Hebrew word · H699

אֲרֻבָּה

'arubot

window

ʾărubbâ is an opening: a window or lattice (Hos 13:3, smoke from a window), a dovecote opening (Isa 60:8), or a sluice. 'The windows of the heavens' are openings in the sky through which rain is let down.

Appears 9 times in 9 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) lattice, window, sluice

2) (CLBL) chimney (lattice opening where smoke escapes)

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 Malachi 3:10

Range of meaning

ʾărubbâ is an opening: a window or lattice (Hos 13:3, smoke from a window), a dovecote opening (Isa 60:8), or a sluice. 'The windows of the heavens' are openings in the sky through which rain is let down.

Against the English

KJV, ESV and WEB 'windows of heaven' are literal. A modern reader may hear 'heaven' as the afterlife or a spiritual realm. NIV's 'floodgates' captures the water image but loses the window picture.

How it drifted

English 'heaven' now mostly means the place of God and the blessed. Here šāmayim is the sky.

Used elsewhere in the period

Gen 7:11 and 8:2: the 'windows of the heavens' open and close for the flood. 2 Kgs 7:2, 19: a royal officer scoffs, 'even if the LORD made windows in the heavens' food could not come so fast. Isa 24:18: the windows on high open in judgment. The LXX translates with katarraktai, 'sluices/cataracts,' the same word it uses in Genesis.

From the study of 2 Kings 7:2

Range of meaning

ʾArubbah: a lattice-opening, vent or sluice. It is used of a smoke-vent (Hos 13:3), dovecote openings (Isa 60:8), and the openings of the sky through which waters pour (Gen 7:11; 8:2; Isa 24:18; Mal 3:10).

Against the English

“Windows” (KJV, BSB, ESV, NASB, WEB) to modern ears means panes of glass in a wall. NIV’s “floodgates” captures the function better.

How it drifted

English “window” narrowed to the glazed household window. The Hebrew word is about an opening that lets something pour through.

Used elsewhere in the period

Israel, like its neighbours, pictured the sky as a firm vault holding back waters above (Gen 1:6–8). Rain came through openings in it. The Flood story uses the same phrase for an outpouring from the sky. LXX renders it katarraktas, “cataracts/floodgates,” the same word used in Genesis 7:11.

From the study of Genesis 7:11

Range of meaning

An opening covered with a lattice or grille: a window (Ecclesiastes 12:3), a smoke-hole or chimney vent (Hosea 13:3), the openings of a dovecote (Isaiah 60:8), and in the phrase 'windows of the heavens', openings in the sky through which water, or figuratively blessing, is let down (2 Kings 7:2, 19; Malachi 3:10; Isaiah 24:18).

Against the English

KJV/ESV 'windows' suggests glass panes. BSB/NIV 'floodgates' and NASB 'floodgates of the sky' get the function right: controlled outlets for water. YLT's 'net-work' follows the lattice sense. NLT drops the image and says it rained in torrents.

How it drifted

English 'window' now means a glass pane for light and a view. The Hebrew word is about an opening for letting something through.

Used elsewhere in the period

Genesis 8:2 closes the same 'windows'. 2 Kings 7:2 mocks the idea that the LORD might 'make windows in heaven' to end a famine. Malachi 3:10 has God opening 'the windows of heaven' to pour out blessing. The Septuagint uses katarraktai (sluices, cataracts, the source of English 'cataract') and the Vulgate cataractae.

Where it appears

Genesis · 2

  1. Genesis 7:11 וַאֲרֻבֹּ֥ת and [the] floodgates of

    In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month, all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened.

    Here: Openings with a grille or lattice: windows, vents, the holes of a dovecote. These are openings in the sky-vault through which the waters held above it come down.

  2. Genesis 8:2 וַֽאֲרֻבֹּ֖ת and [the] floodgates of

    The springs of the deep and the floodgates of the heavens were closed, and the rain from the sky was restrained.

2 Kings · 2

  1. 2 Kings 7:2 אֲרֻבּוֹת֙ windows

    But the officer on whose arm the king leaned answered the man of God, “Look, even if the LORD were to make windows in heaven, could this really happen?” “You will see it with your own eyes,” replied Elisha, “but you will not eat any of it.”

    Here: “Openings”: the latticed vents or sluice-gates in the sky through which, in the Flood story, the waters above poured down (Gen 7:11; 8:2). Not glass windows.

  2. 2 Kings 7:19 אֲרֻבּוֹת֙ windows

    And the officer had answered the man of God, “Look, even if the LORD were to make windows in heaven, could this really happen?” So Elisha had replied, “You will see it with your own eyes, but you will not eat any of it!”

Ecclesiastes · 1

  1. Ecclesiastes 12:3 בָּאֲרֻבּֽוֹת׃ in the windows

    on the day the keepers of the house tremble and the strong men stoop, when those grinding cease because they are few and those watching through windows see dimly,

Isaiah · 2

  1. Isaiah 24:18 אֲרֻבּ֤וֹת windows

    Whoever flees the sound of panic will fall into the pit, and whoever climbs from the pit will be caught in the snare. For the windows of heaven are open, and the foundations of the earth are shaken.

  2. Isaiah 60:8 אֲרֻבֹּתֵיהֶֽם׃ openings their

    Who are these who fly like clouds, like doves to their shelters?

Hosea · 1

  1. Hosea 13:3 מֵאֲרֻבָּֽה׃ from a window

    Therefore they will be like the morning mist, like the early dew that vanishes, like chaff blown from a threshing floor, like smoke through an open window.

    Here: 'From a lattice or opening.' This was a latticed vent in the wall or roof of a house that let out the smoke of the cooking fire. It was not a chimney in the modern sense. The smoke drifts out through the gaps and disperses.

Malachi · 1

  1. Malachi 3:10 אֲרֻבּ֣וֹת [the] windows of

    Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house. Test Me in this,” says the LORD of Hosts. “See if I will not open the windows of heaven and pour out for you blessing without measure.

    Here: Openings or sluice-gates. The same phrase describes the flood rains in Genesis 7:11, so the picture is rain pouring down.

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