Dictionary of Bible Themes  »  5000 Humanity  »  5200 Human civilisation  »  5578 tents

A portable structure made of cloth or skins used mainly by nomads or semi-nomads. God's tent or tabernacle is a meeting-place with him.

Tents as portable dwellings used especially by semi-nomadic peoples

They were living quarters for God's people

Genesis 4:20 See also Genesis 12:8; Genesis 13:12; Genesis 18:1; Genesis 25:27; Numbers 11:10; 1 Samuel 4:10; 2 Samuel 20:1; 1 Kings 12:16

Sometimes women of distinction had their own tents

Genesis 24:67 See also Genesis 31:33; Judges 4:17-18

A tent housed the ark of God

2 Samuel 6:17 pp 1 Chronicles 16:1 See also 2 Samuel 7:2; 1 Chronicles 15:1; 2 Chronicles 1:4

Tents associated with other peoples

Judges 6:5 See also Genesis 9:27; Judges 7:13; Habakkuk 3:7

Kings and armies camped in tents

Judges 7:13 See also Numbers 31:10; 2 Kings 7:7-8

Tents for storage

1 Samuel 17:54 See also Joshua 7:21-23

Tents were illustrative of a nomadic life

Jeremiah 35:7; Hebrews 11:9-10 See also Genesis 12:8; Genesis 13:5,18; Genesis 18:1-6; Genesis 20:13; Exodus 16:16; Exodus 33:8,10; Numbers 1:50

Tents sometimes associated with sin

Job 8:22 See also Genesis 9:21 Noah's drunkenness; Numbers 16:26 the rebellion of Korah, Dathan and Abiram; Joshua 7:21-23 Achan's sin; 1 Kings 20:16; Job 4:21; Job 11:14; Job 12:6; Job 15:34; Job 18:6; Job 21:28; Job 22:23; Psalm 84:10

The construction of tents

Tentmakers

Acts 18:3

The materials used

Exodus 26:7 pp Exodus 36:14 See also Exodus 26:14-29 pp Exodus 36:19-34

Tent pegs and ropes

Exodus 27:19 See also Exodus 35:18; Exodus 38:20,31; Exodus 39:40; Numbers 3:26,37; Numbers 4:32; Judges 4:21; Isaiah 22:25; Zechariah 10:4

Colours of tents

Songs 1:5 See also Exodus 26:14

Pitching tents

Jeremiah 10:20 See also Genesis 26:25; Genesis 33:19; Judges 4:11; 2 Samuel 16:22

The metaphorical use of tents

As an image of creation

Psalm 104:2 See also Psalm 19:4

As a metaphor for death

2 Corinthians 5:1; 2 Peter 1:13-14

God's tent is a meeting-place with him

The tabernacle

Exodus 25:8-9 See also Exodus 26:1-37; Exodus 39:32

The Tent of Meeting

Exodus 27:21; Exodus 33:7 See also Exodus 28:43; Exodus 29:10-11,30,44; Exodus 33:11; Leviticus 1:1; Numbers 1:1; Deuteronomy 31:14-15

God “tenting” with his people

John 1:14 See also Exodus 25:8; Exodus 29:45-46; Exodus 40:34-38; Leviticus 26:11-12; Numbers 5:3; Deuteronomy 12:11; Ezekiel 37:27; 2 Corinthians 6:16; Revelation 21:3

See also

5340  house
5427  nomads
6606  access to God
7306  ark of the covenant
7344  curtain
7459  tabernacle, in OT
7474  Tent of Meeting