Hebrew word · H5646

עָב

veha'ubim

threshold

This is a rare building term found only in 1 Kgs 7:6 and Ezek 41:25–26. It is probably related to עָבָה, 'to be thick'. Proposed meanings include a canopy or overhang, a cornice, thick beam work or planking, a landing, and a threshold. Older dictionaries mark the meaning as doubtful.

Appears 3 times in 3 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) an architectural term

1a) meaning uncertain; perhaps projecting roof, landing, thick beam, plank, threshold

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Ezekiel 41:26

Range of meaning

This is a rare building term found only in 1 Kgs 7:6 and Ezek 41:25–26. It is probably related to עָבָה, 'to be thick'. Proposed meanings include a canopy or overhang, a cornice, thick beam work or planking, a landing, and a threshold. Older dictionaries mark the meaning as doubtful.

Against the English

KJV has 'thick planks', YLT 'thick places', ASV/WEB 'thresholds', BSB 'canopies', and NIV 'overhangs'. The variety itself shows the uncertainty.

How it drifted

'Threshold' (WEB, and the gloss in the supplied data) comes from older guesses. Recent scholarship leans toward a projecting wooden structure, because v. 25 calls it 'a wooden ʿāb on the front of the porch, outside'.

Used elsewhere in the period

1 Kings 7:6 puts an ʿāb in front of the porch of Solomon's Hall of Pillars. The Vulgate seems to take the word as the 'breadth' or thickness of the walls, which fits the 'thick' root.

Where it appears

1 Kings · 1

  1. 1 Kings 7:6 וְעָ֖ב and a threshold

    Solomon made his colonnade fifty cubits long and thirty cubits wide, with a portico in front of it and a canopy with pillars in front of the portico.

Ezekiel · 2

  1. Ezekiel 41:25 וְעָ֥ב and a threshold of

    Cherubim and palm trees like those on the walls were carved on the doors of the outer sanctuary, and there was a wooden canopy outside, on the front of the portico.

  2. Ezekiel 41:26 וְהָעֻבִּֽים׃ and the thresholds

    There were beveled windows and palm trees on the sidewalls of the portico. The side rooms of the temple also had canopies.

    Here: 'And the ʿubbîm'. This is a rare building term, the plural of the 'wooden ʿāb' of v. 25. It probably comes from a root meaning 'thick'. Most scholars take it as a projecting wooden canopy or beam work, though older versions guessed 'thresholds' or 'thick planks'.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.