Hebrew word · H8392

תֵּבָה

hatevah

ark

A box, chest or container. It appears only in Genesis 6–9 (for Noah's vessel) and in Exodus 2:3, 5 (for the waterproofed papyrus basket of baby Moses). Many scholars think it was borrowed from an Egyptian word for chest or coffin (ḏbꜣt), though this is not certain.

Appears 28 times in 25 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) ark

1a) vessel which Noah built

1b) basket vessel in which Moses was placed

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 Genesis 7:1

Range of meaning

A box, chest or container. It appears only in Genesis 6–9 (for Noah's vessel) and in Exodus 2:3, 5 (for the waterproofed papyrus basket of baby Moses). Many scholars think it was borrowed from an Egyptian word for chest or coffin (ḏbꜣt), though this is not certain. It is never the ordinary word for ship (oniyyah), and it is a different word from the "ark" of the covenant (aron).

Against the English

English "ark" comes from Latin arca, "chest", so it was originally accurate. Today most people hear a large boat with a curved hull and prow, as in picture books. The WEB has "ship", the NLT "boat". The Hebrew describes a sealed, roofed box with a door and no sail, oar or rudder (6:14–16).

How it drifted

The Greek Septuagint used kibōtos ("chest") and the Latin Vulgate arca both for Noah's vessel and for the covenant ark. That merged two Hebrew words. Over time English "ark" lost its everyday meaning of "chest" and survives mainly in these two biblical uses, which nautical illustrations then reshaped.

Used elsewhere in the period

In the Mesopotamian flood stories the vessel is an ordinary ship (Akkadian eleppu). In Gilgamesh XI it is drawn as a cube, and on one Old Babylonian Atrahasis tablet as a huge round reed boat. Genesis chose a rare "box" word instead. The only other place it uses that word is Moses' basket.

From the study of Genesis 8:1

Range of meaning

Box, chest, container. Used only for Noah's vessel (Genesis 6–9) and for the papyrus basket of baby Moses (Exodus 2:3, 5). Possibly borrowed from an Egyptian word for chest or coffin, though this is disputed.

Against the English

'Ark' comes through Latin arca, 'chest', so it is technically accurate. Modern readers picture a large boat with a prow, and the WEB says 'ship'. The Hebrew describes a sealed box with no means of steering. The 'ark of the covenant' uses a different Hebrew word (ʾaron).

How it drifted

English 'ark' survives almost only in the Noah story and in children's pictures, which show it as a boat. The original sense of 'chest' has dropped out of everyday English.

Used elsewhere in the period

Genesis 6:14–16 gives its dimensions: a long rectangular box roughly 300 by 50 by 30 cubits. Exodus 2:3 uses the same word for Moses' basket, also sealed with pitch. In the Gilgamesh Epic (Tablet XI), Utnapishtim's vessel is a huge cube. The Atrahasis tradition and the 'Ark Tablet' published by I. Finkel in 2014 describe a round coracle.

From the study of Genesis 6:14

Range of meaning

A box, chest or container. In the Bible it appears only in the flood story (Genesis 6–9, about 26 times) and in Exodus 2:3, 5, for the papyrus basket in which Moses was put on the Nile. In later Hebrew (the Mishnah) tēbāh is an ordinary chest, and also the cabinet that holds the Torah scrolls in a synagogue.

Against the English

English 'ark' comes from Latin arca, 'chest, box', so in origin it was an accurate rendering. Today, though, 'ark' suggests a ship with a pointed bow, a deck and a cabin on top, the picture in children's books. WEB says 'ship' and NLT says 'large boat', which add ideas of a vessel built for sailing and steering. The Hebrew word has none of that.

How it drifted

Over centuries 'ark' stopped meaning 'chest' in everyday English, and the word survived almost only for Noah's vessel. Artists then gave that vessel the shape of a boat. A second word is easily confused with it: the Ark of the Covenant is a different Hebrew word (ʾărôn), although the Latin and English call both 'ark'.

Used elsewhere in the period

Many scholars connect the word with Egyptian ḏbꜣt, 'chest, coffin, sarcophagus' (T. O. Lambdin, 'Egyptian Loanwords in the Old Testament', 1953). The Greek Old Testament (the Septuagint, LXX) translates it kibōtos, 'box, chest', and the New Testament uses that word for Noah's vessel (Matthew 24:38; Hebrews 11:7; 1 Peter 3:20). The Latin Vulgate has arca. In the Mesopotamian flood stories, by contrast, the vessel is an ordinary boat word (Akkadian eleppu, 'ship').

Where it appears

Genesis · 26

  1. Genesis 6:14 תֵּבַ֣ת הַתֵּבָ֑ה an ark of, the ark

    Make for yourself an ark of gopher wood; make rooms in the ark and coat it with pitch inside and out.

    Here: 'A box of…' The word means a chest or container, not a ship. Outside the flood story it is used only for the basket that baby Moses was set afloat in (Exodus 2:3, 5).

