SUBJECT · Complete Bible Study

Roof

The letting down of the paralytic through the roof of the house where Jesus was, is satisfactorily explained by the following extract from Shaw’s Travels: “The houses throughout the east are low, having generally a ground floor only, or one upper story, and flat-roofed, the roof being covered with a strong coat of plaster of terrace. They are built round a paved court, into which the entrance from the street is through a gateway or… This unified study connects 7 installed resource categories without replacing their source records.

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  • Historical Reference: Nave’s Topical Bible — Public domain
  • Historical Reference: A Biblical and Theological Dictionary
  • Historical Reference: concordance
  • Historical Reference: Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible lexical data / BDB-Strong mapping
  • Historical Reference: STEPBible TBESG (based primarily on Abbott-Smith)
  • Historical Reference: A Greek-English Lexicon to the New Testament
  • Historical Reference: Installed reference work

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Study at a glance

Subject type
Subject
Strong’s
H1406, G4721, H6982, H2926
Hebrew
גָּג · gâg
Greek
στέγη · stegē

Strong’s and original-language information

Abbott-Smith Greek Lexicon

στέγη

G4721
Transliteration
stegē
Language
Greek
Part of speech
G:N-F
Indexed occurrences
3

Glosses

roof

Lexicon definition

στέγη, -ης, ἡ (στέγω) [in LXX: Gen.8:13 (מְכַסֶּה), etc. ;] a roof: Mrk.2:4; of entering a house, εἰσέρχεσθαι ὑπὸ τὴν σ., Mat.8:8, Luk.7:6 (cf. MM, xxiii).† (AS)

Strong’s Hebrew and Greek Lexicon

קוֹרָה

H6982
Transliteration
qôwrâh
Pronunciation
ko-raw'
Language
Hebrew
Indexed occurrences
5

Glosses

beam, roof.

Lexicon definition

a rafter (forming trenches as it were)

by implication, a roof

Strong’s Hebrew and Greek Lexicon

מְכַסֶּה

H4374
Transliteration
mᵉkaççeh
Pronunciation
mek-as-seh'
Language
Hebrew
Indexed occurrences
4

Glosses

clothing, to cover, that which covereth.

Lexicon definition

a covering, i.e. garment

specifically, a coverlet (for a bed), an awning (from the sun)

also the omentum (as covering the intestines)

Complete dictionary entries

A Biblical and Theological Dictionary

ROOFS

The letting down of the paralytic through the roof of the house where Jesus was, is satisfactorily explained by the following extract from Shaw’s Travels: “The houses throughout the east are low, having generally a ground floor only, or one upper story, and flat-roofed, the roof being covered with a strong coat of plaster of terrace. They are built round a paved court, into which the entrance from the street is through a gateway or passage room furnished with benches, and sufficiently large to be used for receiving visits or transacting business. The stairs which lead to the roof are never placed on the outside of the house in the street, but usually in the gateway, or passage room to the court, sometimes at the entrance within the court. This court is now called, in Arabic, _el woost_, or ‘the middle of the house,’ literally answering to τὸ μέσον of St. Luke, v, 19. It is customary to fix cords from the parapet walls, Deut. xxii, 8, of the flat roofs across this court, and upon them to expand a veil or covering, as a shelter from the heat. In this area, probably, our Saviour taught. The paralytic was brought on to the roof by making a way through the crowd to the stairs in the gateway, or by the terraces of the adjoining houses. They rolled back the veil, and let the sick man down over the parapet of the roof into the area or court of the house, before Jesus.” The windows of the eastern houses being chiefly within, facing the court, in order to see what was going on without in the streets of the city, the only way was to run up to the flat roof. Hence the frequent expression in Scripture, when allusion is made to sudden tumults and calamities, to get up to “the house top.” See HOUSES.

Source: A Biblical and Theological Dictionary · View data sources

Concordance

Strong's Concordance

Roofs

Indexed occurrences: 1

Source: Strong's Concordance · View data sources

Strong's Concordance

Roof

Indexed occurrences: 29

Source: Strong's Concordance · View data sources

All Scripture references58 references

Topical Bible

Nave's Topical Bible

ROOF

Entry:
Nave’s Topical Bible references for ROOF.

Source: Nave's Topical Bible · View data sources

Sources

Ancient Context3 items
Related UNLEARN Content11 items

Topic

ROOF

Nave’s Topical Bible references for ROOF.

