Stair
STAIR (the tr. of several Heb. and Gr. words). 1. לוּלִּ֗ים, 1 Kings 6:8, “stairs” (RSV), “winding stairs” (KJV), the term used only of Solomon’s Temple, connoting a series of ladder-like steps of wood for access to the second and third stories of the side chambers; see Jerusalem Temple.
2. מַדְרֵגָה, H4533, rocky ascent between the rocks (Song of Solomon; Ezek 38:20).
3. מַעֲלָה, H5092, “stairs,” “ascent,” the common OT word for stairs. For one-story houses the stair was outside, usually of stone and without a railing. Two-story houses had the stair frequently inside with an exterior stair from balcony to roof. Between separate city levels, stairs occurred to make passage easier, as the stairs of David’s city (Neh 3:15), which have been excavated at the end of the southern end of the hill S of the Temple area near the Fountain Gate. To provide access to deep wells steps were cut into the sides as at Gibeon, Gezer, Megiddo, and Beth-zur. For stairs in Ezekiel’s Temple, see Jerusalem Temple.
4. מַעֲלֶה, H5090, “a going up,” “ascent” (Neh 12:37). “Stairs of the Levites” (9:4) is better tr. podium, the platform from which the Levites taught the people.
5. סֻלָּם, H6150, (Gen 28:12) is some kind of stairway which evidenced that access to the presence of God was to be provided through Jacob. This passage is alluded to by Christ in His conversation with Nicodemus (John 3:13), with the disciples (6:62), and affirmed in His remark that He was the way, the truth, and the life (14:6).
6. ̓Αναβαθμός, the stairs up from the temple court to the palace Antonia.