Inn - Word Foundations

In Luke 2:7 of the King James Version of the Bible, we read the familiar words, “And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.” In the Holman Christian Standard Bible, the word inn is rendered “lodging place.”

During the time of Jesus’ birth, when travelers were weary from their journeys, they would stop at various locations for rest and to replenish their supplies of water. Such a location may have been a public inn that consisted of an area with a well surrounded by walls. People would thus have a place to stay—possibly no more than a place to spread out one or more pallets—and a place to keep their animals. Larger inns might have offered a small room in a building surrounding the courtyard, with the well in the center.

Having traveled to Bethlehem to register for the Roman census, Joseph and his wife Mary could find no room at the inn (see Luke 2:7). What was this place like? Possibly it was a public inn, but it may have referred to a guest room in a home. In two other places in the New Testament—Mark 14:14 and Luke 22:11—the Greek word translated lodging place in Luke 2:7 is rendered guest room. In the parable of the good Samaritan in Luke 10:25-37, the “inn” (v. 34) to which the good Samaritan brought the wounded man obviously was a public facility where the innkeeper could be paid to feed and treat residents, despite the fact that an innkeepers, generally speaking, had bad reputations (apparently this was an exception).

In the Old Testament, public inns with buildings likely did not exist. Yet we know that places to rest were essential for all people, whether they traveled as individuals, families, or in large groups. In all of the verses below, the italicized word or series of words represents the same Hebrew term.

The phrase the place where they lodged for the night in Genesis 42:27 specifies the stopping place for a caravan (see also 43:21).
The term translated campsite in Exodus 4:24 describes a stopping place for a family on a journey (in this case, Moses’ family).
The place where you spend the night in Joshua 4:3 and the camp in v. 8 refer to a location or to locations where the Israelite people stayed, even as they journeyed into the promised land.
In Jeremiah 9:2, the term translated lodging place likely referred to an area where an individual would set up camp.

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations in this article are taken from the Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Holman CSB®, and HCSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.