What Does Mark 9:5 Mean in the King James?
And Peter answered and said to Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here: and let us make three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The Greek word Peter uses for a tent also becomes the verb for God dwelling among people, so his wish to shelter the moment points toward a presence larger than any shelter he can build.
THE MEANING
You can recognize the urge to make a luminous moment stay. Peter calls the place good and immediately imagines three shelters, giving his wonder a form he hopes can hold it. The verse holds the beauty of being here alongside the human wish to preserve it.
THE ROOT
σκηνάς
skēnas
GROWS FROM
σκην
Tent, booth, dwelling (skēn-).
“tabernacles” in this verse is skēnas. The word for Peter’s tents belongs to the same Greek family as the verb used for God dwelling among people. English gives us a set of shelters here, while the root also carries the idea of taking up a dwelling.
ALSO GROWS
skēnē: tent, booth, dwelling
σκηνή
This is the singular form behind Peter’s word for the shelters he proposes.
skēnoō: to pitch a tent, dwell
σκηνόω
This verb carries the same root into the act of dwelling, as in John’s description of the Word dwelling among us.
skēnopoios: tentmaker
σκηνοποιός
The word for a person who makes tents preserves the same root in a human craft.
THE PATTERN
Divine presence moves toward people and makes its dwelling among them.
Then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.THE THREAD
And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.Mark names the shelters with σκηνή (skēnē, “tent”); John uses ἐσκήνωσεν (eskēnōsen, “dwelt” or “tented”) from the same word family. The image opens from building shelters around a vision to divine presence dwelling among people.
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