meseken
משכנ
'meseken' (pronounced 'mesheken') means “home”.
The word occurs very frequently in the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy to describe the tent which functioned as a temple of Ihoh during the forty years of wandering in Sinai. In these instances 'meseken' is usually translated as “tabernacle”. This is also the usage in modern Hebrew, where it is transliterated as “mishkan”.
However, the word is not only applied specifically to this unique structure. 'meseken' appears in the narrative long before the construction of “the tabernacle”, in the book of Job, arguably the oldest written portion of the texts. Here, 'meseken' is applied to one's “home” or “tent”.
Numbers chapter 16 refers uses the 'meseken' to refer to both the “tabernacle” and the home of a person named Korah. It also refers to Korah's home using the word ahel, meaning “tent”. Essentially, 'meseken' and 'ahel' are two words that refer to the same object, and correlate to English “home” and “house”.
Numbers 24 also uses 'meseken' in this more general sense, typically interpreted to be referring to a plurality of tents. This is exemplified quite explicitly in 1 Chronicles 17:5 in which Ihoh states: “for not I have dwelt in a house since the time that I brought up Israel, even to this day, but have gone from tent to tent home”
LexID 4908