What does אוּלָם mean in the Bible?
A porch or portico is an architectural space connected with a building, whose importance depends on what occurs there. First Kings describes the portico at the front of Solomon's temple with stated dimensions.
Hebrew · H197
אוּלָם
A porch or portico is an architectural space connected with a building, whose importance depends on what occurs there. First Kings describes the portico at the front of Solomon's temple with stated dimensions.
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אוּלָםH197
What does אוּלָם mean in the Bible?
Reader summary
Full entry for אוּלָם (H197) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render H197?
The BSB source-word alignment has 34 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include The portico (11), of the portico (7), - (2), portico (2), a hall (1).
Where does אוּלָם appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at 1 Kings 6:3. Its strongest book concentrations include Ezekiel (17), 1 Kings (10), 2 Chronicles (5), 1 Chronicles (1).
What This Word Actually Means
A porch or portico is an architectural space connected with a building, whose importance depends on what occurs there. First Kings describes the portico at the front of Solomon's temple with stated dimensions. Joel places the priests' plea for the people between the portico and the altar. Ezekiel describes men in that same relation to the temple who turn their backs toward it and worship the sun.
The location does not guarantee faithful conduct: a place associated with worship can hold either an appeal to the Lord or an action the vision condemns. Reading the structure, people and direction of their worship keeps the detail concrete. The noun does not prescribe the architecture of every congregation or establish someone's devotion from where they stand.
How the Bible Uses It
A measured temple entrance becomes a reference point for priestly pleading in Joel and condemned sun worship in Ezekiel. Architecture locates actions without making their moral meaning identical.
- 1Kgs.6.3
The portico at the front of the main hall of the temple was twenty cubits long, extending across the width of the temple and projecting out ten cubits in front of the temple.
The portico's dimensions locate it at the temple's front, as part of the narrated construction of the house.
- Joel.2.17
Let the priests who minister before the Lord weep between the portico and the altar, saying, “Spare Your people, O Lord, and do not make Your heritage a reproach, an object of scorn among the nations. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’”
Priests are called to weep and ask the Lord to spare His people, with their position locating the stated plea.
- Ezek.8.16
So He brought me to the inner court of the house of the Lord, and there at the entrance to the temple of the Lord, between the portico and the altar, were about twenty-five men with their backs to the temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east; and they were bowing to the east in worship of the sun.
The vision identifies men facing east to worship the sun while turning their backs toward the temple, among the exposed abominations.
Source Word Evidence
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItThe portico11×1 Kings 6:3, 2 Chronicles 3:4, 2 Chronicles 29:17, Ezekiel 8:16
of the portico7×2 Chronicles 8:12, 2 Chronicles 15:8, 2 Chronicles 29:7, Ezekiel 40:48
-2×1 Kings 7:8, Ezekiel 40:9
portico2×Ezekiel 40:15, Ezekiel 40:40
a hall1×1 Kings 7:7
and portico1×1 Kings 7:12
And the portico1×Ezekiel 40:9
and the porticoes1×Ezekiel 41:15
at the portico1×1 Kings 7:21
for the portico [of the temple]1×1 Chronicles 28:11
hall1×1 Kings 7:8
his colonnade1×1 Kings 7:6
in the portico1×1 Kings 7:19
Inside the portico1×Ezekiel 40:39
the Hall1×1 Kings 7:7
with a portico1×1 Kings 7:6
Show sample aligned rows
1 Kings 6:3וְהָאוּלָ֗םtoThe porticoConjunctive waw, Article | Noun - masculine singular1 Kings 7:6אוּלָ֤םtohis colonnadeNoun - masculine singular construct1 Kings 7:6וְאוּלָם֙towith a porticoConjunctive waw | Noun - masculine singular1 Kings 7:7וְאוּלָ֤םtoa hallConjunctive waw | Noun - masculine singular construct1 Kings 7:7אֻלָ֥םtothe HallNoun - masculine singular construct1 Kings 7:8לָֽאוּלָ֔םto-Preposition-l | Noun - masculine singular1 Kings 7:8כָּאוּלָ֖םtohallPreposition-k, Article | Noun - masculine singular1 Kings 7:12וּלְאֻלָ֥םtoand porticoConjunctive waw, Preposition-l | Noun - masculine singular construct1 Kings 7:19בָּֽאוּלָ֑םtoin the porticoPreposition-b, Article | Noun - masculine singular1 Kings 7:21לְאֻלָ֖םtoat the porticoPreposition-l | Noun - masculine singular construct
