Ark of the Covenant

English

Proper noun

Ark of the Covenant

1. (Judaism, Christianity, Islam) The sacred container, a gold-plated wooden chest, of the two tablets of law (the Ten Commandments) given to Moses by the Hebrew God.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 2 Chronicles 5:2:

     ¶ Then Solomon assembled the Elders of Israel, and all the heads of the Tribes, the chiefe of the fathers of the children of Israel vnto Ierusalem, to bring vp the Arke of the Couenant of the Lord, out of the citie of Dauid, which is Zion.

   • 1981, 19:23 from the start, in Raiders of the Lost Ark‎^[1] (Action-adventure), →ISBN, →OCLC:

     Indiana Jones: The city of Tannis is one of the possible resting places of the lost Ark.
     Eaton: The lost Ark?
     Jones: Yeah, the Ark of the Covenant, the chest the Hebrews used to carry around the Ten Commandments in.
     Musgrave: What do you mean the Ten Commandments? You mean the Ten Commandments?
     Jones: Yes, the actual Ten Commandments, the original stone tablets that Moses brought down out of Mount Horeb and smashed if you believe in that sort of thing.

   • 2021 October 31, Olivia Parker, “What Happens When Everyone Is Writing the Same Book You Are?”, in The New York Times‎^[2], →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 01 November 2021, Essay‎^[3]:

     The story was true: In the waning days of the Ottoman Empire, a British expedition set out for Jerusalem to find the ark of the covenant, only to fail, spectacularly, in 1911, in an eruption of political turmoil and religious animosity. […]
     The expedition may have had an impact on British foreign policy in the region, Andrew said when we talked, and it helped spawn the world’s ongoing fascination with the ark of the covenant (and Indiana Jones).

Translations

the sacred container, a gold-plated wooden chest

• Aghwan: 𐕜𐔰𐕗𐔰𐕎𐔲𐔼 𐔳𐔰𐔲𐕒𐕡𐕘𐕒𐔺 (ṭaṗangi daguġoy)
• Arabic: تَابُوت اَلْعَهْد m (tābūt al-ʕahd)
• Catalan: Arca de l'Aliança f
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 約櫃／约柜 (joek³ gwai⁶)

  Mandarin: 約櫃／约柜 (zh) (Yuēguì)

• Danish: Pagtens ark c
• Dutch: verbondsark m or f, Ark van het Verbond ?
• Esperanto: Kesto de Interligo, Arkeo de Interligo
• Faroese: sáttmálaørkin f
• Finnish: liitonarkki (fi)
• French: arche d’alliance (fr) f
• German: Bundeslade (de) f
• Greek: Κιβωτός της Διαθήκης f (Kivotós tis Diathíkis)
• Hebrew: ארון הברית m (aron habrit)
• Hungarian: frigyláda (hu)
• Icelandic: sáttmálsörkin f
• Ido: archo di kontrato (io)
• Indonesian: Tabut Perjanjian
• Irish: Áirc an Chonartha f
• Italian: Arca dell'Alleanza f
• Japanese: 契約の箱 (けいやくのはこ, Keiyaku no Hako), 聖櫃 (せいひつ, Seihitsu), 証の箱 (あかしのはこ, Ashika no Hako), 約櫃 (やくひつ, Yakuhitsu), 掟の箱 (おきてのはこ, Okite no Hako)
• Kazakh: Келісім сандығы (Kelısım sandyğy)
• Korean: 법궤 (beopgwe), 성궤 (seonggwe), 언약궤 (eonyakgwe), 계약의 궤 (gyeyagui gwe)
• Latin: Arca foederis f
• Malay: Tabut Perjanjian
• Malayalam: സാക്ഷ്യപേടകം (sākṣyapēṭakaṁ)
• Manx: Arg y Chonaant f, Arg yn Eanish f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: paktens ark m

  Nynorsk: paktarka f

• Polish: Arka Przymierza (pl) f
• Portuguese: Arca da Aliança f
• Pukapukan: āluna
• Rarotongan: 'āruna
• Russian: ковче́г заве́та m (kovčég zavéta)
• Spanish: arca de la Alianza f, arca del pacto f
• Swedish: förbundsark c
• Tagalog: Kaban ng Tipan
• Tamil: உடன்படிக்கைப் பெட்டி (uṭaṉpaṭikkaip peṭṭi), உடன்படிக்கைப் பேழை (uṭaṉpaṭikkaip pēḻai)
• Thai: หีบแห่งพันธสัญญา, หีบแห่งพระบัญญัติ
• Welsh: Arch y Cyfamod f

Further reading

• “Ark of the Covenant”, in Collins English Dictionary.
• “Ark of the Covenant, pn.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “Ark of the Covenant”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• “Ark of the Covenant” in TheFreeDictionary.com, Huntingdon Valley, Pa.: Farlex, Inc., 2003–2024.