שֻׁלְחָן
shul.chan
table
Lexicon Entry
Lexicon data from STEPBible TIPNR, Tyndale House, Cambridge. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
What Original Readers Understood
Supported# Shulchan (שֻׁלְחָן): The Hebrew Word for Table The Hebrew word *shulchan* refers to a table—a basic piece of furniture for placing objects or conducting activities. The word appears 71 times throughout the Hebrew Bible, indicating it was a common and functionally important item in ancient Israelite life and religious practice. Its frequency alone suggests that tables occupied a significant place in both domestic and ceremonial contexts. While the provided lexicon data offers only the short definition "table," the word's substantial presence in biblical texts (71 occurrences) indicates it carried importance beyond simple furniture designation. The consistency of this terminology across the biblical corpus suggests *shulchan* was the standard Hebrew designation for this object type, serving practical purposes in everyday life while also appearing in descriptions of religious and royal settings. Without additional contextual data, we cannot specify which particular uses—whether domestic, liturgical, or ceremonial—were most emphasized, but the high frequency of occurrence demonstrates the word's centrality to biblical vocabulary.
Source data & methodology
Occurrences in Scripture
71 total occurrences across the text — showing 50
Then they went in to Hezekiah the king within the palace, and said, “We have cleansed all Yahweh’s house, including the altar of burnt offering with all its vessels, and the table of show bread with all its vessels.
Nehemiah 5:17Moreover there were at my table, of the Jews and the rulers, one hundred fifty men, in addition to those who came to us from among the nations that were around us.
Job 36:16Yes, he would have allured you out of distress, into a wide place, where there is no restriction. That which is set on your table would be full of fatness.
Psalms 23:5You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil. My cup runs over.
Psalms 69:22Let their table before them become a snare. May it become a retribution and a trap.
Psalms 78:19Yes, they spoke against God. They said, “Can God prepare a table in the wilderness?
Psalms 128:3Your wife will be as a fruitful vine in the innermost parts of your house, your children like olive plants around your table.
Proverbs 9:2She has prepared her meat. She has mixed her wine. She has also set her table.
Isaiah 21:5They prepare the table. They set the watch. They eat. They drink. Rise up, you princes, oil the shield!
Isaiah 28:8For all tables are completely full of filthy vomit and filthiness.
Isaiah 65:11“But you who forsake Yahweh, who forget my holy mountain, who prepare a table for Fortune, and who fill up mixed wine to Destiny;
Ezekiel 23:41and sat on a stately bed, with a table prepared before it, whereupon you set my incense and my oil.
Ezekiel 39:20You shall be filled at my table with horses and chariots, with mighty men, and with all men of war,” says the Lord Yahweh.’
Ezekiel 40:39In the porch of the gate were two tables on this side, and two tables on that side, on which to kill the burnt offering, the sin offering, and the trespass offering.
Ezekiel 40:39In the porch of the gate were two tables on this side, and two tables on that side, on which to kill the burnt offering, the sin offering, and the trespass offering.
Ezekiel 40:40On the one side outside, as one goes up to the entry of the gate toward the north, were two tables; and on the other side, which belonged to the porch of the gate, were two tables.
Ezekiel 40:40On the one side outside, as one goes up to the entry of the gate toward the north, were two tables; and on the other side, which belonged to the porch of the gate, were two tables.
Ezekiel 40:41Four tables were on this side, and four tables on that side, by the side of the gate: eight tables, on which they killed the sacrifices.
Ezekiel 40:41Four tables were on this side, and four tables on that side, by the side of the gate: eight tables, on which they killed the sacrifices.
Ezekiel 40:41Four tables were on this side, and four tables on that side, by the side of the gate: eight tables, on which they killed the sacrifices.
Ezekiel 40:42There were four tables for the burnt offering, of cut stone, a cubit and a half long, and a cubit and a half wide, and one cubit high. They laid the instruments with which they killed the burnt offering and the sacrifice on them.
Ezekiel 40:43The hooks, a hand width long, were fastened within all around. The meat of the offering was on the tables.
Ezekiel 41:22The altar was of wood, three cubits high, and its length two cubits. Its corners, its length, and its walls were of wood. He said to me, “This is the table that is before Yahweh.”
Ezekiel 44:16“They shall enter into my sanctuary, and they shall come near to my table, to minister to me, and they shall keep my instruction.
Daniel 11:27As for both these kings, their hearts will be to do mischief, and they will speak lies at one table; but it won’t prosper, for the end will still be at the appointed time.
1 Kings 4:27Those officers provided food for king Solomon, and for all who came to king Solomon’s table, every man in his month. They let nothing be lacking.
Malachi 1:7You offer polluted bread on my altar. You say, ‘How have we polluted you?’ In that you say, ‘Yahweh’s table is contemptible.’
Malachi 1:12“But you profane it, in that you say, ‘Yahweh’s table is polluted, and its fruit, even its food, is contemptible.’
Exodus 25:23“You shall make a table of acacia wood. Its length shall be two cubits, and its width a cubit, and its height one and a half cubits.
Exodus 25:27the rings shall be close to the rim, for places for the poles to carry the table.
Exodus 25:28You shall make the poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold, that the table may be carried with them.
Exodus 25:30You shall set bread of the presence on the table before me always.
Exodus 26:35You shall set the table outside the veil, and the lamp stand opposite the table on the side of the tabernacle toward the south. You shall put the table on the north side.
Exodus 26:35You shall set the table outside the veil, and the lamp stand opposite the table on the side of the tabernacle toward the south. You shall put the table on the north side.
Exodus 26:35You shall set the table outside the veil, and the lamp stand opposite the table on the side of the tabernacle toward the south. You shall put the table on the north side.
Exodus 30:27the table and all its articles, the lamp stand and its accessories, the altar of incense,
Exodus 31:8the table and its vessels, the pure lamp stand with all its vessels, the altar of incense,
Exodus 35:13the table with its poles and all its vessels, and the show bread;
Exodus 37:10He made the table of acacia wood. Its length was two cubits, and its width was a cubit, and its height was a cubit and a half.
Exodus 37:14The rings were close by the border, the places for the poles to carry the table.
Exodus 37:15He made the poles of acacia wood, and overlaid them with gold, to carry the table.
Exodus 37:16He made the vessels which were on the table, its dishes, its spoons, its bowls, and its pitchers with which to pour out, of pure gold.
Exodus 39:36the table, all its vessels, the show bread,
Exodus 40:4You shall bring in the table, and set in order the things that are on it. You shall bring in the lamp stand, and light its lamps.
Exodus 40:22He put the table in the Tent of Meeting, on the north side of the tabernacle, outside of the veil.
Exodus 40:24He put the lamp stand in the Tent of Meeting, opposite the table, on the south side of the tabernacle.
Leviticus 24:6You shall set them in two rows, six on a row, on the pure gold table before Yahweh.
Numbers 3:31Their duty shall be the ark, the table, the lamp stand, the altars, the vessels of the sanctuary with which they minister, the screen, and all its service.
Numbers 4:7“On the table of show bread they shall spread a blue cloth, and put on it the dishes, the spoons, the bowls, and the cups with which to pour out; and the continual bread shall be on it.
Judges 1:7Adoni-Bezek said, “Seventy kings, having their thumbs and their big toes cut off, scavenged under my table. As I have done, so God has done to me.” They brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there.