Hebrew word · H8484

תִּיכוֹן

hatikhonah

middle

'Middle, central, inner.' It is used of the middle bar of the tabernacle frames (Exod 26:28), the middle storey of the temple side-chambers (1 Kgs 6:6, 8), and the middle part of a body or region (Ezek 47:16 'Hazer-hattikhon', 'the middle Hazer').

Appears 11 times in 9 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

middle

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 2 Kings 20:4

Range of meaning

'Middle, central, inner.' It is used of the middle bar of the tabernacle frames (Exod 26:28), the middle storey of the temple side-chambers (1 Kgs 6:6, 8), and the middle part of a body or region (Ezek 47:16 'Hazer-hattikhon', 'the middle Hazer').

Against the English

English 'middle' is accurate. Note that the form here is feminine (tikhonah), which matches either 'court' or 'city', since both are feminine nouns in Hebrew. So this word cannot settle the textual question.

Used elsewhere in the period

Ezekiel 47:16 has the close phrase חֲצַר הַתִּיכוֹן, 'Hazer-hattikhon / the middle enclosure', as a place name. That shows the pairing of these two words was a familiar expression.

Similar words

Where it appears

Exodus · 2

  1. Exodus 26:28 הַתִּיכֹ֖ן <the> middle

    The central crossbar in the middle of the frames shall extend from one end to the other.

  2. Exodus 36:33 הַתִּיכֹ֑ן <the> middle

    He made the central crossbar to run through the center of the frames, from one end to the other.

Judges · 1

  1. Judges 7:19 הַתִּֽיכוֹנָ֔ה <the> middle

    Gideon and the hundred men with him reached the outskirts of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, just after the changing of the guard. They blew their horns and broke the jars that were in their hands.

    Here: "The middle one." It assumes the night was divided into three watches, so this is roughly the hours either side of midnight; its start would be somewhere around 10 p.m.

1 Kings · 4

  1. 1 Kings 6:6 וְהַתִּֽיכֹנָה֙ and the middle [extension]

    The bottom floor was five cubits wide, the middle floor six cubits, and the third floor seven cubits. He also placed offset ledges around the outside of the temple, so that nothing would be inserted into its walls.

  2. 1 Kings 6:8 הַתִּ֣יכֹנָ֔ה הַתִּ֣יכֹנָ֔ה הַתִּֽיכֹנָ֖ה <the> middle, the middle

    The entrance to the bottom floor was on the south side of the temple. A stairway led up to the middle level, and from there to the third floor.

2 Kings · 1

  1. 2 Kings 20:4 הַתִּֽיכֹנָ֑ה <the> middle

    Before Isaiah had left the middle courtyard, the word of the LORD came to him, saying,

    Here: 'The middle' (feminine form, matching a feminine noun). It names a particular inner or central courtyard of the palace complex, between the king's private rooms and the outer gates.

Ezekiel · 3

  1. Ezekiel 41:7 לַתִּיכוֹנָֽה׃ to the middle [story]

    The side rooms surrounding the temple widened at each successive level, because the structure surrounding the temple ascended by stages corresponding to the narrowing of the temple wall as it rose upward. And so a stairway went up from the lowest story to the highest, through the middle one.

  2. Ezekiel 42:5 וּמֵהַתִּֽכֹנ֖וֹת and more than the middle [rooms]

    Now the upper chambers were smaller because the galleries took more space from the chambers on the lower and middle floors of the building.

  3. Ezekiel 42:6 וּמֵהַתִּֽיכֹנ֖וֹת and more than the middle [rooms]

    For they were arranged in three stories, and unlike the courts, they had no pillars. So the upper chambers were set back further than the lower and middle floors.

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