lishka · room, hall

What it means

lishka (לִשְׁכָּה) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “room, hall”.

Room in a building, for eating, storing things or lodging.

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 room, especially in the temple.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

Room, chamber: a room in a large building, above all in the house of YHWH, for eating, storing things or lodging someone.

• The hall where Samuel seats Saul 1 Samuel 9:22
• The chambers of the temple: treasuries and service 1 Chronicles 9:261 Chronicles 23:282 Kings 23:11
• Chambers named after their owner, in Jeremiah Jeremiah 35:4Jeremiah 36:10Jeremiah 36:20
• The chambers of the house of Elohim, in Ezra and Nehemiah Ezra 8:29Nehemiah 13:4Nehemiah 13:8
• The chambers of Ezekiel’s temple Ezekiel 40:17Ezekiel 42:13

Historical and cultural background

Baruch read the scroll of Jeremiah “in the chamber of Gemariah son of Shaphan the scribe” (Jeremiah 36:10). Nehemiah threw out Tobiah’s utensils from the chamber that the priest Eliashib had prepared for him in the temple (Nehemiah 13:4-8).

How we translate it

“Chambers” 30 times and “chamber” 16, the same word in Jeremiah, Ezra, Nehemiah and Ezekiel, also for the form נִשְׁכָּה that Nehemiah uses with the same sense. In 1 Samuel 9:22, where Samuel receives the guests, “the hall”.

How it is translated

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

• chambers ×30
• chamber ×16
• hall ×1

Related words

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

Where it appears

• 1 Samuel×1
• 2 Kings×1
• 1 Chronicles×4
• 2 Chronicles×1
• Ezra×2
• Nehemiah×7
• Jeremiah×8
• Ezekiel×23

• 1 Samuel 9:22

  And Samuel took Saul and his young man and brought them into the hall and gave them a place at the head of those who were invited, and they were about thirty men.

• 2 Kings 23:11

  He put an end to the horses that the kings of Judah had given to the sun, at the entrance of the house of YHWH, by the chamber of Nathan-melech the official, which was in the Parvarim; and the chariots of the sun he burned with fire.

• 1 Chronicles 9:26

  for in an office of trust were they, the four mighty ones of the gatekeepers, who were the Levites; and they were over the chambers and over the treasuries of the house of Elohim.

• 1 Chronicles 9:33

  And these were the singers, heads of fathers’ houses of the Levites, in the chambers, free from other service, for day and night it was on them to be in the work.

• 1 Chronicles 23:28

  For their post was at the side of the sons of Aaron for the service of the house of YHWH, over the courts and over the chambers, and over the purification of every holy thing, and the work of the service of the house of Elohim,

• 1 Chronicles 28:12

  and the pattern of all that he had in the spirit for the courts of the house of YHWH and for all the chambers around, for the treasuries of the house of Elohim and for the treasuries of the holy things;

• 2 Chronicles 31:11

  Hezekiah ordered to prepare chambers in the house of YHWH, and they prepared them.

• Ezra 8:29

  Keep watch and guard them until you weigh them before the leaders of the priests and the Levites and the leaders of the fathers’ houses of Israel in Jerusalem, in the chambers of the house of YHWH.”

• Ezra 10:6

  And Ezra rose from before the house of Elohim and went to the chamber of Jehohanan the son of Eliashib; and he went there; bread he did not eat, and water he did not drink, for he was mourning over the unfaithfulness of the exiles.

• Nehemiah 10:37

  and the first of our dough, and our contributions, and the fruit of every tree, new wine and oil, we will bring to the priests, to the chambers of the house of our Elohim; and the tithe of our ground to the Levites; and they, the Levites, are the ones who receive the tithe in all the cities of our labor.

• Nehemiah 10:38

  And the priest, the son of Aaron, shall be with the Levites when the Levites receive the tithe; and the Levites shall bring up the tithe of the tithe to the house of our Elohim, to the chambers, to the house of the treasury.

• Nehemiah 10:39

  For to the chambers the sons of Israel and the sons of Levi shall bring the contribution of the grain, the new wine, and the oil; and there are the utensils of the sanctuary, and the priests who minister, and the gatekeepers and the singers. And we will not abandon the house of our Elohim.

• Nehemiah 13:4

  Now before this, Eliashib the priest, who was placed in the chamber of the house of our Elohim, and was related to Tobiah,

• Nehemiah 13:5

  had made for him a large chamber, where previously they had been putting the grain offering, the frankincense, and the utensils, and the tithe of the grain, the new wine, and the oil, what was commanded for the Levites, the singers, and the gatekeepers, and the contribution of the priests.

