Encyclopedia of The Bible – Foursquare
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Foursquare

FOURSQUARE, a term appearing frequently in OT descriptions of buildings such as the wilderness Tabernacle (Heb. רָבַע֮, H8062, “square” [RSV]; “foursquare” [KJV]). The term also is tr. simply “square” (1 Kings 7:5; et al.). It is derived from the term for “four” (Heb. אַרְבַּע֒, H752) as in the ancient phrase “kibrātim arbaim,” “four shores” (L. W. King, Letters and Inscriptions of Hammurabi [1898] 57.5, 94.23, 95.5). The term appears in Exodus predominantly, and in the LXX is tr. by the Gr. τετράγωνος, G5481, “foursquare” which appears in the NT as a hapax legomenon in Revelation 21:16, in the context of the description of the holy city, the Jerusalem of the Apocalypse.