Bed

Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament

BED. —The word ‘bed’ (κλίνη, κράββατος, κοίτη) is found in the Gospels only in  Matthew 9:2;  Matthew 9:6,  Mark 2:4-12;  Mark 4:21;  Mark 7:30,  Luke 5:18;  Luke 8:16;  Luke 11:7;  Luke 17:34,  John 5:8-12. There is little here to indicate the kind of bed, or beds, that were in use among the Hebrews in the time of Christ. Among the ancient Hebrews, however, as among other Oriental peoples of that day, the bed usually consisted of a wadded quilt, or thin mattress, to be used, according to the season, or the condition of the owner, with or without covering (cf.  Exodus 22:27 ‘For that [the outer garment worn in the daytime] is his only covering: it is his garment for his skin: wherein shall he sleep?’). The very poor often made their bed of the skins of animals, old cloaks or rugs, or slept in their ordinary clothing on the bare ground floor, as they do to-day in the East.

The bedding ordinarily in use among Orientals now is, doubtless, much the same as it was in Christ’s day: a mat made of rushes or straw to be laid down first; sheep or goat skins, or a quilt stuffed with hair or vegetable fibre, or both, to lie upon; and a covering consisting often only of the ‘cloak,’ or outer garment, of the poor man, but sometimes in summer of some light stuff in addition, or in winter of skins, or some heavier quilted stuff.

Various allusions are made in the Gospels to beds that could be carried: ‘Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house’ ( Matthew 9:6); ‘Rise, take up thy bed, and walk’; ‘And immediately the man … took up his bed, and walked’ ( John 5:8-9); ‘Behold men bringing on a bed a man that was palsied’ ( Luke 5:18 Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885). St. Luke and St. Mark tell us that on this occasion, when, because of the crowd in the house, the four men could not reach Jesus with the paralytic, they took him up on the house-top, broke through the roof, and ‘let him down through the tiling with the couch (κλινίδιον; in  Luke 5:18, however, the word κλίνη, ‘bed,’ is used) into the midst before Jesus’ ( Luke 5:19), or, as St. Mark puts it, ‘let down the bed (κράββατος) wherein the sick of the palsy lay’ ( Luke 2:4).

For ordinary use at night the bed was laid on the floor, generally on the mat, which served to keep it off the ground, frequently on a light portable frame of wood which served a like purpose; but sometimes on a more elevated bedstead (‘under the bed,’  Mark 4:21 Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885). In the morning the bedding was all rolled up, and, after being aired and sunned, was put aside on the raised platform, or packed away for the day in a chest or closet. A bedstead of any pretensions was rare among the Hebrews, and was looked upon as a luxury; the nearest approach to it being in general the raised platform on the side of the room. The richness of beds and of bedsteads among some of the Asiatic peoples, however, was at least equal to that of the Greeks and Romans (cf.  Proverbs 7:18;  Proverbs 7:17,  1 Samuel 28:23). The degree of richness would depend, of course, upon the wealth of the family and the style of the house or tent, as it does to-day among the Bedawîn.

Usually a room was set apart as a bedroom, where the whole family slept. ‘My children are with me in bed, I cannot rise and give thee’ ( Luke 11:5-8). Among the poorest a portion of the single room occupied by the family was set apart for sleeping, and, generally, this was raised above the level of the floor. When the house was of two storeys, the beds were laid in one of the rooms of the upper storey, or, during the summer, preferably, on the flat roof. See, further, art. Couch.

Geo. B. Eager.

Vine's Expository Dictionary of NT Words

1: κλίνη (Strong'S #2825 — Noun Neuter — kline — klee'-nay )

akin to klino, "to lean" (Eng., "recline, incline" etc.), "a bed," e.g.,  Mark 7:30 , also denotes a "couch" for reclining at meals,  Mark 4:21 , or a "couch" for carrying the sick,  Matthew 9:2,6 . The metaphorical phrase "to cast into a bed,"  Revelation 2:22 , signifies to afflict with disease (or possibly, to lay on a bier). In  Mark 7:4 the AV curiously translates the word "tables" (marg., "beds"), RV, marg. only, "couches." See Couch.

