ark /ˈɑrk/
 方舟,箱子,櫃
 Ark n.
 1. A chest, or coffer. [Obs.]
    Bearing that precious relic in an ark.   --Spenser.
 2. Jewish Hist. The oblong chest of acacia wood, overlaid with gold, which supported the mercy seat with its golden cherubs, and occupied the most sacred place in the sanctuary. In it Moses placed the two tables of stone containing the ten commandments. Called also the Ark of the Covenant.
 3. The large, chestlike vessel in which Noah and his family were preserved during the Deluge. --Gen. vi. Hence: Any place of refuge.
 4. A large flatboat used on Western American rivers to transport produce to market.
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 Ark
      n 1: (Judaism) sacred chest where the ancient Hebrews kept the
           two tablets containing the Ten Commandments [syn: Ark
           of the Covenant]
      2: a boat built by Noah to save his family and animals from the
         Flood
 Ark
    Noah's ark, a building of gopher-wood, and covered with pitch,
    300 cubits long, 50 cubits broad, and 30 cubits high (Gen.
    6:14-16); an oblong floating house of three stories, with a door
    in the side and a window in the roof. It was 100 years in
    building (Gen. 5:32; 7:6). It was intended to preserve certain
    persons and animals from the deluge which God was about to bring
    over the earth. It contained eight persons (Gen. 7:13; 2 Pet.
    2:5), and of all "clean" animals seven pairs, and of "unclean"
    one pair, and of birds seven pairs of each sort (Gen. 7:2, 3).
    It was in the form of an oblong square, with flat bottom and
    sloping roof. Traditions of the Deluge, by which the race of man
    was swept from the earth, and of the ark of Noah have been found
    existing among all nations.
      The ark of bulrushes in which the infant Moses was laid (Ex.
    2:3) is called in the Hebrew _teebah_, a word derived from the
    Egyptian _teb_, meaning "a chest." It was daubed with slime and
    with pitch. The bulrushes of which it was made were the papyrus
    reed.
      The sacred ark is designated by a different Hebrew word,
    _'aron'_, which is the common name for a chest or coffer used
    for any purpose (Gen. 50:26; 2 Kings 12:9, 10). It is
    distinguished from all others by such titles as the "ark of God"
    (1 Sam. 3:3), "ark of the covenant" (Josh. 3:6; Heb. 9:4), "ark
    of the testimony" (Ex. 25:22). It was made of acacia or shittim
    wood, a cubit and a half broad and high and two cubits long, and
    covered all over with the purest gold. Its upper surface or lid,
    the mercy-seat, was surrounded with a rim of gold; and on each
    of the two sides were two gold rings, in which were placed two
    gold-covered poles by which the ark could be carried (Num. 7:9;
    10:21; 4:5,19, 20; 1 Kings 8:3, 6). Over the ark, at the two
    extremities, were two cherubim, with their faces turned toward
    each other (Lev. 16:2; Num. 7:89). Their outspread wings over
    the top of the ark formed the throne of God, while the ark
    itself was his footstool (Ex. 25:10-22; 37:1-9). The ark was
    deposited in the "holy of holies," and was so placed that one
    end of the poles by which it was carried touched the veil which
    separated the two apartments of the tabernacle (1 Kings 8:8).
    The two tables of stone which constituted the "testimony" or
    evidence of God's covenant with the people (Deut. 31:26), the
    "pot of manna" (Ex. 16:33), and "Aaron's rod that budded" (Num.
    17:10), were laid up in the ark (Heb. 9:4). (See TABERNACLE
    �T0003559) The ark and the sanctuary were "the beauty of Israel"
    (Lam. 2:1). During the journeys of the Israelites the ark was
    carried by the priests in advance of the host (Num. 4:5, 6;
    10:33-36; Ps. 68:1; 132:8). It was borne by the priests into the
    bed of the Jordan, which separated, opening a pathway for the
    whole of the host to pass over (Josh. 3:15, 16; 4:7, 10, 11, 17,
    18). It was borne in the procession round Jericho (Josh. 6:4, 6,
    8, 11, 12). When carried it was always wrapped in the veil, the
    badgers' skins, and blue cloth, and carefully concealed even
    from the eyes of the Levites who carried it. After the
    settlement of Israel in Palestine the ark remained in the
    tabernacle at Gilgal for a season, and was then removed to
    Shiloh till the time of Eli, between 300 and 400 years (Jer.
    7:12), when it was carried into the field of battle so as to
    secure, as they supposed, victory to the Hebrews, and was taken
    by the Philistines (1 Sam. 4:3-11), who sent it back after
    retaining it seven months (1 Sam. 5:7, 8). It remained then at
    Kirjath-jearim (7:1,2) till the time of David (twenty years),
    who wished to remove it to Jerusalem; but the proper mode of
    removing it having been neglected, Uzzah was smitten with death
    for putting "forth his hand to the ark of God," and in
    consequence of this it was left in the house of Obed-edom in
    Gath-rimmon for three months (2 Sam. 6:1-11), at the end of
    which time David removed it in a grand procession to Jerusalem,
    where it was kept till a place was prepared for it (12-19). It
    was afterwards deposited by Solomon in the temple (1 Kings
    8:6-9). When the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem and plundered
    the temple, the ark was probably taken away by Nebuchadnezzar
    and destroyed, as no trace of it is afterwards to be found. The
    absence of the ark from the second temple was one of the points
    in which it was inferior to the first temple.