Aramaic word · H7932
שְׁכֵן
shakin
to dwell
The verb שְׁכֵן means to dwell or reside. In its intensive, causing form it means to settle something somewhere. The noun שֻׁם (Hebrew šēm) means name. It also covers reputation, fame and identity, and the claim made by having your name attached to something.
A Biblical Aramaic word, from the parts of the Old Testament written in Aramaic. Why Aramaic?
Appears 2 times in 2 verses of the Aramaic of the Old Testament. ·
What it means
1) to dwell, reside
1a) (P'al) to dwell
1b) (Pael) to cause to dwell
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
- Range of meaning
The verb שְׁכֵן means to dwell or reside. In its intensive, causing form it means to settle something somewhere. The noun שֻׁם (Hebrew šēm) means name. It also covers reputation, fame and identity, and the claim made by having your name attached to something. Together the phrase is the Aramaic version of Deuteronomy's formula for the sanctuary God would choose: "the place the LORD your God will choose to make his name dwell there" (Deut 12:11; 14:23; 16:2, 6, 11; 26:2; also Neh 1:9).
- Against the English
Most English versions keep "caused his name to dwell there", which is literal and right. NLT makes it a paraphrase about God choosing Jerusalem as the place to honour his name. That keeps the idea of choosing but loses the picture of the name living there and the Deuteronomy wording behind it.
- How it drifted
Today "name" sounds like a label. Some readers also hear the later Jewish idea of the Shekinah, God's visible glory-presence. That term comes from the same root but is rabbinic and much later. In this phrase the name stands for the god's claim, his presence for those who call on him, and his reputation, all tied to a particular place.
- Used elsewhere in the period
Akkadian royal inscriptions use the parallel phrase šuma šakānu, "to set one's name", for a king inscribing his name on a monument or land to claim it. The closest parallel comes from Jerusalem itself. In the Amarna letters (about 1350 BC), Abdi-Heba, ruler of Jerusalem, writes to Pharaoh that "the king has placed his name in the land of Jerusalem forever" (EA 287). Deuteronomy and Kings use the Hebrew form many times for the temple (1 Kgs 8:16, 29; 9:3).
- Range of meaning
To settle, take up residence, dwell. Used of birds, it means 'nest, roost'. In the causative form it means 'make (something) dwell', as in Ezra 6:12: 'the God who has caused his name to dwell there'.
- Against the English
BSB 'nested', KJV/WEB 'had their habitation', YLT 'sit'. 'Nested' best fits birds, and 'had their habitation' keeps the sense of settled residence. YLT's 'sit' is too weak.
- How it drifted
Some readers know the related later word Shekinah (God's dwelling presence) and read that meaning back into every occurrence. Here the verb is ordinary: birds settle in branches. That later term is rabbinic and is not in view.
- Used elsewhere in the period
The Hebrew equivalent shākan is used for birds settling (Ps 104:12, 'the birds of the heavens dwell beside them'). Ezekiel 31:6 has 'in its boughs all the birds of the heavens made their nests' for the Assyrian cedar, and Ezekiel 17:23 has birds dwelling in the shade of the cedar God plants. Theodotion's Greek translates the verb here as kataskēnoō, 'to nest, encamp'. The Gospels use the same verb in the parable of the mustard seed (Matt 13:32; Mark 4:32; Luke 13:19).
Where it appears
Ezra · 1
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Ezra 6:12 שַׁכִּ֧ן he has caused to dwell
May God, who has caused His Name to dwell there, overthrow any king or people who lifts a hand to alter this decree or to destroy this house of God in Jerusalem. I, Darius, have issued the decree. Let it be carried out with diligence.
Here: "Has caused to dwell, has settled". The verb is in its causing form, so God is the one who put his name there. The words match Deuteronomy's set phrase for the chosen sanctuary almost exactly.
Daniel · 1
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Daniel 4:21 יִשְׁכְּנָ֖ן they dwelt
whose foliage was beautiful and whose fruit was abundant, providing food for all, under which the beasts of the field lived, and in whose branches the birds of the air nested—
Here: 'Would settle/nest': the birds made their home there over and over. In the dream account (v.12) the verb for the birds was a different one, dûr; Daniel's retelling uses shəkēn instead.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.