4412. melunah
Lexical Summary
melunah: Lodge, shelter, encampment

Original Word: מְלוּנָה
Part of Speech: Noun Feminine
Transliteration: mluwnah
Pronunciation: meh-loo-nah
Phonetic Spelling: (mel-oo-naw')
KJV: cottage, lodge
NASB: shack, watchman's hut
Word Origin: [feminine from H3885 (לוּן לִין - To lodge)]

1. a hut, a hammock

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance
cottage, lodge

Feminine from luwn; a hut, a hammock -- cottage, lodge.

see HEBREW luwn

NAS Exhaustive Concordance
Word Origin
from lun
Definition
a lodge, hut
NASB Translation
shack (1), watchman's hut (1).

Brown-Driver-Briggs
מְלוּנָה noun feminine lodge, hut; — בְּמִקְשָׁה ׳מ Isaiah 1:8 (i.e. a watchman's hut); simile of frail, insecure structure בַּמְּלוּנָה וְהִתְנוֺדֲדָה Isaiah 24:20 and it [the earth] shall shake (or totter) like a hut.

Topical Lexicon
Overview

מְלוּנָה (melunah) designates a temporary hut or shelter erected in a field or vineyard for overnight watch. Built of branches or rough boards and covered with leaves, it served farmers or watchmen during harvest or while guarding ripening produce from thieves and animals. Though flimsy and short-lived, the structure supplied necessary refuge, and Scripture employs the term both literally and figuratively.

Scriptural Occurrences

Isaiah 1:8 – Zion, forsaken through sin and judgment, “is left like a shelter in a vineyard, like a hut in a cucumber field, like a besieged city”.
Isaiah 24:20 – In the day of cosmic upheaval “the earth reels like a drunkard and sways like a hut”, highlighting its instability under divine wrath.

Historical and Cultural Setting

Ancient Near-Eastern agriculture required continual vigilance during the weeks when grapes, cucumbers, or melons ripened. Farmers built crude lodges beside the plots, often on stilts for ventilation and visibility. The structures were occupied only seasonally; once the crop was gathered they were abandoned and soon deteriorated. Their presence in prophetic discourse would have been immediately understood by Isaiah’s eighth-century audience.

Prophetic Imagery

1. Vulnerability—A solitary field-hut lacked fortification; storms or invaders could easily destroy it. Isaiah employs the picture to expose the exposed, besieged state of Jerusalem after repeated covenant breaches.
2. Transience—The hut existed for a moment of agricultural need, then vanished. In Isaiah 24:20 the world system is portrayed as equally temporary when confronted with God’s purifying judgment.
3. Isolation—Positioned in the open countryside, the melunah stands alone, reflecting Zion’s separation from the protective presence she forfeited by rebellion.

Theological Significance

• Judgment and Mercy—The image underscores the severity of divine discipline yet also implies remaining potential: even a fragile hut can still shelter. Zion’s very survival, though reduced, demonstrates God’s self-imposed limit on judgment in anticipation of future restoration (Isaiah 1:26-27).
• Cosmic Accountability—Isaiah 24 broadens the scope from city to planet. If the earth itself can sway like a field-hut, all creation remains subject to its Maker. The frailty of the melunah magnifies the strength and permanence of Yahweh’s kingdom (Psalm 102:25-27).

Applications for Ministry

1. Call to Repentance—Preachers may employ the melunah to illustrate how unconfessed sin leaves individuals or congregations defenseless, urging a return to covenant faithfulness.
2. Assurance of Sovereignty—Believers dwelling in a world that “sways like a hut” may rest in the unshakable promises of God (Hebrews 12:27-28).
3. Mission-minded Vigilance—Just as watchmen remained in the hut through the night, Christians are summoned to spiritual alertness, intercession, and proclamation until the harvest is gathered (Matthew 9:37-38).

Christological and Eschatological Connections

The fragile shelter anticipates the incarnate Son who “tented” among us (John 1:14) in human vulnerability, yet rose in power to establish an eternal dwelling for His people (John 14:2-3). At His return the temporary order, typified by the swaying hut, will give way to “a kingdom that cannot be shaken” (Hebrews 12:28).

Related Terms and Concepts

• סֻכָּה (sukkah) – Booths of the Feast of Tabernacles, likewise temporary yet celebrating divine provision (Leviticus 23:42).
• מָעוֹן (maon) – Dwelling place; contrasted with the transient melunah, God is “our dwelling place in all generations” (Psalm 90:1).

Thus מְלוּנָה stands as a vivid reminder of human frailty, divine oversight, and the hope of permanent refuge in the Lord.

Forms and Transliterations
כִּמְלוּנָ֥ה כַּמְּלוּנָ֑ה כמלונה kam·mə·lū·nāh kammeluNah kamməlūnāh kim·lū·nāh kimluNah kimlūnāh
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Interlinear GreekInterlinear HebrewStrong's NumbersEnglishman's Greek ConcordanceEnglishman's Hebrew ConcordanceParallel Texts
Englishman's Concordance
Isaiah 1:8
HEB: כְּסֻכָּ֣ה בְכָ֑רֶם כִּמְלוּנָ֥ה בְמִקְשָׁ֖ה כְּעִ֥יר
NAS: in a vineyard, Like a watchman's hut in a cucumber field,
KJV: in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers,
INT: A shelter A vineyard A watchman's A cucumber city

Isaiah 24:20
HEB: כַּשִּׁכּ֔וֹר וְהִֽתְנוֹדְדָ֖ה כַּמְּלוּנָ֑ה וְכָבַ֤ד עָלֶ֙יהָ֙
NAS: And it totters like a shack, For its transgression
KJV: and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression
INT: A drunkard totters A shack is heavy and

2 Occurrences

Strong's Hebrew 4412
2 Occurrences


kam·mə·lū·nāh — 1 Occ.
kim·lū·nāh — 1 Occ.

4411
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