Mark 2:16

Scribes and Pharisees. But the best texts read grammateiv twn Farisaiwn, scribes of the Pharisees. So Rev. Scribes belonging to the sect of the Pharisees. They had followed him into the hall where the company were seated. This hall answered to the k'hawah of Arabian houses, which is thus described by William Gifford Palgrave : "The k'hawah was a long, oblong hall about twenty feet in height, fifty in length, and sixteen or thereabouts in breadth. The walls were covered in a rudely decorative manner with brown and white wash, and sunk here and there into small triangular recesses, destined to the reception of books, lamps, and other such like objects. The roof was of timber, and flat; the floor was strewn with fine, clean sand, and garnished all round alongside of the walls with long strips of carpet, upon which cushions, covered with faded silk, were disposed at suitable intervals. In poorer houses, felt rugs usually take the place of carpets" (" Central and Eastern Arabia ").