances

1aan ornamental or structural latticework: an interwoven grille, screen, or bronze network
1Ki 7:17 (2×)1Ki 7:181Ki 7:201Ki 7:411Ki 7:42 (2×)2Ki 1:22Ki 25:17 (2×)2Ch 4:122Ch 4:13 (2×)Jer 52:22Jer 52:23
1bthe meshwork of a net or trap that catches by the feet
TranslatabilityDirect
Job 18:8

What scholars say about sevakhah

From the root שׂבך "to interweave, entwine," שְׂבָכָה denotes interwoven latticework. Its dominant referent is the bronze net-work ornamenting the capitals of the pillars Jachin and Boaz, draped with rows of pomegranates (1 Kings 7; 2 Kings 25:17; 2 Chronicles 4; Jeremiah 52). It also names a domestic lattice (2 Kings 1:2) and, in poetry, the meshes of a snare, standing parallel to רֶשֶׁת in Job 18:8. BDB and HALOT agree on the semantic range; the only real uncertainty concerns the physical reconstruction of the temple ornamentation, not the meaning of the word.

Sources

  • BDB, s.v. שְׂבָכָהlexicon
  • HALOT, s.v. שְׂבָכָהlexicon
  • Mordechai Cogan, I Kings (Anchor Yale Bible 10), 2001commentary

All attested forms of שְׂבָכָה

f s absolute

שְּׂבָכָה, שְׂבָכָה

1Ki 7:18, 1Ki 7:20, 1Ki 7:42, 2Ki 1:2, 2Ki 25:17, 2Ch 4:13, Jer 52:23, 1Ki 7:17

f p absolute

שְּׂבָכוֹת

1Ki 7:41, 1Ki 7:42, 2Ch 4:12, 2Ch 4:13

m p absolute

שְׂבָכִים

1Ki 7:17