TABERNACLES — literally 'tent-pitching' (skēnē, tent, + pēgnymi, to fix/pitch). The autumn pilgrimage feast (Sukkot) commemorating the wilderness years, when Israel lived in temporary shelters — and, by the first century, the setting for a daily water-libation rite: a priest carried water from the Pool of Siloam to the temple altar while pilgrims sang the Hallel, on each of the feast's seven days. ⚠ John 7 stages Jesus' cry — 'let anyone who thirsts come to me and drink' (7:37) — on the feast's own last and greatest day, redirecting the ritual's whole action onto himself: not water carried and poured, but water flowing FROM the one who believes. → first discussed at John 7:2