2: κλίνη (Strong'S #2825 — Noun Neuter — klinarion — klee'-nay )

a diminutive of No. 1, "a small bed," is used in  Acts 5:15 . Some mss. have klinon. See also No. 4. See Couch.

3: κοίτη (Strong'S #2845 — Noun Feminine — koite — koy'-tay )

primarily "a place for lying down" (connected with keimai, "to lie"), denotes a "bed,"  Luke 11:7; the marriage "bed,"  Hebrews 13:4; in  Romans 13:13 , it is used of sexual intercourse. By metonymy, the cause standing for the effect, it denotes conception,  Romans 9:10 .

4: κράββατος (Strong'S #2895 — Noun Masculine — krabbatos — krab'-bat-os )

a Macedonian word (Lat. grabatus), is "a somewhat mean bed, pallet, or mattress for the poor,"  Mark 2:4,9,11,12;  6:55;  John 5:8-11;  Acts 5:15;  9:33 . See also No. 2. See Couch.

 Acts 9:34FurnishSpread.

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

The outer garment worn by day sufficed the poor for bedstead, bed beneath, and covering above, whence it was forbidden to keep it in pledge after sunset, lest the poor man should be without covering ( Deuteronomy 24:13). The bolster was often of platted goat's hair ( 1 Samuel 19:13). A quilt to wrap one's self in is the bed meant in the miracle of Jesus when He said "Take up thy bed and walk" ( John 5:8-11). The cushion or seat at the stern was our Lord's "pillow" on the lake of Galilee ( Mark 4:38). Stones served as Jacob's "pillows" (Hebrew) and afterwards as the consecrated pillar to commemorate the divine vision granted him ( Genesis 28:11). The divan or platform at the end or sides of a room often served as bedstead. In such a room the master of the house and his family lay, according to the parable ( Luke 11:7), "My children are with me in bed."

The little chamber, bed, stool, table, and candlestick of Elijah ( 2 Kings 4:10) were and are the usual furniture of a sleeping room. Some bed frame is implied in  Esther 1:6;  2 Samuel 3:31, "bier," margin bed. The giant Og had one of iron, a marvel in those days (one made of palm sticks is common in the present day), and required by his enormous weight and size ( Deuteronomy 3:11). Og in some expedition of his against Ammon may have left behind him his gigantic bed, to impress his enemy with his super-human greatness, and the Ammonites may have preserved it in Rabbath, their capital; or Israel may have sent it to Ammon as a pledge of their friendly intentions (Jehovah having charged them not to disturb Ammon), and also a visible proof of their power in having conquered so mighty a prince as Og.

Royal beds ( Song of Solomon 3:9-10 margin) had pillars of marble or silver, the bottom gold, the covering of purple and divers colors, hangings fastened to the pillarsupported canopy, the beds of gold upon a tesselated pavement ( Esther 1:6); compare  Amos 6:4, "beds of ivory." Often used as couches in the day ( Ezekiel 23:41;  Esther 7:8). Watchers of vineyards had hammocks slung from trees ( Isaiah 1:8;  Isaiah 24:20). Hebrew melunah , "a lodge for the night." Arab watchers sleep in them to be secure froth wild beasts; translate "the earth shall wave to and fro like a hammock," swung about by the wind.

The "bedchamber" where Joash was hidden was a storeroom for beds, and so well fitted for concealment ( 2 Kings 11:2;  2 Chronicles 22:11), not the usual reclining chamber. The bedroom was usually in the most retired part of the house ( 1 Kings 22:25;  Exodus 8:3;  Ecclesiastes 10:20). In  Ezekiel 13:18, "Woe to the women that sew pillows to all armholes" ("elbows") the allusion is to false prophetesses making their dupes rest on elbow cushions in fancied ecstasy, a symbol of the "peace" they falsely promised ( Ezekiel 13:16). Beds were placed at the end of the chamber, on an ascent approached by steps: hence "I will not go up into my bed" ( Psalms 132:3).

