'House' in the Bible

The Lord said to Abram:Go out from your land,your relatives,and your father’s houseto the land that I will show you.

Pharaoh’s officials saw her and praised her to Pharaoh, so the woman was taken to Pharaoh’s household.

But the Lord struck Pharaoh and his household with severe plagues because of Abram’s wife Sarai.

But Abram said, “Lord God, what can You give me, since I am childless and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?”

Abram continued, “Look, You have given me no offspring, so a slave born in my house will be my heir.”

Throughout your generations, every male among you at eight days old is to be circumcised. This includes a slave born in your house and one purchased with money from any foreigner. The one who is not your offspring,

a slave born in your house, as well as one purchased with money, must be circumcised. My covenant will be marked in your flesh as an everlasting covenant.

Then Abraham took his son Ishmael and all the slaves born in his house or purchased with his money—every male among the members of Abraham’s household—and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskin on that very day, just as God had said to him.

And all the men of his household—both slaves born in his house and those purchased with money from a foreigner—were circumcised with him.

For I have chosen him so that he will command his children and his house after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just. This is how the Lord will fulfill to Abraham what He promised him.”

and said, “My lords, turn aside to your servant’s house, wash your feet, and spend the night. Then you can get up early and go on your way.”“No,” they said. “We would rather spend the night in the square.”

But he urged them so strongly that they followed him and went into his house. He prepared a feast and baked unleavened bread for them, and they ate.

Before they went to bed, the men of the city of Sodom, both young and old, the whole population, surrounded the house.

But the angels reached out, brought Lot into the house with them, and shut the door.

They struck the men who were at the entrance of the house, both young and old, with a blinding light so that they were unable to find the entrance.

So when God had me wander from my father’s house, I said to her: Show your loyalty to me wherever we go and say about me: ‘He’s my brother.’”

The Lord, the God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and from my native land, who spoke to me and swore to me, ‘I will give this land to your offspring’—He will send His angel before you, and you can take a wife for my son from there.

“Whose daughter are you?” he asked. “Please tell me, is there room in your father’s house for us to spend the night?”

and said, “Praise the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not withheld His kindness and faithfulness from my master. As for me, the Lord has led me on the journey to the house of my master’s relatives.”

Laban said, “Come, you who are blessed by the Lord. Why are you standing out here? I have prepared the house and a place for the camels.”

So the man came to the house, and the camels were unloaded. Straw and feed were given to the camels, and water was brought to wash his feet and the feet of the men with him.

Then Rebekah took the best clothes of her older son Esau, which were in the house, and had her younger son Jacob wear them.

Go at once to Paddan-aram, to the house of Bethuel, your mother’s father. Marry one of the daughters of Laban, your mother’s brother.

He was afraid and said, “What an awesome place this is! This is none other than the house of God. This is the gate of heaven.”

and if I return safely to my father’s house, then the Lord will be my God.

This stone that I have set up as a marker will be God’s house, and I will give to You a tenth of all that You give me.”

When Laban heard the news about his sister’s son Jacob, he ran to meet him, hugged him, and kissed him. Then he took him to his house, and Jacob told him all that had happened.

but Jacob went on to Succoth. He built a house for himself and stalls for his livestock; that is why the place was called Succoth.

The young man did not delay doing this, because he was delighted with Jacob’s daughter. Now he was the most important in all his father’s house.

They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with their swords, took Dinah from Shechem’s house, and went away.

Then Judah said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, “Remain a widow in your father’s house until my son Shelah grows up.” For he thought, “He might die too, like his brothers.” So Tamar went to live in her father’s house.

From the time that he put him in charge of his household and of all that he owned, the Lord blessed the Egyptian’s house because of Joseph. The Lord’s blessing was on all that he owned, in his house and in his fields.

But he refused. “Look,” he said to his master’s wife, “with me here my master does not concern himself with anything in his house, and he has put all that he owns under my authority.

No one in this house is greater than I am. He has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. So how could I do such a great evil and sin against God?”

Now one day he went into the house to do his work, and none of the household servants were there.

and put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard in the prison where Joseph was confined.

So he asked Pharaoh’s officers who were in custody with him in his master’s house, “Why do you look so sad today?”

You will be over my house, and all my people will obey your commands. Only with regard to the throne will I be greater than you.”

Joseph named the firstborn Manasseh, meaning, “God has made me forget all my hardship in my father’s house.”

When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to his steward, “Take the men to my house. Slaughter an animal and prepare it, for they will eat with me at noon.”

The man did as Joseph had said and brought them to Joseph’s house.

But the men were afraid because they were taken to Joseph’s house. They said, “We have been brought here because of the money that was returned in our bags the first time. They intend to overpower us, seize us, make us slaves, and take our donkeys.”

So they approached Joseph’s steward and spoke to him at the doorway of the house.

The steward brought the men into Joseph’s house, gave them water to wash their feet, and got feed for their donkeys.

When Joseph came home, they brought him the gift they had carried into the house, and they bowed to the ground before him.

We even brought back to you from the land of Canaan the money we found at the top of our bags. How could we steal gold and silver from your master’s house?

When Judah and his brothers reached Joseph’s house, he was still there. They fell to the ground before him.

When the news reached Pharaoh’s palace, “Joseph’s brothers have come,” Pharaoh and his servants were pleased.

Joseph collected all the money to be found in the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan in exchange for the grain they were purchasing, and he brought the money to Pharaoh’s palace.

Each woman will ask her neighbor and any woman staying in her house for silver and gold jewelry, and clothing, and you will put them on your sons and daughters. So you will plunder the Egyptians.”

If the household is too small for a whole animal, that person and the neighbor nearest his house are to select one based on the combined number of people; you should apportion the animal according to what each person will eat.