• Nehemiah 13:8

  And it seemed wrong to me greatly, and I threw all the utensils of the house of Tobiah outside of the chamber.

• Nehemiah 13:9

  And I said, and they purified the chambers; and I brought back there the utensils of the house of Elohim, the grain offering and the frankincense.

• Jeremiah 35:2

  “Go to the house of the Rechabites, and speak with them, and bring them to the house of YHWH, into one of the chambers, and give them wine to drink.”

• Jeremiah 35:4

  and I brought them into the house of YHWH, into the chamber of the sons of Hanan son of Igdaliah, the man of Elohim, which was next to the chamber of the princes, which was above the chamber of Maaseiah son of Shallum, keeper of the threshold.

• Jeremiah 36:10

  And Baruch read in the book the words of Jeremiah in the house of YHWH, in the chamber of Gemariah son of Shaphan the scribe, in the upper court, at the entrance of the New Gate of the house of YHWH, in the ears of all the people.

• Jeremiah 36:12

  and he went down to the house of the king, into the chamber of the scribe; and look, there all the princes were sitting: Elishama the scribe, and Delaiah son of Shemaiah, and Elnathan son of Achbor, and Gemariah son of Shaphan, and Zedekiah son of Hananiah, and all the princes.

• Jeremiah 36:20

  And they went in to the king to the court, but the scroll they had deposited in the chamber of Elishama the scribe; and they told in the ears of the king all the words.

• Jeremiah 36:21

  And the king sent Jehudi to get the scroll, and he got it from the chamber of Elishama the scribe; and Jehudi read it in the ears of the king and in the ears of all the princes who were standing beside the king.

• Ezekiel 40:17

  And he brought me into the outer court, and look, chambers and a pavement made for the court all around; thirty chambers on the pavement.

• Ezekiel 40:38

  And there was a chamber with its entrance by the pilasters of the gates; there they would wash the burnt offering.

• Ezekiel 40:44

  And outside the inner gate were chambers for the singers in the inner court, which was beside the side of the north gate, with their front toward the south, one beside the side of the east gate, facing toward the north.

• Ezekiel 40:45

  And he spoke to me, “This is the chamber that faces toward the south, for the priests who keep the charge of the house;

• Ezekiel 40:46

  and the chamber that faces toward the north is for the priests who keep the charge of the altar. These are the sons of Zadok, who come near from among the sons of Levi to YHWH to minister to him.”

• Ezekiel 41:10

  and between the chambers a width of twenty cubits around the house all around.

• Ezekiel 42:1

  And he brought me out into the outer court, by the way toward the north, and he brought me to the chamber that was opposite the separate area and that was opposite the building, toward the north.

• Ezekiel 42:4

  And in front of the chambers was a corridor ten cubits wide, toward the inside, a way of one cubit; and their entrances were toward the north.

• Ezekiel 42:5

  And the upper chambers were shorter, because the terraces took space from them more than from the lower ones and the middle ones of the building.

• Ezekiel 42:7

  And the fence that was outside, parallel to the chambers, toward the outer court, in front of the chambers, its length fifty cubits.

• Ezekiel 42:8

  For the length of the chambers that belonged to the outer court was fifty cubits; and look, in front of the temple, a hundred cubits.

• Ezekiel 42:9

  And below these chambers was the entrance from the east, as one goes in to them from the outer court.

• Ezekiel 42:10

  In the width of the fence of the court, toward the east, in front of the separate area and in front of the building, there were chambers.

• Ezekiel 42:11

  And a way was in front of them, like the appearance of the chambers that were toward the north; as their length, so their width, and all their exits, both according to their arrangements and according to their entrances.

• Ezekiel 42:12

  And according to the entrances of the chambers that were toward the south there was an entrance at the head of the way, the way in front of the corresponding fence, toward the east, as one enters them.

• Ezekiel 42:13

  And he said to me, “The north chambers and the south chambers that are in front of the separate area, they are the holy chambers, where the priests who are near to YHWH eat the most holy things; there they shall put the most holy things, and the grain offering, and the sin offering, and the guilt offering; for the place is holy.

• Ezekiel 44:19

  And when they go out to the outer court, to the outer court, to the people, they shall take off their garments in which they minister, and they shall lay them in the holy chambers, and they shall put on other garments, and they shall not sanctify the people with their garments.

• Ezekiel 45:5

  And twenty-five thousand in length and ten thousand in width shall be for the Levites, the ministers of the house, for them as a possession: twenty chambers.

And 7 more times.