Webster's Dictionary

(1): (n.) The place or material in which a block or brick is laid.

(2): (n.) The superficial earthwork, or ballast, of a railroad.

(3): (n.) A layer or seam, or a horizontal stratum between layers; as, a bed of coal, iron, etc.

(4): (n.) A course of stone or brick in a wall.

(5): (v. t.) To furnish with a bed or bedding.

(6): (n.) The horizontal surface of a building stone; as, the upper and lower beds.

(7): (v. t.) To plant or arrange in beds; to set, or cover, as in a bed of soft earth; as, to bed the roots of a plant in mold.

(8): (n.) See Gun carriage, and Mortar bed.

(9): (v. t.) To dress or prepare the surface of stone) so as to serve as a bed.

(10): (v. t.) To lay flat; to lay in order; to place in a horizontal or recumbent position.

(11): (v. i.) To go to bed; to cohabit.

(12): (n.) The bottom of a watercourse, or of any body of water; as, the bed of a river.

(13): (n.) A mass or heap of anything arranged like a bed; as, a bed of ashes or coals.

(14): (n.) A plat or level piece of ground in a garden, usually a little raised above the adjoining ground.

(15): (n.) (Used as the symbol of matrimony) Marriage.

(16): (n.) An article of furniture to sleep or take rest in or on; a couch. Specifically: A sack or mattress, filled with some soft material, in distinction from the bedstead on which it is placed (as, a feather bed), or this with the bedclothes added. In a general sense, any thing or place used for sleeping or reclining on or in, as a quantity of hay, straw, leaves, or twigs.

(17): (v. t.) To lay or put in any hollow place, or place of rest and security, surrounded or inclosed; to embed; to furnish with or place upon a bed or foundation; as, to bed a stone; it was bedded on a rock.

(18): (v. t.) To place in a bed.

(19): (v. t.) To make partaker of one's bed; to cohabit with.

(20): (n.) The lower surface of a brick, slate, or tile.

(21): (n.) The foundation or the more solid and fixed part or framing of a machine; or a part on which something is laid or supported; as, the bed of an engine.

(22): (n.) The flat part of the press, on which the form is laid.

King James Dictionary

BED, n. The sense is a lay or spread, from laying or setting.

1. A place or an article of furniture to sleep and take rest on in modern times, and among civilized men, a sack or tick filled with feathers or wool but a bed may be made of straw or any other materials. The word bed includes often the bedstead. 2. Lodging a convenient place for sleep. 3. Marriage matrimonial connection.

George, the eldest son of his second bed.

4. A plat or level piece of ground in a garden, usually a little raised above the adjoining ground. 5. The channel of a river,or that part in which the water usually flows. 6. Any hollow place, especially in the arts a hollow place, in which any thing rests as the bed of a mortar. 7. A layer a stratum an extended mass of any thing, whether upon the earth or within it as a bed of sulphur a bed of sand or clay. 8. Pain, torment.  Revelation 2 The grave.  Isaiah 57 The lawful use of wedlock.  Hebrews 13

The bed of the carriage of a gun is a thick plank which lies under the piece, being, as it were, the body of the carriage.

The bed of a mortar is a solid piece of oak, hollow in the middle, to receive the britch and half the trunnions.

In masonry, bed is a range of stones, and the joint of the bed is the mortar between two stones placed over each other.

Bed of justice, in France, was a throne on which the king was seated when he went to parliament. Hence the phrase, to hold a bed of justice.

To make a bed, is to put it in order after it has been used.

To bring to bed, to deliver of a child, is rarely used. But in the passive form, to be brought to bed, that is, to be delivered of a child, is common. It is often followed by of as, to be brought to bed of a son.

