κατοικ-ητήριον G2732
a dwelling place, habitation, residence
This noun denotes a place where someone dwells or resides, whether God, demons, or humans. Paul uses it in Ephesians 2:22 to describe believers being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit—a profound image of the church as God's residence. In Revelation 18:2, it appears in judgment language describing Babylon as having become a habitation of demons. The word emphasizes the settled, established nature of the dwelling rather than temporary shelter. The LXX background reinforces this sense of a permanent abode.
Senses
1. sense 1 — The two NT occurrences show theological depth: Eph 2:22 presents the church as God's dwelling place (κατοικητήριον θεοῦ), while Rev 18:2 depicts Babylon's fall into a demon habitation (κατοικητήριον δαιμονίων). The multilingual evidence is consistent across languages: Spanish uses both 'habitación' and 'morada,' French 'Wohnort' (which is actually German), and German properly 'Wohnort.' All capture the sense of a settled dwelling rather than temporary lodging. 2×
AR["مَسكَنٍ", "مَسْكَنًا"]·ben["বাসস্থান"]·DE["Wohnort"]·EN["a-dwelling", "dwelling"]·FR["Wohnort"]·heb["מְעוֹן", "מִשְׁכַּן"]·HI["निवअस", "निवास"]·ID["tempat-kediaman", "tempat-tinggal"]·IT["katoikētērion"]·jav["padunungan", "palenggahanipun"]·KO["거처가", "거하는-곳"]·PT["habitação"]·RU["жилище", "жилищем"]·ES["habitación", "morada"]·SW["makao"]·TR["konut", "meskenine"]·urd["بسیرا", "مسکن"]
Related Senses
H3808 1. simple negation (not) (4839×)G1722 1. locative: in, within (2442×)H1004b 1. house, dwelling, building (2015×)G3756 1. not (negation particle) (1635×)H4480a 1. source or separation (1198×)H5892b 1. city, town (1093×)G1519 1. direction: into, to, toward (1061×)H3427 1. Qal: to dwell, inhabit (937×)G1537 1. from, out of (source/origin) (886×)H8034 1. Name (designation / identifier) (856×)G3361 1. subjective negation (not) (834×)G1909 1. on, upon (spatial surface) (757×)H0369 1. existential negation: there is not (738×)H5869a 1. in the eyes/sight of (evaluative) (734×)H5650 1. Servant, attendant, subject (723×)H0408 1. prohibitive negation do-not (712×)G2443 1. so that, in order that (purpose/result) (665×)G0575 1. from (649×)G1223 1. through, by means of (582×)H3541 1. thus, so, in this manner (569×)
BDB / Lexicon Reference
κατοικ-ητήριον, τό, dwellingplace, abode, LXX; κ. θεοῦ, δαιμονίων, NT