σκῆνος

From the study of 2 Corinthians 5:1

Range of meaning

Literally a tent or hut. In the Greek of Paul's day it was used almost entirely in the figurative sense of the body as the temporary 'tent' of the person or soul. It is related to skēnē (tent, booth, tabernacle) and skēnōma (dwelling, tent).

Against the English

BSB, WEB and the major modern versions say 'tent', which is exact. KJV 'tabernacle' was accurate in 1611, when the word still meant any tent or temporary dwelling. A modern reader is more likely to think of the Mosaic sanctuary or a church building.

How it drifted

'Tabernacle' narrowed in English to a religious structure: the wilderness sanctuary, a revival hall, the box holding the sacrament. The ordinary 'tent' sense was lost.

Used elsewhere in the period

Wisdom of Solomon 9:15: 'a perishable body weighs down the soul, and this earthy tent (geōdes skēnos) burdens the thoughtful mind.' This is a close parallel, and 2 Cor 5:4 echoes it ('we groan, being burdened'). Greek philosophical writing (e.g. the pseudo-Platonic Axiochus 366a) also calls the body a skēnos. Isaiah 38:12: Hezekiah, facing death, says his dwelling is pulled up 'like a shepherd's tent'. In 2 Peter 1:13-14 the near-synonym skēnōma is used for the body Peter will soon 'put off'.

From the study of 2 Corinthians 5:4

Range of meaning

Literally 'tent' or 'lodging'. In Greek writing it is a standard figure for the human body as the soul's temporary housing. In the New Testament it appears only here and in 5:1 ('our earthly house of the tent'). It is a different word from skēnē, the usual word for the Mosaic Tabernacle, though the two are related.

Against the English

BSB, WEB, NIV and ESV have 'tent', which is accurate. KJV and YLT have 'tabernacle', which in 1611 could simply mean a tent or temporary dwelling. Today it mostly suggests the sanctuary in the wilderness or a church building.

How it drifted

'Tabernacle' narrowed in English toward its religious sense, the Mosaic sanctuary and later church tabernacles and revival 'tabernacles'. Its plain meaning of 'tent' faded.

Used elsewhere in the period

Wisdom of Solomon 9:15, a Jewish text written in Greek shortly before Paul, is a strikingly close parallel: 'a perishable body weighs down (barynei) the soul, and this earthy tent (skēnos) burdens the thoughtful mind'. Both the tent and the 'weighing down' appear there, as here. The image is also found in Greek philosophical and medical writing. Compare Isaiah 38:12, where Hezekiah says his dwelling 'is pulled up and removed from me like a shepherd's tent', and 2 Peter 1:13–14 (skēnōma). Paul himself made tents for a living (skēnopoios, Acts 18:3).