Word study
Tent
6 Hebrew and 3 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: tent, tents. English often uses one word where Hebrew or Greek has several, each with its own shade of meaning. Under each word are verses where it is translated this way; choose the word itself for its full study: every verse, how else it is translated, the forms it takes and what the dictionaries say.
At a glance
How often each original word is translated “Tent” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side Compare the Greek words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- אֹהֶל ôheltenttranslated this way 311 times of its 338 uses · Strong’s H168Noun · Translated: Tent 259, tents 46, home 10, homes 7Full study and all 310 verses →
Genesis 4:20 Adah gave birth to Jabal; he was the father of those who dwell in tents and raise livestock.
Exodus 16:16 This is what the LORD has commanded: ‘Each one is to gather as much as he needs. You may take an omer for each person in your tent.’”
- יָתֵד yâthêdpeg, pintranslated this way 12 times of its 22 uses · Strong’s H3489Noun · Translated: tent pegs 9, peg 4, tent peg 3, pin 2Full study and all 19 verses →
Exodus 27:19 All the utensils of the tabernacle for every use, including all its tent pegs and the tent pegs of the courtyard, shall be made of bronze.
Numbers 3:37 as well as the posts of the surrounding courtyard with their bases, tent pegs, and ropes.
- סֻכָּה sukkâhthicket, boothtranslated this way 4 times of its 31 uses · Strong’s H5521Noun · Translated: Tabernacles 9, booths 7, tents 3, shelter 3Full study and all 29 verses →
2 Samuel 11:11 Uriah answered, “The ark and Israel and Judah are dwelling in tents, and my master Joab and his soldiers are camped in the open field. How can I go to my house to eat and drink and sleep with my wife? As surely as you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do such a thing!”
1 Kings 20:12 Ben-hadad received this message while he and the kings were drinking in their tents, and he said to his servants, “Take your positions.” So they stationed themselves against the city.
- יְרִיעָה yerîâhcurtaintranslated this way 4 times of its 46 uses · Strong’s H3407Noun · Translated: curtains 23, curtain 14, corresponding curtain 2, tent 2Full study and all 32 verses →
2 Samuel 7:2 he said to Nathan the prophet, “Here I am, living in a house of cedar, while the ark of God remains in a tent.”
1 Chronicles 17:1 After David had settled into his palace, he said to Nathan the prophet, “Here I am, living in a house of cedar, while the ark of the covenant of the LORD is under a tent.”
- מִשְׁכָּן mishkândwelling-place, 'tabernacle'translated this way 2 times of its 134 uses · Strong’s H4908Noun · Translated: tabernacle 101, dwellings 10, dwelling place 6, dwelling 4Full study and all 128 verses →
Song of Solomon 1:8 If you do not know, O fairest of women, follow the tracks of the flock, and graze your young goats near the tents of the shepherds.
Ezekiel 25:4 therefore I will indeed give you as a possession to the people of the East. They will set up their camps and pitch their tents among you. They will eat your fruit and drink your milk.
- אָהַל âhaltent, move tenttranslated this way 2 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s H167Verb · Translated: pitched 1, moved his tent 1, pitch his tent 1Full study and all 3 verses →
Genesis 13:18 So Abram moved his tent and went to live near the Oaks of Mamre at Hebron, where he built an altar to the LORD.
Isaiah 13:20 She will never be inhabited or settled from generation to generation; no nomad will pitch his tent there, no shepherd will rest his flock there.
Greek words (New Testament)
- σκηνή skēnḗa tent, tabernacletranslated this way 2 times of its 20 uses · Strong’s G4633Noun · Translated: tabernacle 11, shelters 3, room 2Full study and all 20 verses →
Acts 15:16 ‘After this I will return and rebuild the fallen tent of David. Its ruins I will rebuild, and I will restore it,
Hebrews 11:9 By faith he dwelt in the promised land as a stranger in a foreign country. He lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise.
- σκῆνος skēnosa tenttranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s G4636Noun · Translated: tent 2Full study and all 2 verses →
2 Corinthians 5:1 For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is dismantled, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.
2 Corinthians 5:4 For while we are in this tent, we groan under our burdens, because we do not wish to be unclothed but clothed, so that our mortality may be swallowed up by life.
- σκήνωμα skḗnōmaa dwellingtranslated this way 2 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s G4638Noun · Translated: tent 2, dwelling place 1Full study and all 3 verses →
2 Peter 1:13 I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of my body ,
2 Peter 1:14 because I know that this tent will soon be laid aside, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me.
How to study a word well
- Start from the verse, not the dictionary. Find which Hebrew or Greek word stands in the verse you are studying. One English word often translates several different original words.
- Read every place the word is used. A word means what its writers used it to mean. The list of verses and the count by book show its range, and who uses it most.
- Look at how it is translated. A word rendered five different ways has a wider meaning than any one English word can carry.
- Notice the form. A command is not a statement, and a passive verb is something done to the subject. The form in your verse is part of the meaning.
- See what it keeps company with. The words that appear beside it again and again show how the Bible itself connects ideas.
- Then read the dictionaries. They give the considered view of scholars, with their evidence.
- Come back to the verse. Context decides. A word does not carry every one of its meanings into every verse, and where a word came from does not settle what it means in a sentence written centuries later.
What the Bible says about Tent: passages by topic →
Scripture text and translation counts: Berean Standard Bible. Full entry: Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906, public domain), in the digital edition Brown-Driver-Briggs Enhanced by unfoldingWord (Joel Ruark, J. de Joode), based on data by Eliran Wong and Stephen Ku; its additions are used under CC BY 4.0. Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary: Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible Project, CC BY 4.0. Hebrew-to-English verse numbering: original work of the Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible available at https://github.com/openscriptures/morphhb, CC BY 4.0. We reformatted the data, linked the references to this site’s Bible text and left out words in other scripts that the source holds only as images. These are historical reference works; an entry gives its authors’ view, and a word’s meaning in any verse depends on how it is used there.