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Dictionary

Agag

roof; upper floor

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Dictionary

Ark

Noah's ark, a building of gopher-wood, and covered with pitch, 300 cubits long, 50 cubits broad, and 30 cubits high (Gen. 6:14-16); an oblong floating house of three stories, with a door in the side and a window in the roof. It was 100 years in building (Gen. 5:32; 7:6). It was intended to preserve certain persons and animals from the deluge which God was about to bring over the earth. It contained eight persons (Gen. 7:13; 2 Pet. 2:5), and of all "clean" animals seven pairs, and of "unclean" one pair, and of birds seven pairs of each sort (Gen. 7:2, 3). It was in the form of an oblong square, with flat bottom and sloping roof. Traditions of the Deluge, by which the race of man was swept from the earth, and of the ark of Noah have been found existing among all nations. The ark of bulrushes in which the infant Moses was laid (Ex. 2:3) is called in the Hebrew teebah, a word derived from the Egyptian teb, meaning "a chest." It was daubed with slime and with pitch. The bulrushes of which it was made were the papyrus reed. The sacred ark is designated by a different Hebrew word, 'aron', which is the common name for a chest or coffer used for any purpose (Gen. 50:26; 2 Kings 12:9, 10). It is distinguished from all others by such titles as the "ark of God" (1 Sam. 3:3), "ark of the covenant" (Josh. 3:6; Heb. 9:4), "ark of the testimony" (Ex. 25:22). It was made of acacia or shittim wood, a cubit and a half broad and high and two cubits long, and covered all over with the purest gold. Its upper surface or lid, the mercy-seat, was surrounded with a rim of gold; and on each of the two sides were two gold rings, in which were placed two gold-covered poles by which the ark could be carried (Num. 7:9; 10:21; 4:5, 19, 20; 1 Kings 8:3, 6). Over the ark, at the two extremities, were two cherubim, with their faces turned toward each other (Lev. 16:2; Num. 7:89). Their outspread wings over the top of the ark formed the throne of God, while the ark itself was his footstool (Ex. 25:10-22; 37:1-9). The ark was deposited in the "holy of holies," and was so placed that one end of the poles by which it was carried touched the veil which separated the two apartments of the tabernacle (1 Kings 8:8). The two tables of stone which constituted the "testimony" or evidence of God's covenant with the people (Deut. 31:26), the "pot of manna" (Ex. 16:33), and "Aaron's rod that budded" (Num. 17:10), were laid up in the ark (Heb. 9:4). (See [29]TABERNACLE) The ark and the sanctuary were "the beauty of Israel" (Lam. 2:1). During the journeys of the Israelites the ark was carried by the priests in advance of the host (Num. 4:5, 6; 10:33-36; Ps. 68:1; 132:8). It was borne by the priests into the bed of the Jordan, which separated, opening a pathway for the whole of the host to pass over (Josh. 3:15, 16; 4:7, 10, 11, 17, 18). It was borne in the procession round Jericho (Josh. 6:4, 6, 8, 11, 12). When carried it was always wrapped in the veil, the badgers' skins, and blue cloth, and carefully concealed even from the eyes of the Levites who carried it. After the settlement of Israel in Palestine the ark remained in the tabernacle at Gilgal for a season, and was then removed to Shiloh till the time of Eli, between 300 and 400 years (Jer. 7:12), when it was carried into the field of battle so as to secure, as they supposed, victory to the Hebrews, and was taken by the Philistines (1 Sam. 4:3-11), who sent it back after retaining it seven months (1 Sam. 5:7, 8). It remained then at Kirjath-jearim (7:1, 2) till the time of David (twenty years), who wished to remove it to Jerusalem; but the proper mode of removing it having been neglected, Uzzah was smitten with death for putting "forth his hand to the ark of God," and in consequence of this it was left in the house of Obed-edom in Gath-rimmon for three months (2 Sam. 6:1-11), at the end of which time David removed it in a grand procession to Jerusalem, where it was kept till a place was prepared for it (12-19). It was afterwards deposited by Solomon in the temple (1 Kings 8:6-9). When the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem and plundered the temple, the ark was probably taken away by Nebuchadnezzar and destroyed, as no trace of it is afterwards to be found. The absence of the ark from the second temple was one of the points in which it was inferior to the first temple.

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Battlement

A parapet wall or balustrade surrounding the flat roofs of the houses, required to be built by a special law (Deut. 22:8). In Jer. 5:10, it denotes the parapet of a city wall.

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Ceiling

The covering (1 Kings 7:3, 7) of the inside roof and walls of a house with planks of wood (2 Chr. 3:5; Jer. 22:14). Ceilings were sometimes adorned with various ornaments in stucco, gold, silver, gems, and ivory. The ceilings of the temple and of Solomon's palace are described 1 Kings 6:9, 15; 7:3; 2 Chr. 3:5, 9.

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Gog

roof; covering

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Lattice

(1.) Heb. eshnabh, a latticed opening through which the cool breeze passes (Judg. 5:28). The flat roofs of the houses were sometimes enclosed with a parapet of lattice-work on wooden frames, to screen the women of the house from the gaze of the neighbourhood. (2.) Heb. harakim, the network or lattice of a window (Cant. 2:9). (3.) Heb. sebakhah, the latticed balustrade before a window or balcony (2 Kings 1:2). The lattice window is frequently used in Eastern countries.

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Magog

covering; roof; dissolving

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Parlour

(from the Fr. parler, "to speak") denotes an "audience chamber," but that is not the import of the Hebrew word so rendered. It corresponds to what the Turks call a kiosk, as in Judg. 3:20 (the "summer parlour"), or as in the margin of the Revised Version ("the upper chamber of cooling"), a small room built on the roof of the house, with open windows to catch the breeze, and having a door communicating with the outside by which persons seeking an audience may be admitted. While Eglon was resting in such a parlour, Ehud, under pretence of having a message from God to him, was admitted into his presence, and murderously plunged his dagger into his body (21, 22). The "inner parlours" in 1 Chr. 28:11 were the small rooms or chambers which Solomon built all round two sides and one end of the temple (1 Kings 6:5), "side chambers;" or they may have been, as some think, the porch and the holy place. In 1 Sam. 9:22 the Revised Version reads "guest chamber," a chamber at the high place specially used for sacrificial feasts.

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Pinnacle

A little wing, (Matt. 4:5; Luke 4:9). On the southern side of the temple court was a range of porches or cloisters forming three arcades. At the south-eastern corner the roof of this cloister was some 300 feet above the Kidron valley. The pinnacle, some parapet or wing-like projection, was above this roof, and hence at a great height, probably 350 feet or more above the valley.

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Zuph

that beholds, observes, watches; roof; covering

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