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned row1 Kings 6:3
Aligned rows34
Books represented5
1 Kings101 Chronicles12 Chronicles5Ezekiel17Joel1
Source forms
אֻלָ֥ם3x’u·lām1 Kings 7:7, Ezekiel 40:8, Ezekiel 40:15
אוּלָ֤ם2x’ū·lām1 Kings 7:6, Ezekiel 46:8
אוּלָ֥ם2x’ū·lām2 Chronicles 15:8, Ezekiel 40:7
אֻלָ֤ם2x’u·lāmEzekiel 40:9, Ezekiel 44:3
אוּלָ֨ם1x’ū·lāmEzekiel 46:2
אֻלָ֣ם1x’u·lāmEzekiel 40:48
אֻלָ֔ם1x’u·lāmEzekiel 40:48
בָּֽאוּלָ֑ם1xbā·’ū·lām1 Kings 7:19
Parsing patterns
Noun - masculine singular construct12x1 Kings 7:6, 1 Kings 7:7, 2 Chronicles 15:8, Ezekiel 40:7
Article | Noun - masculine singular8x1 Chronicles 28:11, 2 Chronicles 8:12, 2 Chronicles 29:7, Ezekiel 8:16
Preposition-l | Noun - masculine singular construct3x1 Kings 7:21, 2 Chronicles 29:17, Ezekiel 40:40
Conjunctive waw | Noun - masculine singular construct2x1 Kings 7:7, Ezekiel 40:9
Conjunctive waw, Article | Noun - masculine singular2x1 Kings 6:3, 2 Chronicles 3:4
Conjunctive waw | Noun - masculine plural construct1xEzekiel 41:15
Conjunctive waw | Noun - masculine singular1x1 Kings 7:6
Conjunctive waw, Preposition-b | Noun - masculine singular construct1xEzekiel 40:39
Using This Word Well
Be careful not to...
- Attend to prayer and conduct when reflecting on worship rather than architecture alone.
- Do not require a congregation to reproduce Joel's physical position to receive mercy.
Avoid claiming...
- The portico noun does not make everyone near the temple a faithful worshiper.
- Joel's priests do not establish a universal required floor plan for Christian gatherings.
Evidence Summary
Hebrew word. a vestibule (as bound to the building)
Source Gloss
a vestibule (as bound to the building)
Extended definitionSource: Open Scriptures Hebrew Lexicon + Brown-Driver-Briggs
a vestibule (as bound to the building) BDB: porch Usage: porch.
Grammatical Forms
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
Word Origins
אוּלָם is built from this root:
Part of These Phrases
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
For the Preacher and Teacher
Joel and Ezekiel prevent architecture from becoming a substitute for attending to worship's direction. Joel supplies the priests' actual plea: they ask the Lord to spare His people and address the reproach among the nations. Ezekiel supplies an opposite action in a related location: men turn toward the sun with their backs to the temple, and the vision exposes the conduct as part of its indictment.
A teacher must explain those actions instead of suggesting that the portico itself creates devotion or corruption. First Kings adds measured physical detail that makes the location intelligible. Together these texts encourage precise reading of people in space. They also caution against judging a modern worshiper by proximity, room arrangement or posture without attending to truthful words and conduct.
Anchor passage
Joel.2.17
Doctrinal connections
- First Kings 6:1-4 gives the temple and front portico explicit measured dimensions.
- Second Chronicles 29:17 places the portico within the narrated cleansing of the temple.
- Joel 2:15-17 joins sacred assembly with the priests' plea for the people.
- Joel 2:18-19 records the Lord's response within the prophet's appeal and promise.
- Ezekiel 8:15-18 identifies condemned actions near the temple rather than approval by location.
- John 10:22-23 locates Jesus at the temple in Solomon's Colonnade during the feast.
The Hebrew record supplies porch or vestibule vocabulary. It names an architectural relationship, while Joel's prayer and Ezekiel's vision supply the theological evaluation of what happens there.
From Old to New Testament
John 10:23 places Jesus in Solomon's Colonnade before the ensuing conversation. That is a comparison of narrated temple settings, not proof that the Greek location and Hebrew porch noun establish identical architecture or prescribe one Christian worship space.