H4412 H4412
hut, lodge, temporary shelter
A temporary shelter or flimsy hut, often used as a watchman's lodge in fields or vineyards. Isaiah employs this term in two powerful images of vulnerability and instability. Isaiah 1:8 compares devastated Jerusalem to a hut in a cucumber field—isolated, fragile, barely standing. Isaiah 24:20 uses it to describe the earth itself tottering 'like a hut' in cosmic judgment—the ultimate picture of instability. Both passages exploit the connotations of temporariness, flimsiness, and precariousness associated with such field shelters.
Senses
1. sense 1 — A temporary shelter or flimsy hut, typically a watchman's lodge in agricultural fields. Isaiah 1:8 compares besieged Jerusalem to 'a hut in a cucumber field'—isolated, vulnerable, barely standing amid destruction. Isaiah 24:20 depicts the earth reeling 'like a hut' under divine judgment—tottering, unstable, ready to collapse. Both metaphors exploit the hut's temporary, fragile nature. Cross-linguistic evidence (Spanish choza, French cabane) identifies this as a crude, temporary structure, not a substantial building. 2×
AR["كَالْعُشِّ", "كَكُوخٍ"]·ben["কুঁড়েঘরের-মত", "ঝুপড়ির-মতো"]·DE["[כמלונה]"]·EN["like-a-hut", "like-hut"]·FR["comme-une-cabane"]·heb["כ-מלונה"]·HI["जैसे-झोंपड़ी", "झोंपड़ी-की-तरह"]·ID["seperti-gubuk"]·IT["come-una-capanna"]·jav["kados-gubug", "kados-pondhokan"]·KO["오두막-같이", "원두막-같고"]·PT["como-a-cabaça", "como-choça"]·RU["как-хижина", "как-шалаш"]·ES["como-choza"]·SW["kama-kibanda"]·TR["barınak-gibi", "kulube-gibi"]·urd["جھونپڑی-کی-طرح", "چوکیدار-کی-کٹیا-کی-طرح"]
Related Senses
H3117 1. day, specific time (2231×)H5704 1. until, unto, as far as (1238×)H8141 1. year, unit of time (880×)H6258 1. and now (421×)G2250 1. day (388×)H5750 1. again, more, further (288×)H5769 1. forever, to eternity (280×)H6256 1. time, period (264×)H2320 1. month, calendar period (260×)H0310a 2. after (temporal) (258×)H3915 1. night, period of darkness (234×)H1242 1. morning (214×)H5750 2. still, yet (continuative) (166×)G5119 1. then (160×)G3568 1. now (147×)G2193 1. until (143×)G3825 1. (141×)G3752 1. (123×)H6153 1. evening, time of day (123×)H0227a 1. then (122×)
BDB / Lexicon Reference
† מְלוּנָה n.f. lodge, hut;—מ׳ בְּמִקְשָׁה Is 1:8 (i.e. a watchman’s hut); sim. of frail, insecure structure וְהִתְנוֹדֲדָה כַּמְּלוּנָה Is 24:20 and it [the earth] shall shake (or totter) like a hut.