MEZUZAH me zōō’ zə (מְזוּזָה, H4647). The Heb. word usually is tr. “doorpost” or “post.” In Proverbs 8:34 it is tr. “door,” and in 1 Kings 7:5 “windows.” In some passages the term is used for the doorposts of ordinary houses where the blood of the Passover sacrifice was sprinkled (Exod 12:7, 22, 23), or where the law was to be written (Deut 6:9; 11:20; cf. Prov 8:34; Ezek 43:12). Once the reference is to the doorposts of the city gate (Judg 16:3). In several passages the doorposts of the sanctuary or Temple are intended, e.g. Shiloh (1 Sam 1:9), Solomon’s Temple (1 Kings 6:33), Ezekiel’s Temple (Ezek 41:12; 43:6; 45:19). The doorposts of a building, like the threshold (q.v.) evidently had a special significance, bordering on a sacredness, for here blood was sprinkled (Exod 12:7, etc.) and portions of script were attached (Deut 6:9; 11:20). In the course of time the term mezuzah came to mean the small container of portions of Scripture which orthodox Jews attached to the doorposts of their home (Deut 6:9; 11:20).