To put to bed, in midwifery, is to deliver of a child.

Dining bed, or discubitory bed, among the ancients, a bed on which persons lay at meals. It was four or five feet high, and would hold three or four persons. Three of these beds were ranged by a square table, one side of the table being left open, and accessible to the waiters. Hence the Latin name for the table and the room, triclinium, or three beds.

From bed and board. In law, a separation of man and wife,without dissolving the bands of matrimony, is called a separation from bed and board, a mensa et thoro. In this case the wife has a suitable maintenance allotted to her out of the husband's estate, called alimony.

Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types

 Psalm 41:3 (b) This is a figure of the Lord bringing comfort, peace and blessing to those who care for the sorrows of others. Someone has rendered this passage, "Thou wilt smooth out the wrinkles of his bed in his sickness."

 Isaiah 28:20 (b) Here is a type of man-made religious programs and humanly devised schemes of salvation on which men rest their souls for eternity. They will find in the great judgment day that this bed was too short, and insufficient.

 Isaiah 57:2 (a) The prophet is telling us that GOD's people who are the righteous ones will enter into perfect rest and peace throughout eternity.

 Isaiah 57:7 (b) The Lord seems to be telling us that there are those who will be at ease and comfort while they are exalted by their sins, their pride and their rebellion. (See also  Psalm 73:46).

 Ezekiel 23:17 (b) This reveals that Israel accepts all the offers and proffers of lust and profit offered by the Babylonians.

 Hosea 7:14 (c) This is a picture of the rebellion of Israel even in affliction and trouble. Though forced to their beds by illness they still rebelled against the GOD who could heal them.

 Amos 3:12 (b) This interesting passage indicates that Israel will be at ease in comfort and asleep in the midst of sin and trouble. The expression "corner of a bed" indicates that he is sleeping on the side of the bed to make room for a companion who will share his indifference to the evils that surround him.

 Mark 4:21 (b) The teaching is that we should not hide our testimony under indolence and laziness. We should be active and zealous for GOD even in our business and in our social life. (See also  Luke 8:16).

 Revelation 2:22 (a) The indication is that GOD will "rub their nose in it." He will bind these to their sins and will fulfill  Revelation 22:11. They will receive all the consequences of their sin.

Easton's Bible Dictionary

 Exodus 8:3 1 Samuel 19:13,15,16 Genesis 47:31 48:2 49:33 1 Samuel 28:23 Amos 3:12 Deuteronomy 3:11 Psalm 132:3 Psalm 6:6 41:3

In the New Testament it denotes sometimes a litter with a coverlet ( Matthew 9:2,6;  Luke 5:18;  Acts 5:15 ).

The Jewish bedstead was frequently merely the divan or platform along the sides of the house, sometimes a very slight portable frame, sometimes only a mat or one or more quilts. The only material for bed-clothes is mentioned in  1 Samuel 19:13 . Sleeping in the open air was not uncommon, the sleeper wrapping himself in his outer garment ( Exodus 22:26,27;  Deuteronomy 24:12,13 ).

People's Dictionary of the Bible

Bed. Among the ancient Egyptians, the bed was a kind of low sofa or divan, ornamented with ivory, and of such a length as to answer for a sofa by day and a bed by night.  Psalms 41:3;  Psalms 132:3;  Amos 6:4;  2 Kings 1:4;  2 Kings 1:6;  2 Kings 1:16;  Proverbs 7:16. The poorer people slept upon thick, coarse mattresses, or skins, which were thrown down at night upon the divan, or upon the floor. Sometimes they had but a simple cloak, or a blanket, which also answered to wrap themselves in by day.  Exodus 22:26-27;  Deuteronomy 24:12-13. Hence it was easy for the persons whom Jesus healed "to take up their beds and walk."  Matthew 9:6;  Mark 2:9;  John 5:8. In the East, most people only take off the outer garment, and often use it for a covering on retiring to bed.

