tabernacle (noun)

The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “tabernacle” in English is translated in San Blas Kuna as “house of prayer that can be carried.” (Source: Ronald Ross)

In Bandi it is translated as “holy sitting place.” The “sitting place for the Bandi is where you live.” Therefore the tabernacle is the place where God lived. (Source: Becky Grossmann in this newsletter )

In Vidunda it is translated as “God’s tent” (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext) and in Tibetan as gur mchog (གུར་​མཆོག) or “perfect tent” (source: gSungrab website )

In American Sign Language it is translated with with a sign for “tent” combined with a sign referring to the outer court surrounding the tent (see Exodus 27:9 and following). (Source: RuthAnna Spooner, Ron Lawer)


“Tabernacle” in American Sign Language, source: Deaf Harbor

See also tabernacle (verb) / dwell, festival of Tabernacles and ark of the covenant.

Translation commentary on Exod 26:26 - 26:27

And you shall make: you is singular. Bars of acacia wood uses the word for “crossbars” (Good News Translation) used on doors and gates. Their purpose here was to hold the framework together. They were obviously long horizontal bars, much larger than the poles made for carrying the ark and the table.

Five for the frames of the one side …: this means that the north and south sides of the tabernacle (mishkan) each had five bars, and the side … at the rear westward, that is, the far side at the rear, also had five bars. The same words are used for the far end in verse 22, literally “for the thighs seaward.” (See the comment at verse 22.)

Quoted with permission from Osborn, Noel D. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Exodus. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1999. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .