Lexical Summary sok: Thicket, hedge, or covering Original Word: שׂךְ Strong's Exhaustive Concordance tabernacle From cakak in the sense of suwk; a booth (as interlaced) -- tabernacle. see HEBREW cakak see HEBREW suwk NAS Exhaustive Concordance Word Originfrom sakak Definition booth, pavilion NASB Translation tabernacle (1). Brown-Driver-Briggs [שׂךְ] noun [masculine] booth, pavilion (׳שׂ perhaps erroneous, compare סֹךְ, סֻכָּה below II. סכך); — suffix שֻׂכּוֺ Lamentations 2:6 his [׳י's] pavilion ("" מֹעֲדוֺ). Topical Lexicon Meaning and Imagery The term שׂךְ portrays a frail, makeshift shelter—something one might throw up in a garden for a single season. It evokes transience, vulnerability to the elements, and the ease with which it can be dismantled. Scripture uses this lone occurrence to shock the reader: what should have been steadfast and holy has been reduced to the status of a garden hut. Scriptural Context: Lamentations 2:6 “He has laid waste His booth like a garden; He has destroyed His place of meeting. The LORD has made Zion forget both appointed feasts and Sabbaths; in His fierce anger He has spurned king and priest” (Lamentations 2:6). 1. Setting: Following Babylon’s siege, Jeremiah laments Jerusalem’s ruin. Relationship to Other Biblical “Booths” 1. Feast of Booths (Leviticus 23:33-43): Israel dwelt in temporary shelters to recall wilderness dependence. That annual reminder of fragility parallels the judgment image; failure to heed the lesson turns the temple itself into what the people once built as a teaching tool. Historical Background • 586 B.C.: Nebuchadnezzar razes Jerusalem. Temple treasures taken (2 Kings 25:13-17), walls breached, royal house ended. Theological Reflection 1. Holiness does not immunize structures from judgment; covenant loyalty is primary (Jeremiah 7:4). Practical and Devotional Application • Corporate worship today must never presume on buildings or traditions; repentance and faith are central. Christological and Eschatological Dimensions • Jesus Christ embodies the true sanctuary (Hebrews 9:11). What was made “like a garden booth” prefigures the cross where the veil is torn (Matthew 27:51). Pastoral and Ministry Implications 1. Discipleship: Teach believers to hold material resources loosely and prioritize covenant fidelity. Forms and Transliterations שֻׂכּ֔וֹ שכו śuk·kōw sukKo śukkōwLinks Interlinear Greek • Interlinear Hebrew • Strong's Numbers • Englishman's Greek Concordance • Englishman's Hebrew Concordance • Parallel TextsEnglishman's Concordance Lamentations 2:6 HEB: וַיַּחְמֹ֤ס כַּגַּן֙ שֻׂכּ֔וֹ שִׁחֵ֖ת מוֹעֲד֑וֹ NAS: And He has violently treated His tabernacle like a garden KJV: And he hath violently taken away his tabernacle, as [if it were of] a garden: INT: has violently A garden his tabernacle has destroyed his appointed 1 Occurrence |