A residence (including a shepherd's hut , the lair of animals, figuratively, the grave ; also the Temple ); specifically, the Tabernacle (properly, its wooden walls)
Reading a lexicon entry
What this page is: Each lexicon entry shows the original Hebrew or Greek word behind the English translation: its meaning, its range of use, and where it appears in Scripture.
Strong's number: The Strong's code (H- or G-) is the standard reference number for this word. It connects this entry to chapter and passage language tabs.
Where it appears: The witness passages show where this word is used in context. Click any to open the study page for that passage.
This lexicon entry is part of our ongoing editorial review. If you notice missing content, unclear wording, or a possible correction, please send us a note through the Connect page. Screenshots are helpful.
מִשְׁכָּן (mishkan) is YHWH's dwelling place among his people: the tent that moved with Israel in the wilderness, the structure that YHWH commanded Moses to build so that he might dwell in Israel's midst (Exod 25:8). The local Hebrew index currently counts about 139 occurrences and is the architectural center of the Mosaic covenant — the place where YHWH met with his people, where the priests ministered, where the.
Reader summary
Full entry for מִשְׁכָּן (H4908) · Open the biblical lexicon
מִשְׁכָּן (mishkan) is YHWH's dwelling place among his people: the tent that moved with Israel in the wilderness, the structure that YHWH commanded Moses to build so that he might dwell in Israel's midst (Exod 25:8). The local Hebrew index currently counts about 139 occurrences and is the architectural center of the Mosaic covenant — the place where YHWH.
The BSB source-word alignment has 139 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include the tabernacle (41), of the tabernacle (31), for the tabernacle (11), to the tabernacle (5), tabernacle (4).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Exodus 25:9. Its strongest book concentrations include Exodus (58), Numbers (42), Psalms (11), 1 Chronicles (6).
מִשְׁכָּן (mishkan) is YHWH's dwelling place among his people: the tent that moved with Israel in the wilderness, the structure that YHWH commanded Moses to build so that he might dwell in Israel's midst (Exod 25:8). The local Hebrew index currently counts about 139 occurrences and is the architectural center of the Mosaic covenant — the place where YHWH met with his people, where the priests ministered, where the blood was sprinkled, and where the divine glory took up residence.
The word comes from שָׁכַן (shakan, H7931), the verb meaning to dwell or tabernacle. From this same root comes the later theological concept of the shekinah — the divine glory-presence. The mishkan is the structure; the shekinah is the presence that fills it. When YHWH's glory fills the completed mishkan (Exod 40:34-35), the connection between the word and the presence is made visible: the mishkan is the place where YHWH chooses to shakan, to dwell, to settle his presence among Israel.
Exodus 25:8 gives the mishkan its theological foundation: 'And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell (veshakhanti) in their midst.' The command is not primarily about the structure — it is about the purpose. The mishkan exists so that YHWH can dwell in Israel's midst. All the detailed instruction of Exodus 25-31 (the ark, the table, the lampstand, the altar, the curtains, the frames, the court) is the provision for a single theological reality: YHWH's presence in the camp.
Exodus 40:34-35 gives the mishkan its completion-theology: 'Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of YHWH filled the mishkan. And Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled on it, and the glory of YHWH filled the mishkan.' The completion of the mishkan is not a construction milestone — it is a divine arrival. YHWH actually takes up residence. The cloud (the sign of YHWH's presence throughout the exodus, Exod 13:21-22) now settles on and in the mishkan. The shekinah fills the structure built for the divine yashav (H3427).
Psalm 84:1-2 gives the mishkan its devotional expression: 'How lovely is your dwelling place (mishkenot), O YHWH of hosts! My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of YHWH; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God.' The psalmist's longing for YHWH's mishkan (in its Zion-temple form) is the devotional response to the divine dwelling: not just the structure but the presence within it that draws the soul.
Psalm 46:4 gives the mishkan its eschatological dimension: 'There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High (mishkenot elyon).' The mishkan-of-the-Most-High is not a tent any longer but the city of God — pointing forward to the river that flows from the throne in Revelation 22:1-2.
For the preacher, מִשְׁכָּן (mishkan) gives the congregation the theological grammar for understanding where God lives and why the Incarnation (John 1:14) and the church (Eph 2:22) and the new Jerusalem (Rev 21:3) are all part of one continuous story: YHWH has always been moving toward a mishkan in the midst of his people.
מִשְׁכָּן (mishkan) is currently indexed about 139 times in the local Hebrew index. It is concentrated heavily in Exodus (where the tabernacle is built), Leviticus (where the cult is established), Numbers (where the mishkan travels with Israel), and the Psalms (where the longing for YHWH's dwelling place is expressed devotionally). The word is also used for human dwellings (Job 18:21) and poetically for YHWH's heavenly dwelling (Ps 46:4).
The theological weight is in its Exodus use: the mishkan is the structure YHWH commanded for his dwelling in Israel's midst, and the divine glory filling the completed structure is the OT's most concentrated image of YHWH's yashav among his people.
And they are to make a sanctuary for Me, so that I may dwell among them.
The mishkan's founding purpose: 'let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell (veshakhanti, from shakan) in their midst.' YHWH gives 63 verses of detailed instruction for the ark, the table, the lampstand, and the altar (Exod 25:10-27:21) before giving the reason for the entire project: the divine yashav in Israel's midst. The mishkan is not a monument or a religious headquarters — it is the architectural provision for YHWH's presence in the camp. The structure serves the presence.
Then the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.
The mishkan's completion: YHWH actually arrives. When Moses finishes assembling the mishkan (v. 33), the cloud — YHWH's presence marker through the entire exodus — settles on it and the divine glory fills it. The completion of the mishkan is not a construction achievement but a divine arrival. Moses cannot even enter because the glory is so present (v. 35). This is the event all of Exodus 25-40 has been moving toward: YHWH's mishkan-presence is established in Israel's camp.
