H8392 H8392
An ark or vessel of deliverance; Noah's great ship and Moses' papyrus basket -- both instruments of divine rescue.
One of the most evocative nouns in the Hebrew Bible, tevah names only two objects in all of Scripture: the massive wooden vessel that preserved Noah's family and the animals through the flood (Gen 6-9), and the small papyrus basket in which the infant Moses was hidden among the Nile reeds (Exod 2:3, 5). Both are instruments of divine salvation through water. Probably borrowed from Egyptian dbt (chest, coffin), the word emphasizes the container as a vehicle of rescue rather than its construction. French distinguishes arche from corbeille, and German Arche from Körbchen, but Hebrew binds them with one theologically charged term.
Senses
1. the ark — Noah's ark -- the large vessel constructed of gopher wood at God's command to preserve life through the catastrophic flood. Appearing 26 times almost entirely in Genesis 6-9, it is rendered uniformly across languages: English 'the ark,' Spanish el arca, French l'arche, German die Arche. The repeated use through the flood narrative (Gen 7:1, 7, 9, 17, 23; 8:1, 4, 6) underscores its centrality as the instrument of cosmic deliverance. 26×
AR["الْ-فُلْكَ","الْ-فُلْكُ","الْ-فُلْكِ","الْفُلْكَ","الْفُلْكِ"]·ben["সেই-তৈরি-জাহাজ","সেই-তৈরি-জাহাজের"]·DE["der-Arche","die-Arche"]·EN["the-ark"]·FR["l'arche"]·heb["ה-תבה"]·HI["जहअज़","जहअज़-का","जहअज़-की","जहअज़-को","जहअज़-मेइन"]·ID["bahtera","bahtera-itu"]·IT["l'-arca"]·jav["ing-prau"]·KO["그-방주","그-방주-가","그-방주-의"]·PT["a-arca","da-arca"]·RU["ковчег","ковчега"]·ES["el-arca"]·SW["safina-ya"]·TR["-gemi","-gemiden","-geminin","-gemiye","-gemiyi"]·urd["کشتی-اس","کشتی-اس-کا","کشتی-اس-کی","کشتی-کا","کشتی-کی"]
2. basket of — The small papyrus basket in which Moses' mother placed him to float among the Nile reeds (Exod 2:3, 5). French corbeille (basket) and German Körbchen (little basket) distinguish this diminutive vessel from Noah's ark, yet Hebrew deliberately uses the same word -- connecting the two acts of divine rescue through water and foreshadowing Moses' role as deliverer of Israel. 2×
AR["السَّفَطَ","سَفَطًا"]·ben["বাক্স","বাক্সটি"]·DE["Koerbchen-von","der-Koerbchen"]·EN["basket-of","the-basket"]·FR["corbeille-de","le-corbeille"]·heb["ה-תבה","תבת"]·HI["टोक्री"]·ID["peti","peti-itu"]·IT["cesto-di","il-cesto"]·jav["kranjang"]·KO["그-갈대의","에게-그"]·PT["a-cesta","cesta-de"]·RU["ковчежек"]·ES["arca-de","el-arca"]·SW["sanduku"]·TR["sepet","sepeti"]·urd["ٹوکری"]
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
† תֵּבָה n.f. ark (proposes chest, box (cf. NH תֵּבָה); prob. Egypt. loan-word from ṯ-b-t, chest, coffin (Brugsch, ErmanZMG xlvi (1892), 123); > Bab. word JenZA iv (1889), 272f. HalJAs., 1888 (Nov.-Dec.), 517);—abs. ת׳ Gn 7:1 +; cstr. תֵּבַת 6:14 Ex 2:3;—vessel in which infant Moses was laid among reeds v 3 (made of papyrus, גֹּמֶא), v 5 (both E; 𝔊 θῖβις, θήβη, cf. LewyFremdw. 100); vessel which…