What Does 1 Kings 6:3 Mean?

And the porch before the temple of the house, twenty forearms was its length, according to the breadth of the house; and ten forearms was its breadth before the house.

1 Kings 6:3 · SDV

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.

This verse in the King James

King James wording

King James Version

And the porch before the temple of the house, twenty cubits was the length thereof, according to the breadth of the house; and ten cubits was the breadth thereof before the house.

THE KEY

The porch matches the temple’s full breadth and projects outward, making the threshold a measured space of approach.

THE MEANING

Here, entry has room: the porch spans the house’s breadth and reaches ten cubits outward. Arrival occupies a measured space before the inner house begins. The threshold belongs to the dwelling’s design.

THE ROOT

רֹחַב

rōḥav

GROWS FROM

רחב

To be broad or spacious; to make room.

⁨רֹחַב⁩ (rōḥav, breadth) comes from ⁨רחב⁩ (r-ḥ-b, to become broad or make room), which also gives Hebrew its word for an open, spacious place. The same seed lets the porch’s literal width resonate with scripture’s language for room opening where there was distress.

ALSO GROWS

rāḥav: To become broad; to make room.

רָחַב

The verb shows breadth as a movement into room, echoing the porch’s outward extension.

merḥav: A broad place; open space.

מֶרְחָב

This noun uses the same root for spaciousness, a connection that appears in Psalm 118:5.

THE PATTERN

Approach is given form as a real space that opens the way toward what lies within.

And he brought me to the porch of the house, and measured each post of the porch, five forearms on this side and five on that side. And the gate was three forearms wide on this side and three on that side.

Ezekiel 40:48 · SDVThe porch and gate are measured as spaces of approach, not treated as a mere line of crossing.

From the narrow place I call out to the LORD, and the LORD answers me in a wide place.

Psalm 118:5 · SDVThe same breadth-root describes being brought from distress into spaciousness.

I am the door. Through me, if anyone enters, he shall be delivered, and shall go in and out, and shall find pasture.

John 10:9 · SDVThe door is an opening through which entry leads into room to move and find pasture.

THE THREAD

From the narrow place I call out to the LORD, and the LORD answers me in a wide place.

Psalm 118:5 · SDV

The verse’s ⁨רֹחַב⁩ (rōḥav, breadth) and the psalm’s ⁨מֶרְחָב⁩ (merḥav, broad place) share the root ⁨רחב⁩ (r-ḥ-b, to be broad or make room). Here the root measures a porch; there it names being brought out of distress into spaciousness.

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