Sākak describes covering or overshadowing in the selected sanctuary, encounter and poetic passages. Exodus 25:20 gives the cherubim wings that overshadow the mercy seat as part of the ark's prescribed arrangement.
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 theConnect page. Screenshots are helpful.
Reader summary
Full entry for סָכַךְ (H5526) · Open the biblical lexicon
Sākak describes covering or overshadowing in the selected sanctuary, encounter and poetic passages. Exodus 25:20 gives the cherubim wings that overshadow the mercy seat as part of the ark's prescribed arrangement.
The BSB source-word alignment has 24 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include and overshadowed (2), overshadowing (2), You have covered (2), and cover you (1), and joined (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Exodus 25:20. Its strongest book concentrations include Exodus (5), Job (4), Psalms (4), Ezekiel (2).
Sākak describes covering or overshadowing in the selected sanctuary, encounter and poetic passages. Exodus 25:20 gives the cherubim wings that overshadow the mercy seat as part of the ark's prescribed arrangement. Exodus 33:22 says the Lord will cover Moses with His hand as His glory passes. The first is a construction instruction and the second a particular encounter; neither should become a rule that every modern person can demand the same visible shelter.
Psalm 91:4 portrays divine refuge through feathers and wings, while Lamentations 3:44 describes God covered with a cloud through which prayer cannot pass in a communal lament. Covering therefore does not always express the speaker's experience of comfort. Multiple licensed forms and entries share the identifier, so their weaving, hedging and covering observations remain distinct source evidence rather than one approved canonical synthesis. Teaching can explain the specific image without treating poetry as physical anatomy, promising immunity or shaming someone who currently feels obstructed rather than sheltered.
Sanctuary wings, Moses covered during a divine encounter, refuge poetry and a cloud obstructing prayer present differing functions of covering. The selected images require their settings and voices, while related licensed forms remain unmerged observations.
And the cherubim are to have wings that spread upward, overshadowing the mercy seat. The cherubim are to face each other, looking toward the mercy seat.
Cherubim wings overshadow the mercy seat within instructions for constructing and arranging the ark. Their position belongs to that specified sanctuary setting rather than a universal personal protection mechanism.
And when My glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft of the rock and cover you with My hand until I have passed by.
The Lord describes covering Moses while glory passes in response to his request. The stated limits on seeing God's face make this a particular encounter, not a technique to reproduce.
He will cover you with His feathers; under His wings you will find refuge; His faithfulness is a shield and rampart.
Feathers and wings portray refuge alongside God's faithfulness as shield and rampart. The poetic image should not be made literal divine anatomy or a reason to enter avoidable danger.
You have covered Yourself with a cloud that no prayer can pass through.
The communal lament speaks of a cloud covering through which prayer cannot pass. Its distressed voice must not be erased by imposing the comforting sense from a different passage.
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. Protection through physical enclosure or screening; defensive barrier that shelters and conceals simultaneously.
Protection through physical enclosure or screening; defensive barrier that shelters and conceals simultaneously.
properly, to entwine as a screen; by implication, to fence in, cover over, (figuratively) protect BDB: hedge Usage: cover, defence, defend, hedge in, join together, set, shut up.
How the stem changes the meaning of this verb across the biblical text.
This verb appears through different tense, voice, mood, or stem patterns. Those forms help readers see how the action is presented in context.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 1 selected witness from 24 lexical occurrence verses.
סָכַךְ is a primitive root - no further derivation.
Divine obstruction of sinful pursuit.Hosea 2:2-13
The wings over the mercy seat belong to a defined sanctuary arrangement, while Moses' covering belongs to an encounter with stated limits. Both passages require more than a generalized claim that covering always grants anyone unrestricted access to divine glory. Psalm 91 uses a different mode, portraying refuge through wings and faithfulness through defensive images rather than giving a description of God's bodily structure.
Lamentations voices another experience: a cloud seems to block prayer amid confessed rebellion and the devastation of the community. That lament should remain audible rather than being corrected into the reassuring tone of the refuge psalm. Matthew 4:5-7 provides a Christian boundary when Jesus rejects a demand to test God through dangerous action backed by quoted protection language. Multiple licensed rows under H5526 also caution against a silent canonical merger. A faithful explanation preserves each image's function and supports refuge without accusing distressed readers of failing to produce an assured feeling of safety.
Ps.91.4
Licensed rows document several forms and covering, weaving, hedging or protecting observations under this identity. The citation here follows sākak covering uses; the local object and literary setting control the explanation without collapsing alternate rows into a governed sense decision.
Matthew 4:5-7 records protection language used to urge a dangerous act, which Jesus refuses as testing God. This supplies a Christian boundary for applying refuge imagery. It does not quote the selected covering verb or make H5526 a Greek term, and it does not authorize avoidable danger as a way to prove trust.