Tabernacle Meaning
/ˈtæbɚnækl̩/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounAny temporary dwelling; a hut, tent, or booth.
nounThe portable tent used before the construction of the temple, where the shekinah (presence of God) was believed to dwell.
Sentence Examples
As the Lord commanded Moses. And Aaron put it in the tabernacle to be kept.
The tabernacle was the predecessor of the Temple.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The congregation gathered at the ____ for Sunday worship services.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
In Biblical times, the ____ was a portable tent where people would gather for their communal religious worship today.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English tabernacle (14th century), from Old French tabernacle, from Latin tabernāculum (“tent, booth, shed”), the diminutive of taberna (“hut, shed”). By surface analysis, taberna + -cle.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"The tabernacles of robbers proſper, and they that prouoke God are ſecure, into whoſe hand God bringeth abundantly."
— 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Job 12:6, column 1:
"[…]ſo Moſes finiſhed the worke. Then a cloud couered the Tent of the Congregation, and the glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle. And Moſes was not able to enter into the Tent of the Congregation, becauſe the cloud abode thereon, and the glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle. And when the cloud was taken vp from ouer the Tabernacle, the children of Iſrael went onward in all their iourneys: But if the cloud were not taken vp, then they iourneyed not, till the day that it was taken vp. For the cloud of the Lord was vpon the Tabernacle by day, and fire was on it by night, in the ſight of all the houſe of Iſrael, throughout all their iourneys."
— 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Exodus 40:33–38, column 2:
"It was over these innocent necessary precautions that the local committees always showed their meanness. They liked giving over only one contribution to the evangelist, but they wanted nothing said about it till they themselves had been taken care of--till the rent of the hall or the cost of building a tabernacle, the heat, the lights, the advertising, and other expenses had been paid."
— 1927, Sinclair Lewis, chapter 13, in Elmer Gantry:
"What mortal man cannot determine, that is determined by the Olympian father through his child, in whom are tabernacled loveliness, augustness, strength, and graciousness[…]"
— 1924, Herbert Weir Smyth, “VIII. The Orestea: III. Eumenides”, in Aeschylean Tragedy, page 235:
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CEFR Practice Quiz
The congregation gathered at the ____ for Sunday worship services.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
In Biblical times, the ____ was a portable tent where people would gather for their communal religious worship today.