among the Hebrews, a kind of building, in the form of a tent, set up, by express command of God, for the performance of religious worship, sacrifices, &c., during the journeying of the Israelites in the wilderness; and, after their settlement in the land of Canaan, made use of for the same purpose till the building of the temple of Jerusalem. It was divided into two parts; the one covered, and properly called the tabernacle; and the other open, called the court. The curtains which covered the tabernacle were made of linen, of several colours, embroidered. There were ten curtains, twenty-eight cubits long and four in breadth. Five curtains fastened together made up two coverings, which covered up all the tabernacle. Over these there were two other coverings; the one of goat's hair, the other of sheep's skin. The holy of holies was parted from the rest of the tabernacle by a curtain made fast to four pillars, standing ten cubits from the end. The length of the whole tabernacle was thirty-two cubits, that is, about five feet; and the breadth twelve cubits, or nineteen feet. The court was a spot of ground one hundred cubits long, and fifty in breadth, enclosed by twenty columns, each twenty cubits high and ten in breadth, covered with silver, and standing on copper bases, five cubits distant from one another; between which there were curtains drawn, and fastened with hooks. At the east end was an entrance, twenty cubits wide, covered with a curtain hanging loose.

Feast of Tabernacles, a solemn festival of the Hebrews, observed after harvest, on the fifteenth day of the month Tisri, instituted to commemorate the goodness of God, who protected the Israelites in the wilderness, and made them dwell in booths, when they came out of Egypt. On the first day of the feast, they began to erect booths of the boughs of trees, and in these they were obliged to continue seven days. The booths were placed in the open air, and were not to be covered with cloths, nor made too close by the thickness of the boughs; but so loose that the sun and the stars might be seen, and the rain descend through them. For further particulars of the celebration of this festival, see Levit. ch. xxiii.

TABERNÆ (anc. geog.) See TRES Talerna.