Take a cluster of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and brush the lintel and the two doorposts with some of the blood in the basin. None of you may go out the door of his house until morning.

During the night Pharaoh got up, he along with all his officials and all the Egyptians, and there was a loud wailing throughout Egypt because there wasn’t a house without someone dead.

It is to be eaten in one house. You may not take any of the meat outside the house, and you may not break any of its bones.

The house of Israel named the substance manna. It resembled coriander seed, was white, and tasted like wafers made with honey.

Moses went up the mountain to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain: “This is what you must say to the house of Jacob, and explain to the Israelites:

Do not covet your neighbor’s house. Do not covet your neighbor’s wife, his male or female slave, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

“When a man gives his neighbor money or goods to keep, but they are stolen from that person’s house, the thief, if caught, must repay double.

If the thief is not caught, the owner of the house must present himself to the judges to determine whether or not he has taken his neighbor’s property.

“Bring the best of the firstfruits of your land to the house of the Lord your God.“You must not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.

“Bring the best firstfruits of your land to the house of the Lord your God.“You must not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.”

For the cloud of the Lord was over the tabernacle by day, and there was a fire inside the cloud by night, visible to the entire house of Israel throughout all the stages of their journey.

Then Moses said to Aaron and his sons Eleazar and Ithamar, “Do not let your hair hang loose and do not tear your garments, or else you will die, and the Lord will become angry with the whole community. However, your brothers, the whole house of Israel, may mourn over that tragedy when the Lord sent the fire.

“When you enter the land of Canaan that I am giving you as a possession, and I place a mildew contamination in a house in the land you possess,

the owner of the house is to come and tell the priest: Something like mildew contamination has appeared in my house.

The priest must order them to clear the house before he enters to examine the contamination, so that nothing in the house becomes unclean. Afterward the priest will come to examine the house.

He will examine it, and if the contamination in the walls of the house consists of green or red indentations that appear to be beneath the surface of the wall,

the priest is to go outside the house to its doorway and quarantine the house for seven days.

The priest is to return on the seventh day and examine it. If the contamination has spread on the walls of the house,

He is to have the inside of the house completely scraped, and the plaster that is scraped off must be dumped in an unclean place outside the city.

Then they must take different stones to replace the former ones and take additional plaster to replaster the house.

“If the contamination reappears in the house after the stones have been pulled out, and after the house has been scraped and replastered,

the priest must come and examine it. If the contamination has spread in the house, it is harmful mildew; the house is unclean.

Whoever enters the house during any of the days the priest quarantines it will be unclean until evening.

Whoever lies down in the house is to wash his clothes, and whoever eats in it is to wash his clothes.

“But when the priest comes and examines it, if the contamination has not spread in the house after it was replastered, he is to pronounce the house clean because the contamination has disappeared.

He is to take two birds, cedar wood, scarlet yarn, and hyssop to purify the house,

He will take the cedar wood, the hyssop, the scarlet yarn, and the live bird, dip them in the blood of the slaughtered bird and the fresh water, and sprinkle the house seven times.

He will purify the house with the blood of the bird, the fresh water, the live bird, the cedar wood, the hyssop, and the scarlet yarn.

Then he is to release the live bird into the open countryside outside the city. In this way he will make atonement for the house, and it will be clean.

for mildew in clothing or on a house,

Anyone from the house of Israel who slaughters an ox, sheep, or goat in the camp, or slaughters it outside the camp,

“Say to them: Anyone from the house of Israel or from the foreigners who live among them who offers a burnt offering or a sacrifice

“Anyone from the house of Israel or from the foreigners who live among them who eats any blood, I will turn against that person who eats blood and cut him off from his people.

But if a priest purchases someone with his money, that person may eat it, and those born in his house may eat his food.

But if the priest’s daughter becomes widowed or divorced, has no children, and returns to her father’s house as in her youth, she may share her father’s food. But no outsider may share it.

“Speak to Aaron, his sons, and all the Israelites and tell them: Any man of the house of Israel or of the foreign residents in Israel who presents his offering—whether they present freewill gifts or payment of vows to the Lord as burnt offerings—

If it is not redeemed by the end of a full year, then the house in the walled city is permanently transferred to its purchaser throughout his generations. It is not to be released on the Jubilee.

Whatever property one of the Levites can redeem—a house sold in a city they possess—must be released at the Jubilee, because the houses in the Levitical cities are their possession among the Israelites.

“When a man consecrates his house as holy to the Lord, the priest will assess its value, whether high or low. The price will stand just as the priest assesses it.

But if the one who consecrated his house redeems it, he must add a fifth to the assessed value, and it will be his.

A man from each tribe is to be with you, each one the head of his ancestral house.

These are the men Moses and Aaron registered, with the assistance of the 12 leaders of Israel; each represented his ancestral house.

The Israelites did everything the Lord commanded Moses; they camped by their banners in this way and moved out the same way, each man by his clan and by his ancestral house.

“Speak to the Israelites and take one staff from them for each ancestral house, 12 staffs from all the leaders of their ancestral houses. Write each man’s name on his staff.

Write Aaron’s name on Levi’s staff, because there must be one staff for the head of each ancestral house.

The next day Moses entered the tent of the testimony and saw that Aaron’s staff, representing the house of Levi, had sprouted, formed buds, blossomed, and produced almonds!

The Lord said to Aaron, “You, your sons, and your ancestral house will be responsible for sin against the sanctuary. You and your sons will be responsible for sin involving your priesthood.

“The contribution of their gifts also belongs to you. I have given all the Israelites’ presentation offerings to you and to your sons and daughters as a permanent statute. Every ceremonially clean person in your house may eat it.

The firstfruits of all that is in their land, which they bring to the Lord, belong to you. Every clean person in your house may eat them.