Likely borrowed from Sumerian E.GAL (great house), through Akkadian ēkallu. Hêkāl refers to a large, impressive building — either a royal palace or the temple of God. In most OT uses it refers to the Jerusalem Temple, particularly the main hall (Holy Place) as distinct from the Most Holy Place (debir).
The hêkāl — the Temple — was the architectural embodiment of God's dwelling among His people. It was not merely a religious building; it was the meeting point of heaven and earth, the place where divine and human intersected in sacrifice and prayer. Solomon's hêkāl (1 Kings 6-7) was designed according to divine specifications, filled with cedar, gold, and cherubim — imagery pointing to the Garden of Eden and to heaven itself. The Psalmist's longing in Psalm 27:4 — to 'gaze on the beauty of the Lord in his temple' — captures the worshiper's deepest desire: not just religious activity but personal encounter with the living God. The New Testament reveals that Jesus is the true hêkāl (John 2:21 — 'the temple he had spoken of was his body'), and that believers are now the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 3:16; 6:19). Worship is no longer bound to a building but to a Person.