  2. Genesis 6:15 הַתֵּבָ֔ה the ark

    And this is how you are to build it: The ark is to be 300 cubits long, 50 cubits wide, and 30 cubits high.

  3. Genesis 6:16 לַתֵּבָ֗ה הַתֵּבָ֖ה for the ark, the ark

    You are to make a roof for the ark, finish its walls a cubit from the top, place a door in the side of the ark, and build lower, middle, and upper decks.

  4. Genesis 6:18 הַתֵּבָ֔ה the ark

    But I will establish My covenant with you, and you will enter the ark—you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you.

  5. Genesis 6:19 הַתֵּבָ֖ה the ark

    And you are to bring two of every living creature into the ark—male and female—to keep them alive with you.

  6. Genesis 7:1 הַתֵּבָ֑ה the ark

    Then the LORD said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and all your family, because I have found you righteous in this generation.

    Here: "The box". This rare word appears only for Noah's vessel and for the papyrus basket that held baby Moses (Exod 2:3, 5). It pictures a sealed container that floats, not a ship that is steered.

  7. Genesis 7:7 הַתֵּבָ֑ה the ark

    And Noah and his wife, with his sons and their wives, entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood.

  8. Genesis 7:9 הַתֵּבָ֖ה the ark

    came to Noah to enter the ark, two by two, male and female, as God had commanded Noah.

  9. Genesis 7:13 הַתֵּבָֽה׃ the ark

    On that very day Noah entered the ark, along with his sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and his wife, and the three wives of his sons—

  10. Genesis 7:15 הַתֵּבָ֑ה the ark

    They came to Noah to enter the ark, two by two of every creature with the breath of life.

  11. Genesis 7:17 הַתֵּבָ֔ה the ark

    For forty days the flood kept coming on the earth, and the waters rose and lifted the ark high above the earth.

  12. Genesis 7:18 הַתֵּבָ֖ה the ark

    So the waters continued to surge and rise greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the waters.

  13. Genesis 7:23 בַּתֵּבָֽה׃ in the ark

    And every living thing on the face of the earth was destroyed—man and livestock, crawling creatures and birds of the air; they were blotted out from the earth, and only Noah and those with him in the ark remained.

    Here: 'In the box.' A floating chest with no rudder, sail or steering. Elsewhere the word is used only for the reed basket that carried baby Moses (Exod 2:3, 5).

  14. Genesis 8:1 בַּתֵּבָ֑ה in the ark

    But God remembered Noah and all the animals and livestock that were with him in the ark. And God sent a wind over the earth, and the waters began to subside.

    Here: A box or chest with no rudder, sail or steering. Elsewhere the word is used only for the basket that carried the baby Moses (Exodus 2:3, 5).

  15. Genesis 8:4 הַתֵּבָה֙ the ark

    On the seventeenth day of the seventh month, the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat.

  16. Genesis 8:6 הַתֵּבָ֖ה the ark

    After forty days Noah opened the window he had made in the ark

  17. Genesis 8:9 הַתֵּבָ֔ה הַתֵּבָֽה׃ the ark

    But the dove found no place to rest her foot, and she returned to him in the ark, because the waters were still covering the surface of all the earth. So he reached out his hand and brought her back inside the ark.

  18. Genesis 8:10 הַתֵּבָֽה׃ the ark

    Noah waited seven more days and again sent out the dove from the ark.

  19. Genesis 8:13 הַתֵּבָ֔ה the ark

    In Noah’s six hundred and first year, on the first day of the first month, the waters had dried up from the earth. So Noah removed the covering from the ark and saw that the surface of the ground was dry.

  20. Genesis 8:16 הַתֵּבָ֑ה the ark

    “Come out of the ark, you and your wife, along with your sons and their wives.

  21. Genesis 8:19 הַתֵּבָֽה׃ the ark

    Every living creature, every creeping thing, and every bird—everything that moves upon the earth—came out of the ark, kind by kind.

  22. Genesis 9:10 הַתֵּבָ֔ה the ark

    and with every living creature that was with you—the birds, the livestock, and every beast of the earth—every living thing that came out of the ark.

    Here: "The ark." The word means a box or chest, not a ship. The only other place it appears is the reed basket that carried baby Moses (Exodus 2:3, 5).

  23. Genesis 9:18 הַתֵּבָ֔ה the ark

    The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. And Ham was the father of Canaan.

Exodus · 2

  1. Exodus 2:3 תֵּ֣בַת a basket of

    But when she could no longer hide him, she got him a papyrus basket and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in the basket and set it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile.

  2. Exodus 2:5 הַתֵּבָה֙ the basket

    Soon the daughter of Pharaoh went down to bathe in the Nile, and her attendants were walking along the riverbank. And when she saw the basket among the reeds, she sent her maidservant to retrieve it.

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