ohel · tent

What it means

ohel (אֹהֶל) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “tent”.

The dwelling of shepherds who move from place to place; also a home.

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. A home of cloth or skins on poles, where herdsmen lived; also one's home.
2. Israel's portable sanctuary in the wilderness, where YHWH met with Moses.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

Tent, the dwelling of shepherds who move about. BDB defines it as a tent, and also as a dwelling.

• The dwelling of shepherds Genesis 4:20Genesis 12:8Genesis 18:1
• “The tent of meeting” Exodus 33:7
• “To your tents, Israel!”: home 1 Kings 12:16

Historical and cultural background

According to Exodus 33:7, Moses pitched the tent outside the camp, far off from it, and called it “the tent of meeting”; everyone who sought YHWH went out to it.

How we translate it

“Tent” 283 times, “tents” 62. This edition's glossary sets אֹהֶל “tent” and מִשְׁכָּן “dwelling”, and never uses “tabernacle”; אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד is “the tent of meeting”.

How it is translated

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

• tent ×283
• tents ×62

Related words

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

Where it appears

• Genesis×23
• Exodus×62
• Leviticus×44
• Numbers×76
• Deuteronomy×9
• Joshua×12
• Judges×13
• 1 Samuel×4
• 2 Samuel×7
• 1 Kings×9
• 2 Kings×7
• 1 Chronicles×11
• 2 Chronicles×12
• Job×14
• Psalms×18
• Proverbs×1
• Song of Songs×1
• Isaiah×5
• Jeremiah×9
• Lamentations×1
• Ezekiel×1
• Daniel×1
• Hosea×2
• Habakkuk×1
• Zechariah×1
• Malachi×1

• Genesis 4:20

  And Adah gave birth to Jabal; he was the father of those who live in tents and have livestock.

• Genesis 9:21

  And he drank of the wine and became drunk and uncovered himself inside his tent.

• Genesis 9:27

  May Elohim make room for Japheth, and let him live in the tents of Shem; and let Canaan be their slave.”

• Genesis 12:8

  From there he moved on to the mountain east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to YHWH and called on the name of YHWH.

• Genesis 13:3

  He went on his journeys from the Negev as far as Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai,

• Genesis 13:5

  Lot also, who went with Abram, had sheep, cattle, and tents.

• Genesis 18:1

  YHWH appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, while he was sitting at the entrance of the tent in the heat of the day.

• Genesis 18:2

  He lifted his eyes and looked, and look, three men were standing near him. When he saw them, he ran from the entrance of the tent to meet them and bowed down to the ground.

• Genesis 18:6

  So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah and said, “Quickly, three seahs of flour, fine flour! Knead it and make cakes.”

• Genesis 18:9

  They said to him, “Where is Sarah your wife?” He said, “Look, in the tent.”

• Genesis 18:10

  Then he said, “I will surely return to you at this time next year, and look, Sarah your wife will have a son.” Sarah was listening at the entrance of the tent, and it was behind him.

• Genesis 24:67

  Isaac brought her into the tent of Sarah his mother, and he took Rebekah, and she became his wife, and he loved her. So Isaac was comforted after the death of his mother.

• Genesis 25:27

  The boys grew up, and Esau became a man skilled in hunting, a man of the field, while Jacob was a man of integrity, living in tents.

• Genesis 26:25

  He built there an altar and called on the name of YHWH, and pitched his tent there, and there Isaac’s servants dug a well.

• Genesis 31:25

  Laban overtook Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent on the mountain, and Laban encamped with his brothers in the hill country of Gilead.

• Genesis 31:33

  So Laban went into Jacob’s tent, and into Leah’s tent, and into the tent of the two slave women, but he did not find them. He came out of Leah’s tent and went into Rachel’s tent.

• Genesis 31:34

  Now Rachel had taken the teraphim and put them in the saddle of the camel and sat on them. Laban felt through the whole tent but did not find them.

• Genesis 33:19

  He bought the piece of the field where he had pitched his tent from the hand of the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem, for a hundred qesitah.

• Genesis 35:21

  Israel set out and pitched his tent beyond Migdal-eder.

• Exodus 16:16

  This is the thing that YHWH has commanded: ‘Gather of it, each one according to what he can eat, an omer per head, according to the number of your persons; each one for those in his tent you shall take.’ ”

• Exodus 18:7

  Moses went out to meet his father-in-law, bowed down, and kissed him; they asked each other about their welfare, and they went into the tent.

• Exodus 26:7

  You shall make curtains of goats' hair for a tent over the dwelling; you shall make eleven curtains.

• Exodus 26:9

  You shall join five curtains by themselves and six curtains by themselves, and you shall double over the sixth curtain at the front of the tent.

• Exodus 26:11

  You shall make fifty clasps of bronze and put the clasps into the loops and join the tent so that it is one whole.

• Exodus 26:12

  As for the overhang that remains in the curtains of the tent, the half curtain that remains shall hang over the back of the dwelling.

• Exodus 26:13

  And the cubit on this side and the cubit on that side, of what remains in the length of the curtains of the tent, shall hang over the sides of the dwelling on this side and on that side to cover it.

• Exodus 26:14

  You shall make a covering for the tent of rams' skins dyed red, and a covering of fine skins above.

• Exodus 26:36

  You shall make a screen for the entrance of the tent, of blue, purple, and scarlet yarn and fine twisted linen, the work of an embroiderer.

• Exodus 27:21

  In the tent of meeting, outside the veil that is before the testimony, Aaron and his sons shall set it in order from evening to morning before YHWH. It is a statute forever throughout their generations on the part of the sons of Israel.

• Exodus 28:43

  They shall be on Aaron and on his sons when they go into the tent of meeting, or when they come near to the altar to minister in the Holy Place, so that they do not bear iniquity and die. It is a statute forever for him and for his offspring after him.

• Exodus 29:4

  Aaron and his sons you shall bring near to the entrance of the tent of meeting, and wash them with water.

• Exodus 29:10

  You shall bring near the bull before the tent of meeting, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the bull.

• Exodus 29:11

  You shall slaughter the bull before YHWH at the entrance of the tent of meeting,

• Exodus 29:30

  Seven days the priest who succeeds him from among his sons shall wear them, the one who goes into the tent of meeting to minister in the Holy Place.

• Exodus 29:32

  Aaron and his sons shall eat the flesh of the ram and the bread that is in the basket at the entrance of the tent of meeting.

• Exodus 29:42

  It shall be a continual burnt offering throughout your generations at the entrance of the tent of meeting before YHWH, where I will meet with you to speak to you there.

• Exodus 29:44

  I will consecrate the tent of meeting and the altar; and Aaron and his sons I will consecrate to serve as priests for me.

• Exodus 30:16

  You shall take the silver of expiation from the sons of Israel and give it for the service of the tent of meeting; and it shall be for the sons of Israel a memorial before YHWH, to make expiation for your lives.”

• Exodus 30:18

  “You shall make a basin of bronze, with its stand of bronze, for washing, and put it between the tent of meeting and the altar, and put water in it.

• Exodus 30:20

  When they go into the tent of meeting, they shall wash with water so that they will not die; or when they come near to the altar to minister, to offer up in smoke a fire offering to YHWH,

And 305 more times.