What Does 1 Kings 6:17 Mean?
And the house, the temple before it, was forty forearms long.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And the house, that is, the temple before it, was forty cubits long.THE KEY
The house’s measured length is defined by the inner chamber before which it stands, a chamber whose name is often linked to speech.
THE MEANING
The house is measured in relation to the inner sanctuary before it. Its length is made legible by the chamber it approaches, whose Hebrew name is often associated with speech. The verse holds measured space and an inward center together.
THE ROOT
דְּבִיר
debir
GROWS FROM
דבר
To speak; speech, word, or utterance. The link between דְּבִיר (debir), the inner sanctuary or oracle, and this root is often proposed, though its etymology is debated.
The KJV’s “temple” here translates דְּבִיר (debir), referring to the inner sanctuary. Its often-proposed connection to דָּבַר (dāvar), “to speak,” lets the sanctuary’s name echo speech: the measured house stands before a room associated with utterance.
ALSO GROWS
dāvar: Word, matter, or thing.
דָּבָר
The shared root lets the inner sanctuary’s name echo the Hebrew word for what is spoken.
dibbēr: He spoke; to speak or utter.
דִּבֵּר
This verbal branch makes the possible speech connection in the sanctuary’s name audible.
THE PATTERN
Sacred structures distinguish an outer space from an inner sanctuary and describe each in relation to the other.
And the innermost room, in its forepart, was twenty forearms in length, and twenty forearms in breadth, and twenty forearms in its height; and he sheathed it with clean gold; and so he covered the altar which was of cedar.So he measured its length, twenty forearms, and its breadth, twenty forearms, before the temple. And he said to me, This is the most set-apart place.And after the second curtain, the tent that is called the most set-apart of all.THE THREAD
And the innermost room, in its forepart, was twenty forearms in length, and twenty forearms in breadth, and twenty forearms in its height; and he sheathed it with clean gold; and so he covered the altar which was of cedar.Here, “oracle” translates the same Hebrew דְּבִיר (debir) that appears in this verse as “temple.” The next measurement gives that inner chamber dimensions of its own, clarifying that the forty cubits describe the house before it.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us