delet · door

What it means

delet (דֶּלֶת) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “door”.

The leaf that closes an entrance.

How to say it

Approximate pronunciation. Vowels sound as in Spanish (a as in father, e as in bed, i as in machine, o as in note, u as in rule); the syllable in bold is stressed. The voice is your device's.

Its senses in the Bible

1. The wooden or metal leaf that opens and shuts the entrance of a house or city.
2. Each section of text written on a scroll, side by side; or the lid of a chest.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

Door: the leaf or panel that closes an entrance; also the leaves of a double door. BDB: the leaf of a door; figuratively, a column of a scroll.

• Shutting the door of a house Genesis 19:62 Kings 4:4
• The gates of a city Joshua 6:26
• The leaves of the temple doors 1 Kings 6:34
• The door in the law of the slave Deuteronomy 15:17
• The columns of a scroll Jeremiah 36:23

Historical and cultural background

The law of the slave who wants to stay with his master commands piercing his ear against the door: “you shall take the awl and put {it} through his ear into the door” (Deuteronomy 15:17).

How we translate it

“Doors” 56 times, “door” 22, “gates” 5 when they are a city's (Joshua 6:26), “leaves” 3 when they are the two leaves of a door (1 Kings 6:34). In Jeremiah 36:23, “columns” of the scroll Jehudi was reading. It is distinct from שַׁעַר, the “gate” of the city (H8179), and from פֶּתַח, “entrance” (H6607).

How it is translated

The words this translation uses for it, most frequent first.

• doors ×56
• door ×22
• gates ×5
• leaves ×3
• columns ×1
• lid ×1

Related words

Words of the same family, by Strong’s numbering.

Where it appears

• Genesis×3
• Exodus×1
• Deuteronomy×2
• Joshua×2
• Judges×7
• 1 Samuel×3
• 2 Samuel×2
• 1 Kings×8
• 2 Kings×9
• 1 Chronicles×1
• 2 Chronicles×10
• Nehemiah×11
• Job×5
• Psalms×3
• Proverbs×2
• Ecclesiastes×1
• Song of Songs×1
• Isaiah×4
• Jeremiah×2
• Ezekiel×9
• Zechariah×1
• Malachi×1

• Genesis 19:6

  Lot went out to them at the entrance, and shut the door behind him,

• Genesis 19:9

  But they said, “Step aside!” And they said, “This one came to reside as an alien, and he keeps acting as judge! Now we will do worse to you than to them.” And they pressed hard against the man, against Lot, and came near to break the door.

• Genesis 19:10

  But the men reached out their hands and brought Lot into the house with them, and shut the door.

• Exodus 21:6

  then his master shall bring him before Elohim; he shall bring him to the door or to the doorpost, and his master shall pierce his ear with an awl, and he shall serve him forever.

• Deuteronomy 3:5

  All these were cities fortified with a high wall, gates, and bars, besides very many unwalled towns.

• Deuteronomy 15:17

  then you shall take the awl and put it through his ear into the door, and he shall be your slave forever. And also to your female slave you shall do the same.

• Joshua 2:19

  And it shall be that anyone who goes out of the doors of your house outside, his blood shall be on his head, and we shall be free; but anyone who is with you in the house, his blood shall be on our head if a hand is on him.

• Joshua 6:26

  Joshua made them swear at that time, saying, “Cursed before YHWH be the man who rises up and builds this city, Jericho. At the cost of his firstborn he shall lay its foundation, and at the cost of his youngest he shall set up its gates.”

• Judges 3:23

  Ehud went out to the porch, closed the doors of the upper room behind him, and locked them.

• Judges 3:24

  When he had gone out, his servants came and looked, and there the doors of the upper room were locked. They said, “Surely he is covering his feet in the room of coolness.”

• Judges 3:25

  They waited until they were ashamed, and look, he was not opening the doors of the upper room. So they took the key and opened them, and there was their lord, fallen to the ground, dead.

• Judges 11:31

  then it shall be that the one that comes out, that comes out of the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the sons of Ammon, shall be YHWH’s, and I will offer that one up as a burnt offering.”

• Judges 16:3

  And Samson lay until midnight; then at midnight he arose and took hold of the doors of the gate of the city and of the two doorposts, and pulled them up with the bar, and put them on his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of the hill that is in front of Hebron.

• Judges 19:22

  They were making their hearts merry, when the men of the city, perverse men, surrounded the house, beating on the door; and they spoke to the old man, the master of the house, saying, “Bring out the man who came into your house, so that we may know him.”