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Bed. The Jewish bed consisted of the mattress, a mere mat, or one or more quilts; the covering, a finer quilt, or sometimes, the outer garment worn by day,  1 Samuel 19:13, which, the law provided, should not be kept in pledge after sunset, that the poor man might not lack his needful covering,  Deuteronomy 24:13, the pillow,  1 Samuel 19:13, probably formed of sheep's fleece or goat's skin with a stuffing of cotton, etc.; the bedstead, a divan or bench along the side or end of the room, sufficing as a support for the bedding.

Besides, we have bedsteads made of ivory, wood, etc. Referred to in  Deuteronomy 3:11;  Amos 6:4. The ornamental portions were pillars and a canopy,  Judith 13:9, ivory carvings, gold and silver, and probably mosaic work, purple and fine linen.  Esther 1:6;  Song of Solomon 3:9-10. The ordinary furniture of a bedchamber, in private life, is given in  2 Kings 4:10.

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

In the East, is, and was anciently, a divan, or broad low step around the sides of a room, like a sofa, which answered to purpose of a sofa by day for reclining, and of a bed by night for sleeping,  Exodus 8:3   2 Samuel 4:5-7 . Sometimes it was raised several steps above the floor,  2 Kings 1:4   Psalm 132:4 . It was covered very differently, and with more or less ornament, according to the rank of owner of the house. The poor had but a simple mattress or sheepskin; or a cloak or blanked, which also answered to wrap themselves in by day,  Exodus 22:2   Deuteronomy 24:13 . Hence it was easy for the persons whom Jesus healed, to take up their beads and walk,  Mark 4:21 . Bedsteads, however, were not unknown, though unlike those of modern times. See  Deuteronomy 3:11   1 Samuel 19:15   Amos 6:4 . The Jews only laid off their sandals and outer garments at night.

Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary

Mattresses, or thick cotton quilts folded, were used for sleeping upon. These were laid upon the duan, or divan, a part of the room elevated above the level of the rest, covered with a carpet in winter, a fine mat in summer. ( See ACCUBATION AND BANQUETS. ) A divan cushion serves for a pillow and bolster. They do not keep their beds made; the mattresses are rolled up, carried away, and placed in a cupboard till they are wanted at night. And hence the propriety of our Lord's address to the paralytic, "Arise, take up thy bed," or mattress, "and walk,"  Matthew 9:6 . The duan on which these mattresses are placed, is at the end of the chamber, and has an ascent of several steps. Hence Hezekiah is said to turn his face to the wall when he prayed, that is, from his attendants. In the day the duan was used as a seat, and the place of honour was the corner,  Amos 3:12 .

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

properly מִטָּה , mittah', κλίνη, either for rest at night,  Exodus 8:3;  1 Samuel 19:13;  1 Samuel 19:15-16;  1 Kings 17:19;  2 Kings 4:10;  2 Kings 4:21;  2 Kings 11:2;  2 Chronicles 22:11;  Psalms 6:6;  Proverbs 26:14;  Mark 4:21;  Luke 8:16;  Luke 17:34; or during illness,  Genesis 47:31;  Genesis 48:2;  Genesis 49:33;  1 Samuel 28:23;  2 Kings 1:4;  2 Kings 1:6;  2 Kings 1:16;  2 Kings 4:32;  Mark 7:30;  Revelation 2:22; often simply a sofa for ease and quiet,  1 Samuel 28:23;  Esther 7:8;  Amos 3:12;  Amos 6:4; once a sedan for pleasure,  Song of Solomon 3:7; in the New Test. frequently a mere couch, consisting of a litter and coverlet,  Matthew 9:2;  Matthew 9:6;  Luke 5:18;  Acts 5:15 (for which more properly the diminutive κλινιδίον, "couch,",  Luke 5:19;  Luke 5:24; or κράββατος , frequently occurring, usually "bed," once "couch,"  Acts 5:15; and once in the sense of a more permanent sick-bed,  Acts 9:33); used also for bier for dead bodies,  2 Samuel 3:31; and specially of the triclinium, or dinner-bed,  Esther 1:6;  Ezekiel 23:41; "table,"  Mark 7:4. Another term of frequent occurrence is מִשְׁכָּב, mishkab', κοίτη, which almost always has the signification of marriage-bed, or some analogous idea (except in the Chaldee equivalent, מִשְׁכִּב of Dan.), and is often translated by terms expressive of that sense. To these may be added the poetic יָצוּעִ, yatsu'a,  Job 17:13;  Psalms 63:6;  Psalms 132:3; signifying the same as the preceding in  Genesis 49:4;  1 Chronicles 5:1; and "chamber" in prose,  1 Kings 6:5-6;  1 Kings 6:10; also מִצָּע, matstsa',  Isaiah 28:20; and, finally, עֶרֶשׂ, er'es, signifying, as the derivation shows, a canopied bed of more imposing style, for whatever purpose,  Job 7:13;  Psalms 41:3;  Psalms 132:3 (in the original);  Proverbs 7:16;  Song of Solomon 1:16; "couch" in  Psalms 6:6;  Amos 3:12;  Amos 6:4; and properly rendered "bedstead" in  Deuteronomy 3:11. In this last-named passage a coffin is thought by some to be meant. (See Giant).

