שָׁכַן (šākan) is a Hebrew verb for dwelling, settling, remaining, or causing someone or something to dwell. Exodus 25:8 joins Israel's sanctuary work to the Lord's gracious purpose to dwell among His people.
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 שָׁכַן (H7931) · Open the biblical lexicon
שָׁכַן (šākan) is a Hebrew verb for dwelling, settling, remaining, or causing someone or something to dwell. Exodus 25:8 joins Israel's sanctuary work to the LORD's gracious purpose to dwell among His people.
The BSB source-word alignment has 129 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include as a dwelling (7), dwell (6), will dwell (6), settled (4), to dwell (4).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 3:24. Its strongest book concentrations include Psalms (23), Isaiah (13), Jeremiah (13), Deuteronomy (12).
H7931 is a Hebrew verb for dwelling, settling, remaining, or causing someone or something to dwell. Exodus 25:8 joins Israel's sanctuary work to the Lord's gracious purpose to dwell among His people. Exodus 29:45 repeats that covenant presence, while Psalm 15:1 asks who may dwell on the Lord's holy mountain and answers in terms of truthful, just life. Isaiah 57:15 holds transcendence and nearness together: the high and exalted One also dwells with the contrite and lowly.
The verb can also describe people settling in land, remaining in a place, inhabiting a city, or the presence of glory. It does not guarantee safety, moral approval, ownership, permanence, or divine indwelling in every occurrence. H7931 helps teachers distinguish location from belonging and God's promised presence from human attempts to possess, manipulate, or exclude Him.
H7931 moves across human settlement, national inhabitation, sanctuary presence, divine glory, and poetic abiding. It joins place and relationship while requiring careful attention to subject, object, duration, covenant setting, and agency.
And they are to make a sanctuary for Me, so that I may dwell among them.
The Lord commands a sanctuary so that He may dwell among Israel, making divine presence a gracious covenant purpose rather than Israel's architectural achievement.
Then I will dwell among the Israelites and be their God.
God promises to dwell among the Israelites and be their God, placing dwelling within redemption, consecration, worship, and covenant relationship.
O Lord, who may abide in Your tent? Who may dwell on Your holy mountain?
The psalm asks who may dwell on God's holy mountain, then connects nearness with truthful, just, non-exploitative life rather than status alone.
For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in a high and holy place, and with the oppressed and humble in spirit, to restore the spirit of the lowly and revive the heart of the contrite.
The exalted and eternal Holy One also dwells with the contrite and lowly, joining divine majesty to restorative nearness rather than institutional prestige.
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 that establishes presence; God's šākan signifies covenantal residence, not mere temporary occupation.
Dwelling that establishes presence; God's šākan signifies covenantal residence, not mere temporary occupation.
to reside or permanently stay (literally or figuratively) BDB: settle down Usage: abide, continue, (cause to, make to) dwell(-er), have habitation, inhabit, lay, place, (cause to) remain, rest, set (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 129 lexical occurrence verses.
שָׁכַן is built from these roots:
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
H7931 binds together the ordinary act of inhabiting a place and the extraordinary biblical claim that the holy God chooses to dwell among His people. In Exodus, sanctuary construction serves that divine purpose, but the narrative never presents craftsmanship as a technique for capturing God. The Lord who redeemed Israel gives the pattern, consecrates worship, and defines the relationship.
Settlement texts use the same verb for peoples inhabiting lands and cities, which means dwelling can be stable or contested, righteous or corrupt, welcomed or imposed. Psalm 15 turns the question of dwelling near God toward truthful speech, justice, neighbor protection, and freedom from exploitative gain. The psalm is not a merit ladder for the self-righteous; it exposes the character appropriate to covenant nearness.
Isaiah 57 intensifies the theological tension: the One who inhabits eternity also dwells with contrite and lowly people to revive them. Divine height is not aloofness, and divine nearness is not endorsement of pride. H7931 therefore helps churches examine belonging and presence carefully. A community may occupy a building without practicing hospitality, and a displaced believer may know God's nearness without possessing secure land.
Teachers should celebrate God's initiative to dwell with His people, resist territorial or institutional entitlement, and protect those whose right to remain is threatened by coercion.
Isa.57.15
H7931 is a verb whose stems and syntax can express dwelling, settling, remaining, or causing to dwell. The subject, location phrase, covenant frame, and verbal form identify whether the emphasis is residence, continuation, installation, or divine presence.
John speaks of the Word dwelling among us, apostolic writings describe God's presence among His people, and Revelation announces God's dwelling with humanity. These developments belong to the wider canonical trajectory while each Hebrew occurrence remains governed by its own covenant and literary setting.