Concise Bible Dictionary:
Tel Aviv
There are several Hebrew words so translated. Windows were openings to admit light and for ventilation; not glazed, but furnished with latticed work, through which persons could, though themselves unobserved, see what was passing outside. Some had shutters attached. There was a window in the ark Noah built, and windows in the temple; and many are to be made in the temple described by Ezekiel (Gen. 6:1616A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it. (Genesis 6:16); Gen. 8:66And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made: (Genesis 8:6); 1 Kings 7:4-54And there were windows in three rows, and light was against light in three ranks. 5And all the doors and posts were square, with the windows: and light was against light in three ranks. (1 Kings 7:4‑5); Ezek. 40:16-3616And there were narrow windows to the little chambers, and to their posts within the gate round about, and likewise to the arches: and windows were round about inward: and upon each post were palm trees. 17Then brought he me into the outward court, and, lo, there were chambers, and a pavement made for the court round about: thirty chambers were upon the pavement. 18And the pavement by the side of the gates over against the length of the gates was the lower pavement. 19Then he measured the breadth from the forefront of the lower gate unto the forefront of the inner court without, an hundred cubits eastward and northward. 20And the gate of the outward court that looked toward the north, he measured the length thereof, and the breadth thereof. 21And the little chambers thereof were three on this side and three on that side; and the posts thereof and the arches thereof were after the measure of the first gate: the length thereof was fifty cubits, and the breadth five and twenty cubits. 22And their windows, and their arches, and their palm trees, were after the measure of the gate that looketh toward the east; and they went up unto it by seven steps; and the arches thereof were before them. 23And the gate of the inner court was over against the gate toward the north, and toward the east; and he measured from gate to gate an hundred cubits. 24After that he brought me toward the south, and behold a gate toward the south: and he measured the posts thereof and the arches thereof according to these measures. 25And there were windows in it and in the arches thereof round about, like those windows: the length was fifty cubits, and the breadth five and twenty cubits. 26And there were seven steps to go up to it, and the arches thereof were before them: and it had palm trees, one on this side, and another on that side, upon the posts thereof. 27And there was a gate in the inner court toward the south: and he measured from gate to gate toward the south an hundred cubits. 28And he brought me to the inner court by the south gate: and he measured the south gate according to these measures; 29And the little chambers thereof, and the posts thereof, and the arches thereof, according to these measures: and there were windows in it and in the arches thereof round about: it was fifty cubits long, and five and twenty cubits broad. 30And the arches round about were five and twenty cubits long, and five cubits broad. 31And the arches thereof were toward the utter court; and palm trees were upon the posts thereof: and the going up to it had eight steps. 32And he brought me into the inner court toward the east: and he measured the gate according to these measures. 33And the little chambers thereof, and the posts thereof, and the arches thereof, were according to these measures: and there were windows therein and in the arches thereof round about: it was fifty cubits long, and five and twenty cubits broad. 34And the arches thereof were toward the outward court; and palm trees were upon the posts thereof, on this side, and on that side: and the going up to it had eight steps. 35And he brought me to the north gate, and measured it according to these measures; 36The little chambers thereof, the posts thereof, and the arches thereof, and the windows to it round about: the length was fifty cubits, and the breadth five and twenty cubits. (Ezekiel 40:16‑36)).
Latticework Window Screen (Mashrabiyya)
In the East windows were usually made to open horizontally, which explains how a person sitting in a window could fall out (Acts 20:99And there sat in a window a certain young man named Eutychus, being fallen into a deep sleep: and as Paul was long preaching, he sunk down with sleep, and fell down from the third loft, and was taken up dead. (Acts 20:9)). The passage in Isaiah 54:1212And I will make thy windows of agates, and thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy borders of pleasant stones. (Isaiah 54:12), “I will make thy windows of agates,” is better translated, “I will make thy battlements, or pinnacles, of rubies.” At the flood the expression the “windows of heaven” is in the sense of the “floodgates,” as in the margin (Gen. 7:1111In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. (Genesis 7:11)).
Strong’s Dictionary of Hebrew Words:
Meaning:
(Aramaic) from a root corresponding to 3854 in the sense of piercing; a window (as a perforation)