We may distinguish in the Jewish bed the following principal parts:

1. The bedstead was not always necessary, the divan, or platform along the side or end of an Oriental room, sufficing as a support for the bedding. (See Bedchamber). Yet some slight and portable frame seems implied among the senses of the word מִטָה , mittah', which is used for a "bier" ( 2 Samuel 3:31), and for the ordinary bed ( 2 Kings 4:10), for the litter on which a sick person might be carried ( 1 Samuel 19:15), for Jacob's bed of sickness ( Genesis 47:31), and for the couch on which guests reclined at a banquet ( Esther 1:6). (See Couch). Thus it seems the comprehensive and generic term. The proper word for a bedstead appears to be עֶרֶשׂ, e'res, used  Deuteronomy 3:11, to describe that on which lay the giant Og, whose vast bulk and weight required one of iron. (See Bedstead).

2. The substratum or bottom portion of the bed itself was limited to a mere mat, or one or more quilts.

3. Over this a quilt finer than those used for the under part of the bed. In summer, a thin blanket, or the outer garment worn by day ( 1 Samuel 19:13), sufficed. This latter, in the case of a poor person, often formed the entire bedding, and that without a bedstead. Hence the law provided that it should not be kept in pledge after sunset, that the poor man might not lack his needful covering ( Deuteronomy 24:13). 4. The bed-clothes. The only material mentioned for this is that which occurs  1 Samuel 19:13, and the word used is of doubtful meaning, but seems to signify some fabric woven or plaited of goat's hair. It is clear, however, that it was something hastily adopted to serve as a pillow, and is not decisive of the ordinary use.

5. In Ezra 13:18, occurs the word כֶּסֶת, ke'seth (Sept. προσκεφάλαιον ), which seems to be the proper term. Such pillows are common to this day in the East, formed of sheep's fleece or goat's skin, with a stuffing of cotton, etc. We read of a "pillow," also, in the boat in which our Lord lay asleep ( Mark 4:38) as he crossed the lake. The block of stone, such as Jacob used, covered, perhaps, with a garment, was not unusual among the poorer folk, shepherds, etc. (See Pillow).

6. The ornamental portions, and those which luxury added, were pillars and a canopy ( Judith 13:9); ivory carvings, gold and silver (Joseph. Ant. 12, 21, 14), and probably mosaic work, purple and fine linen, are also mentioned as constituting parts of beds ( Esther 1:6;  Song of Solomon 3:9-10), where the word אִפִּרְיוֹן, appiryon' (Sept. φορεῖον ), seems to mean "a litter" ( Proverbs 7:16-17; Amos 11:4). So also are perfumes. (See Sleep).