How lovely is Your dwelling place, O Lord of Hosts!
The devotional response to the mishkan: 'How lovely is your mishkan, O YHWH of hosts!' Psalm 84 is the great mishkan-longing psalm: the soul faints for YHWH's courts (v. 2), the sparrow finds a home at his altars (v. 3), blessed are those who dwell in his house (v. 4). The psalmist's longing is not for a building but for the presence within it — the living God (haElohim chai, v.
2) Who fills his mishkan. This is the devotional grammar YHWH intends the mishkan to evoke: not 'where is the temple?' but 'where is the living God?'
There is a river whose streams delight the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells.
The mishkan of the Most High — the eschatological dimension. Psalm 46's city of God has a river whose streams make it glad (v. 4) and mishkenot of the Most High at its center. This moves the mishkan beyond the wilderness tent into the city-of-God register — the holy habitation that is both Zion and the eschatological Jerusalem. The river of Psalm 46:4 becomes the river from the throne in Revelation 22:1-2: the mishkan-of-the-Most-High is ultimately the new creation.
How lovely are your tents, O Jacob, your dwellings, O Israel!
Balaam's oracle over Israel: 'How goodly are your tents, O Jacob, your mishkenot, O Israel!' The parallel of 'tents' and 'mishkenot' — Israel's mishkan-life as corporate dwelling before YHWH. The nations see Israel's mishkan-ordered existence and even the prophet hired to curse them is moved to blessing. The mishkan gave Israel's camp a visible center: YHWH's dwelling in the midst of the tribes (Num 2), and the beauty of that order is what Balaam sees and cannot curse.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Hebrew word. Dwelling-place connoting God's chosen residence among His people, from tabernacle to temple.
Dwelling-place connoting God's chosen residence among His people, from tabernacle to temple.
a residence (including a shepherd's hut, the lair of animals, figuratively, the grave; also the Temple); specifically, the Tabernacle (properly, its wooden walls) BDB: dwelling-place Usage: dwelleth, dwelling (place), habitation, tabernacle, tent.
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 1 selected witness from 139 lexical occurrence verses.
מִשְׁכָּן is built from this root:
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
מִשְׁכָּן (mishkan) is not primarily a building — it is the story of where YHWH lives. From the wilderness tent to Solomon's temple to the body of Christ to the new Jerusalem, the mishkan-story is the continuous movement of YHWH toward a dwelling in the midst of his people. The preacher can trace this line in a single sermon or series: Exod 25:8 (YHWH commands the mishkan for his dwelling), Exod 40:34-35 (the shekinah fills the completed mishkan), 1 Kgs 8:10-11 (the glory fills Solomon's temple), John 1:14 (the Word becomes flesh and tabernacles among us — eskenosen, from skene, the Greek mishkan), 1 Cor 6:19 (your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit), Eph 2:22 (the church is being built into a dwelling place for God in the Spirit), Rev 21:3 (the dwelling of God is with man).
The mishkan is not a historical artifact — it is the grammar by which the whole Bible tells the story of where God lives. The wilderness tent is the first chapter; the new Jerusalem is the last. Between them, the same desire: YHWH dwelling in the midst of his people.
Exod.25.8
מִשְׁכָּן (mishkan) is a noun derived from the verb שָׁכַן (shakan, H7931), which means to settle, dwell, or take up residence — with a connotation of tenting or camping that distinguishes it from the more permanent יָשַׁב (yashav, H3427). The root shakan also gives rise to the theological concept of the shekinah (the divine glory-presence) — a term not found in the OT but standard in later Jewish theology, derived from this same root.
The Greek translation of the OT (the Septuagint) renders mishkan with skene (tent) or the compound 'skene tou martyriou' (tent of witness/meeting), from which the NT's skenoo (to tabernacle, John 1:14) derives directly. John 1:14 — 'the Word became flesh and tabernacled (eskenosen) among us' — is a deliberate evocation of the Exodus mishkan-filling: as YHWH filled the wilderness tent with his glory, so the Word fills the flesh of Jesus with the divine glory ('and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father,' v.
14). The same Greek root gives Revelation 21:3 its 'dwelling (skene) of God is with man' language.
The mishkan's NT trajectory is one of the most theologically rich in the canon. John 1:14 is the first station: 'the Word became flesh and dwelt (eskenosen, tabernacled) among us, and we have seen his glory.' The divine glory that filled the Exodus mishkan (Exod 40:34) now fills the flesh of Jesus — and the disciples see it, as Moses saw the glory on Sinai. Acts 7:44-48 is Stephen's summary: the tabernacle was a copy of the heavenly pattern; Solomon's temple was the stone house — but the Most High does not dwell in houses made by hands (citing Isa 66:1-2).
Hebrews 9:1-12 develops the contrast: the wilderness mishkan was a shadow and copy (hypodeigma, 9:23) of the heavenly mishkan where Christ ministers as high priest. Revelation 21:3 is the eschatological completion: 'the dwelling (skene) of God is with man; he will tabernacle (skenosei) with them, and they will be his people.' The mishkan-story that begins in Exodus 25:8 reaches its completion in the new Jerusalem — YHWH dwelling with his people, without the tent, without the veil, without the need for sun or lamp, because his glory is the light (Rev 21:23).
MorphGNT Strong's Dictionary XML — CC0 1.0 Public Domain
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible (morphhb/OSHB) — CC BY 4.0
Open Scriptures Hebrew Lexicon — CC BY 4.0
Berean Standard Bible (BSB) source-word alignment - CC0 Public Domain