Roof
ROOF, the tr. of three Heb. and Gr. words.
1. גָּג, H1511, the most frequently used word; the top of the house or building, mostly flat, accessible by outside stairs. Occasionally pitched roofs occurred. (See House.) Flat roofs were usually formed of clay packed with stone rollers, supported by mats of rushes or branches across wood beams or palm tree trunks. In Babylonia and Egypt mud brick arches or vaults sometimes formed the substructure and the top surface was leveled off with clay or brick fill, the top surface of rolled clay.
The roof was commonly occupied (Deut 22:8), used for storage (Josh 2:6), for rest in the evening (2 Sam 11:2), and was even used in idolatrous worship (Jer 19:13). (See Architecture.)
2. קוֹרָה, H7771, beam (Gen 19:8), one of the supporting members of the roof structure, describing the latter in terms of one member; it is idiomatic for “house.”
3. Στέγη, common word for roof. It is used idiomatically in the sense of home (Matt 8:8). It was not a hindrance to securing healing for the palsied man (Mark 2:4).