habitation, house, pasture, pleasant place

Boyd’s Bible Dictionary:

(cover). Prevailing Oriental style, low, flat roofed, with court in center. A tent, palace, citadel, tomb, family (Gen. 12:17¹⁷And the Lord plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai Abram's wife. (Genesis 12:17)); property (1 Kings 13:8⁸And the man of God said unto the king, If thou wilt give me half thine house, I will not go in with thee, neither will I eat bread nor drink water in this place: (1 Kings 13:8)); lineage (Luke 2:4⁴And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) (Luke 2:4)); place of worship (Judg. 20:18¹⁸And the children of Israel arose, and went up to the house of God, and asked counsel of God, and said, Which of us shall go up first to the battle against the children of Benjamin? And the Lord said, Judah shall go up first. (Judges 20:18)).

Concise Bible Dictionary:

There are but few things mentioned in scripture that throw light upon the construction of the houses in the East. Of modern eastern houses it may be said the backs of the houses are in the street. There is a door, with perhaps a lattice over it, and one or two lattices high up, with all the rest a blank wall. A house may be watched all day, and not a soul be seen, unless some one comes to the door, though all going on in the street may be seen from the lattices. The door opens into a porch or passage, which leads into an open court, but so arranged that no one can see into the court when the door is opened. The court is large, sometimes open to the sky, in which visitors are received and business transacted: some have two courts, or even three. Often there is a fountain and trees in the court. Around the court are entrances to more private rooms, where meals are served and to chambers where the inmates repose. The “parlor” where Samuel entertained Saul would be one of such rooms.

Stairs in the corner of the court lead to upper private rooms; and often there are stairs outside the house that lead to the roof. These enabled the sick man to be carried to the roof in Mark 2:4⁴And when they could not come nigh unto him for the press, they uncovered the roof where he was: and when they had broken it up, they let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay. (Mark 2:4), when entrance could not be obtained by the door. The roof is often made of sticks, thorn bushes, mortar and earth; which often have to be rolled to consolidate the structure after rain. A hole could easily be broken through such a roof to let down the paralytic. Other roofs were more substantial, with a parapet round them for safety. On such roofs persons retired for private conversation and for prayer (1 Sam. 9:25²⁵And when they were come down from the high place into the city, Samuel communed with Saul upon the top of the house. (1 Samuel 9:25); Acts 10:9⁹On the morrow, as they went on their journey, and drew nigh unto the city, Peter went up upon the housetop to pray about the sixth hour: (Acts 10:9)); and in the evening for coolness (2 Sam. 11:2²And it came to pass in an eveningtide, that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king's house: and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself; and the woman was very beautiful to look upon. (2 Samuel 11:2)).

The Lord speaks of the disciples publishing on the housetop what He had told them privately (Matt. 10:27²⁷What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light: and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops. (Matthew 10:27); Luke 12:3³Therefore whatsoever ye have spoken in darkness shall be heard in the light; and that which ye have spoken in the ear in closets shall be proclaimed upon the housetops. (Luke 12:3)). This mode of proclamation may often be seen in the East when the public crier calls out from the housetop the information he has to make known.

Houses were mostly built of stone, that being plentiful and wood comparatively scarce. In Bashan there are still numbers of ancient houses, solidly built of stone, some with the ancient stone doors still on their hinges, or rather pivots, many of the houses having no inhabitant.

Temporary houses and those for the poor were often built of mud, which could easily be dug through by a thief, and which left to themselves soon became a heap of rubbish (Job 4:19¹⁹How much less in them that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, which are crushed before the moth? (Job 4:19); Job 15:28²⁸And he dwelleth in desolate cities, and in houses which no man inhabiteth, which are ready to become heaps. (Job 15:28); Job 24:16¹⁶In the dark they dig through houses, which they had marked for themselves in the daytime: they know not the light. (Job 24:16); Matt. 24:43⁴³But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. (Matthew 24:43)). Cattle were often kept in some part of the house, as they are to this day, for safety (1 Sam. 28:24²⁴And the woman had a fat calf in the house; and she hasted, and killed it, and took flour, and kneaded it, and did bake unleavened bread thereof: (1 Samuel 28:24)).

Strong’s Dictionary of Hebrew Words:

Number:

4999 (find all occurrences in KJV Bible)

Transliteration:

na’ah

Phonic:

naw-aw’

Meaning:

from 4998; a home; figuratively, a pasture

KJV Usage:

habitation, house, pasture, pleasant place