he.khal denotes a temple building in vessel-and-worship settings, and can also designate a royal palace.

The clearest and dominant use identifies the building in Jerusalem or Babylon associated with the house of God and its gold and silver vessels; a smaller group of verses places the term in a king's palace setting.

1. Temple building associated with sacred vessels · dominant

   Determined singular forms occur in accounts of vessels taken from, carried between, returned to, or deposited in a building identified with the house of God. In Daniel 5:2 the APB renders vessels brought out from “the temple in Jerusalem,” and Ezra 6:5 renders their return to “the temple that is in Jerusalem” and deposit in the house of God.

   Daniel 5:2Daniel 5:3Ezra 5:14Ezra 5:15Ezra 6:5
2. Royal palace setting · occasional

   In Daniel 5:5, the determined singular form occurs in the clause locating the writing on the wall of the king's palace; the APB renders that setting as “the king's palace.” In Ezra 4:14, the same morphology appears in a statement about having eaten the salt of “the palace.”

   Daniel 5:5Ezra 4:14

In the Anselm Project Bible: The APB commonly presents the relevant building as “the temple” in the vessel accounts, while Daniel 5:5 and Ezra 4:14 use “palace” in royal settings. These renderings confirm the clauses' settings rather than marking a precise English equivalent in every occurrence.