Hebrew word · H8372

תָּא

ta'

chamber

A side chamber, niche or recess, especially a guard room built into a gate complex. Outside this verse and its parallel in 2 Chr 12:11, it is found only in Ezekiel's temple vision (Ezek 40:7–36), for the rooms lining the gateways.

Appears 13 times in 11 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

chamber, guardroom

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 1 Kings 14:28

Range of meaning

A side chamber, niche or recess, especially a guard room built into a gate complex. Outside this verse and its parallel in 2 Chr 12:11, it is found only in Ezekiel's temple vision (Ezek 40:7–36), for the rooms lining the gateways.

Against the English

'Guard chamber' (KJV) and 'guardroom' (BSB, WEB) are accurate. Some versions shorten 'the chamber of the runners' to 'the guardroom', which drops the second mention of the runners.

Used elsewhere in the period

Ezekiel 40 (several times, singular and plural). The Greek translators did not seem to know the word and, at least in Ezekiel, simply spelled it out in Greek letters (theē, theeim).

From the study of 2 Chronicles 12:11

Range of meaning

A rare architectural term: a recess or side chamber, especially guard alcoves built into a gateway. Outside this verse and its parallel (1 Kings 14:28) it appears only in Ezekiel's temple vision, for the gate chambers (Ezekiel 40:7–36).

Against the English

'Guardroom' (BSB, WEB) and 'guard chamber' (KJV) are fair. The Ezekiel uses suggest a small room set into a gate wall, not a separate building or armoury.

Used elsewhere in the period

Ezekiel 40 describes three such chambers on each side of every gate of the visionary temple. The word was rare enough that Greek translators sometimes simply spelled out the Hebrew sound instead of translating it (as in Ezekiel 40).

From the study of Ezekiel 40:16

Range of meaning

A guardroom or alcove. It appears in Ezekiel 40 (vv. 7, 10, 12, 13, 16, 21, 29, 33, 36) and in 1 Kgs 14:28 / 2 Chr 12:11 for the guardroom where the temple 'runners' kept the bronze shields.

Against the English

KJV/YLT 'little chambers'; BSB 'gate chambers'; WEB 'side rooms'. Modern versions often say 'alcoves' or 'guardrooms'. 'Little chambers' undersells their function, which was security.

Used elsewhere in the period

Archaeology shows the pattern clearly: Iron Age city gates at Megiddo, Hazor and Gezer have three chambers on each side of the passage (the 'six-chamber gate'). That matches Ezekiel's measurements closely.

Where it appears

1 Kings · 1

  1. 1 Kings 14:28 תָּ֥א [the] guardroom of

    And whenever the king entered the house of the LORD, the guards would bear the shields, and later they would return them to the guardroom.

    Here: A rare word for a side room or recess, used elsewhere for the guard rooms built into a gateway (Ezekiel 40). Here it is the runners' guardroom, where the shields were locked away.

2 Chronicles · 1

  1. 2 Chronicles 12:11 תָּ֥א [the] guardroom of

    And whenever the king entered the house of the LORD, the guards would go with him, bearing the shields, and later they would return them to the guardroom.

    Here: A rare word for a side room or alcove, used elsewhere for the guard rooms set into the temple gateways in Ezekiel 40. Here it is the guard's own room, probably at the palace entrance mentioned in verse 10.

Ezekiel · 11

  1. Ezekiel 40:7 וְהַתָּ֗א הַתָּאִ֖ים and the chamber, the chambers

    Each gate chamber was one rod long and one rod wide, and there were five cubits between the gate chambers. The inner threshold of the gate by the portico facing inward was one rod deep.

  2. Ezekiel 40:10 וְתָאֵ֨י and [the] chambers of

    There were three gate chambers on each side of the east gate, each with the same measurements, and the gateposts on either side also had the same measurements.

  3. Ezekiel 40:12 הַתָּאוֹת֙ וְהַתָּ֕א the chambers, and the chamber

    In front of each gate chamber was a wall one cubit high, and the gate chambers were six cubits square.

  4. Ezekiel 40:13 הַתָּא֙ the chamber

    Then he measured the gateway from the roof of one gate chamber to the roof of the opposite one; the distance was twenty-five cubits from doorway to doorway.

  5. Ezekiel 40:16 הַתָּאִ֡ים the chambers

    The gate chambers and their side pillars had beveled windows all around the inside of the gateway. The porticos also had windows all around on the inside. Each side pillar was decorated with palm trees.

    Here: The recessed guard alcoves lining the gate passage, three on each side (40:7, 10). The word appears almost only in Ezekiel 40 and in descriptions of temple guardrooms (1 Kgs 14:28).

  6. Ezekiel 40:21 וְתָאָ֗יו and chambers its

    Its three gate chambers on each side, its side pillars, and its portico all had the same measurements as the first gate: fifty cubits long and twenty-five cubits wide.

  7. Ezekiel 40:29 וְתָאָ֞יו and chambers its

    Its gate chambers, side pillars, and portico had the same measurements as the others. Both the gateway and its portico had windows all around; it was fifty cubits long and twenty-five cubits wide.

  8. Ezekiel 40:33 וְתָאָ֞יו and chambers its

    Its gate chambers, side pillars, and portico had the same measurements as the others. Both the gateway and its portico had windows all around. It was fifty cubits long and twenty-five cubits wide.

  9. Ezekiel 40:36 תָּאָיו֙ chambers its

    as did its gate chambers, side pillars, and portico. It also had windows all around. It was fifty cubits long and twenty-five cubits wide.

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