• Judges 19:27

  And her master arose in the morning and opened the doors of the house and went out to go on his way; and look, the woman, his concubine, was fallen at the entrance of the house, with her hands on the threshold.

• 1 Samuel 3:15

  And Samuel lay until the morning; then he opened the doors of the house of YHWH. And Samuel was afraid to tell the vision to Eli.

• 1 Samuel 21:13

  So he changed his behavior before their eyes and pretended to be mad in their hands, and made marks on the doors of the gate, and let his saliva run down onto his beard.

• 1 Samuel 23:7

  It was told Saul that David had come to Keilah. And Saul said, “Elohim has delivered him into my hand, for he has shut himself in by entering a town with gates and bar.”

• 2 Samuel 13:17

  He called his young man, his attendant, and said, “Send this woman away from me, outside, and bolt the door after her.”

• 2 Samuel 13:18

  She was wearing a long robe, for so the king’s virgin daughters used to dress, in robes. His attendant brought her outside and bolted the door after her.

• 1 Kings 6:31

  And for the entrance of the inner sanctuary he made doors of olive wood; the lintel and doorposts were five-sided.

• 1 Kings 6:32

  And the two doors were of olive wood; and he carved on them carvings of cherubim and palm trees and open flowers, and overlaid them with gold, and he spread the gold on the cherubim and on the palm trees.

• 1 Kings 6:34

  and two doors of cypress wood: the two leaves of the one door were pivoting, and the two leaves of the second door were pivoting.

• 1 Kings 7:50

  and the cups, and the tongs, and the bowls, and the spoons, and the firepans, of fine gold; and the sockets for the doors of the inner house, the Most Holy Place, and for the doors of the house, the temple, of gold.

• 1 Kings 16:34

  In his days Hiel of Bethel built Jericho. At the cost of Abiram his firstborn he laid its foundation, and at the cost of Segub his youngest he set up its gates, according to the word of YHWH that he spoke through Joshua son of Nun.

• 2 Kings 4:4

  Then go in and shut the door behind you and behind your sons, and pour into all these vessels, and set aside each one that is full.”

• 2 Kings 4:5

  She went from him and shut the door behind her and behind her sons; they were bringing vessels to her, and she was pouring.

• 2 Kings 4:33

  He went in and shut the door behind the two of them and prayed to YHWH.

• 2 Kings 6:32

  Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him. And he sent a man from before him; before the messenger came to him, he said to the elders, “Do you see how this son of a murderer has sent to take off my head? Look, when the messenger comes, shut the door and hold him back with the door. Is not the sound of his master’s feet behind him?”

• 2 Kings 9:3

  Then take the flask of oil and pour it on his head and say, ‘Thus says YHWH, “I have anointed you king over Israel.”’ Then open the door and flee, and do not wait.”

• 2 Kings 9:10

  And Jezebel the dogs will eat in the portion of Jezreel, and there will be no one to bury her.’” Then he opened the door and fled.

• 2 Kings 12:9

  Jehoiada the priest took a chest and bored a hole in its lid and put it beside the altar, on the right as one enters the house of YHWH; and the priests who guarded the threshold would put there all the silver that was brought into the house of YHWH.

• 2 Kings 18:16

  At that time Hezekiah cut off the doors of the temple of YHWH and the doorposts that Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and gave them to the king of Assyria.

• 1 Chronicles 22:3

  David prepared iron in abundance for the nails for the doors of the gates and for the clamps, and bronze in abundance beyond weighing,

• 2 Chronicles 3:7

  He covered the house —the beams, the thresholds, its walls and its doors— with gold, and he engraved cherubim on the walls.

• 2 Chronicles 4:9

  He made the court of the priests and the great enclosure, and doors for the enclosure, and their doors he overlaid with bronze.

• 2 Chronicles 4:22

  the tongs, the bowls, the spoons, and the firepans, of fine gold; and the entrance of the house: its inner doors for the Most Holy Place, and the doors of the house for the temple, of gold.

• 2 Chronicles 8:5

  He built Upper Beth-horon and Lower Beth-horon, fortified cities with walls, gates, and bars,

• 2 Chronicles 14:7

  He said to Judah, “Let us build these cities and surround them with wall and towers, doors and bars; the land is still before us, because we have sought YHWH our Elohim; we have sought him, and he has given us rest all around.” So they built and prospered.

• 2 Chronicles 28:24

  Ahaz gathered the utensils of the house of Elohim and cut in pieces the utensils of the house of Elohim, and shut the doors of the house of YHWH, and made for himself altars in every corner of Jerusalem.

And 48 more times.