What Does 1 Kings 6:8 Mean?
The door for the middle chamber was on the right side of the house, and they went up with winding stairs into the middle chamber, and out of the middle into the third.
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
The door for the middle chamber was in the right side of the house: and they went up with winding stairs into the middle chamber, and out of the middle into the third.THE KEY
The Hebrew word for this side chamber also means “rib,” so the temple’s ascent begins at its body-like flank.
THE MEANING
An opening at the house’s side leads upward from the middle chamber and onward to the third. The way forward is built into the house’s interior, rising through one level at a time.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that reaching a higher place must happen all at once: here, the way rises through an intermediate chamber.
THE ROOT
הַצֵּלָע
ha-tsēlāʿ
GROWS FROM
צ־ל־ע
rib; side or flank
The Hebrew word translated “chamber” is צֵלָע (tsēlāʿ), also used for a rib or side. English makes this sound like a neutral room, while Hebrew retains the body’s side-language: the house has a flank, and the way upward begins there.
ALSO GROWS
tsĕlāʿōt: Ribs
צְלָעוֹת
Genesis uses this form for the ribs taken from Adam, giving the chamber’s side-language a bodily echo.
tsēlāʿ: A side chamber or side room
צֵלָע
In the temple, the same word names a room along the house’s side.
יַעֲלוּ
yaʿalū
GROWS FROM
ע־ל־ה
to go up, rise, ascend
“went up” in this verse is yaʿalū. The verb for going up shares its root with עֹלָה (ʿōlāh), an offering that rises, and מַעֲלָה (maʿălāh), an ascent or step. Here the movement is literal: the path carries the reader upward through successive chambers.
ALSO GROWS
ʿōlāh: A burnt offering; literally, that which rises
עֹלָה
It carries the same root of rising as the movement up the stairs.
maʿălāh: An ascent, step, or degree
מַעֲלָה
It names the kind of upward progression the chambers make visible.
THE PATTERN
Access to what is above is pictured as an ascent that unfolds through a path.
And he dreamed, and behold, a ladder standing on the earth, and its head reached to the heavens; and behold, messengers of God were climbing up and coming down on it.Who climbs the mountain of the LORD? Who stands in his set-apart place?And he said to him, Truly, truly, I say to you, from now on you will see heaven standing open, and messengers of God going up and coming down upon the Son of Man.THE THREAD
And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept, and he took one of his ribs and shut the flesh in its place.The Hebrew word translated “chamber” in Kings is צֵלָע (tsēlāʿ), the same word translated “rib” here. The temple’s side room is described with the same bodily word as the human side.
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