CHAMBER

cham'-ber (the translation of the following Hebrew words: chedher, chuppah, yatsia`, yatsua`, lishkah, nishkah, `aliyah, tsela`, and the Aramaic word `illith): For the most part the word chamber is the expression of an idea which would be adequately expressed by the English word "room," in accordance with an earlier use of the word, now little employed. For the arrangement of rooms in a Hebrew house, see HOUSE. Chedher is a word of frequent occurrence, and designates a private room. Chuppah is translated "chamber" only in Psalm 19:5, where it is used in connection with "bridegroom," and means a bridal chamber. The same Hebrew word used of the bride in Joel 2:16 is rendered "closet." Yatsia` and yatsua` are found only in 1 Kings 6:5, 6, 10 (the King James Version only in all the passages), yatsua` being the reading of Kethibh and yatsia` of Kere in each ease. Here the meaning is really "story," as given in the Revised Version (British and American), except in 1 Kings 6:6, where doubtless the text should be changed to read ha-tsela`, "the side-chamber." Lishkah, a frequent word, and the equivalent nishkah, infrequent, are used ordinarily of a room in the temple utilized for sacred purposes, occasionally of a room in the palace. `Aliyah and the equivalent Aramaic `illith signify "a roof chamber," i.e. a chamber built on the flat roof of a house. Tsela`, when used of a chamber, designates a side-chamber of the temple. It is usually rendered "side-chamber," but "chamber" in 1 Kings 6:5, 8 (the King James Version), where the Revised Version (British and American) has "side-chamber."

George Ricker Berry

UPPER CHAMBER; UPPER ROOM

up'-er cham'-ber, (`aliyah (2 Kings 1:2), etc.; anogeon (Mark 14:15 Luke 22:12), huperoon (Acts 1:13; Acts 9:37, 39; 20:8)): In Judges 3:20 the English Revised Version renders "summer parlor" and in the margin "Hebrew: `Upper chamber of cooling.' " This was probably a roof-chamber. The "upper chamber" of Ahaziah in 2 Kings 1:2 was evidently in the 2nd story of the building. On the "upper chambers" of the temple (1 Chronicles 28:11 2 Chronicles 3:9), see TEMPLE. The "large upper room" which was the scene of the Last Supper, with that in Acts 1:13, was also plainly an upper-story chamber. That in Acts 20:8 was in the 3rd story (at Miletus, a Greek city).

See also HOUSE.

James Orr

CHAMBER, ROOF

See CHAMBER.