What Does Exodus 26:23 Mean?
And two boards you shall make for the corners of the dwelling in the two sides.
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 two boards shalt thou make for the corners of the tabernacle in the two sides.THE KEY
The tabernacle is a dwelling, and its corners receive paired supports so its sides can hold together as one space.
THE MEANING
A dwelling takes shape where its sides meet, and its corners carry paired supports. The joining points help the enclosure hold together as one space.
THE ROOT
מִשְׁכָּן
mishkan
GROWS FROM
שכן
sh-k-n
To dwell, settle, or inhabit.
The word translated “tabernacle” names a dwelling, so the structure is understood through the inhabiting it makes possible. Its corner boards serve the shape of a space meant to be dwelt in.
ALSO GROWS
shakan: To dwell or settle.
שָׁכַן
This verb shares the root of “tabernacle,” tying the structure to the act of dwelling.
shakhen: Neighbor; one who dwells nearby.
שָׁכֵן
The neighbor is linked to dwelling and nearness, echoing a dwelling made to stand among people.
יַרְכָּתָיִם
yarkatayim
GROWS FROM
ירך
y-r-kh
Thigh or bodily flank, extended to mean a side or flank of a place.
The Hebrew word rendered “sides” carries the bodily sense of thigh or flank, which English smooths away. The structure is described with bodily contours: its corner boards brace the flanks where its sides turn.
ALSO GROWS
yarekh: Thigh, hip, or flank.
יָרֵךְ
This bodily word supplies the concrete image behind the verse’s description of the tabernacle’s sides.
yarkah: Side, flank, or rear part.
יַרְכָּה
This form names the side or flank of a place, clarifying the bodily language in “the two sides.”
THE PATTERN
A dwelling holds together at its turning points, where joined supports make its sides one space.
And let them make me a set-apart place, that I may pitch my tent among them.The stone the builders push away becomes the head of the corner.In whom you also are built together into a place where God settles, through breath.THE THREAD
And let them make me a set-apart place, that I may pitch my tent among them.“Tabernacle” here and “dwell” in Exodus 25:8 share the Hebrew root שכן (shakan), meaning “to dwell, settle.” The corner boards serve the dwelling named as the structure’s purpose.
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