booth
suk.kah denotes temporary shelters, especially those associated with an annual festival, and can frame imagery of cover or ruin.
The term most often occurs in the name of an annual feast and in instructions to dwell in or make temporary shelters for it. Elsewhere it names shelters used for people, livestock, shade, or watching, and it also appears in imagery of covering, a fallen structure, clouds, and hidden animal resting places.
Senses in use
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Festival observance and its shelters · dominant
Plural absolute forms occur in the feast’s name and in its practices: in Leviticus 23:42 the APB renders the command that native-born Israelites dwell in “booths” for seven days, while Nehemiah 8:15 describes bringing branches to make them. Deuteronomy 16:13 and Zechariah 14:16 place the feast within annual worship and celebration.
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Temporary shelters for dwelling or shade · common
The term names constructed shelters in everyday settings: Genesis 33:17 says Jacob made them for livestock, and Jonah 4:5 says Jonah made one and sat beneath it in the shade. Isaiah 4:6 describes one for daytime shade and refuge, while Job 27:18 compares a house with one made by a watchman.
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Figurative covering or vulnerable structure · occasional
In 2 Samuel 22:12 the plural form occurs in a clause the APB renders as darkness being a covering and a canopy of dark waters and thick clouds. Amos 9:11 uses a singular construct form for David’s fallen structure, to be raised, repaired, and rebuilt; Job 36:29 and Job 38:40 place the term in imagery of a divine covered place and animals’ resting places. The precise English contribution is less isolated in these translated clauses.
In the Anselm Project Bible: The APB commonly uses “booth” or “booths,” including in the feast’s name and in descriptions of making or dwelling in shelters. In several imagery clauses it instead renders the surrounding picture with terms such as “covering,” “canopy,” “dens,” or “lair”; These do not by themselves fix a separate English equivalent.