What Does Ezekiel 40:7 Mean?
Each chamber was one reed long and one reed wide, and between the chambers were five forearms. The threshold of the gate, beside the porch of the gate inward, was one reed.
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 every little chamber was one reed long, and one reed broad; and between the little chambers were five cubits; and the threshold of the gate by the porch of the gate within was one reed.THE KEY
The same reed measures a chamber’s span and its threshold, giving dwelling and entry one shared scale.
THE MEANING
The sacred place is neither shapeless nor closed off: each chamber has a defined length and breadth, space remains between neighboring chambers, and the threshold is measured too. The same reed sets the scale for both the room and the crossing, while five cubits keep an interval open. Dwelling, spacing, and entry all belong to the design.
THE ROOT
קָנֶה
qāneh
GROWS FROM
קנה
q-n-h
Reed or stalk; the word also names a rod used for measuring.
Qaneh names both a reed and a measuring rod; elsewhere, its plural names the branching arms of the lampstand. What sounds like a neutral unit still carries the shape of a stalk, joining measured space to branching form.
ALSO GROWS
qāneh: The stem of a reed or other plant.
קָנֶה
The measure here keeps the image of a concrete plant stalk, not an abstract unit.
Lampstand branches: Stems or branches, including the lampstand’s arms.
קָנֶה / קָנִים
The same word that measures a chamber and threshold also names a branching form in the sanctuary.
רֹחַב
rōḥav
GROWS FROM
רחב
r-ḥ-b
To be wide, broad, or spacious.
The word for breadth comes from a root that also describes becoming wide or making room. Even a measured chamber carries spaciousness as part of its design.
ALSO GROWS
Breadth: Width or breadth.
רֹחַב
This is the chamber’s measured width, yet its root also carries the sense of spaciousness.
Make wide: To widen, enlarge, or make room.
הִרְחִיב
This related verb opens the chamber’s fixed breadth toward the wider idea of making room.
אַמּוֹת
ammot
GROWS FROM
אמה
ʾ-m-h
Forearm; by extension, a cubit measured by the forearm’s span.
“five forearms” in this verse is ammot. The interval between chambers is measured with a word grounded in the forearm and its reach. The architecture is scaled to the body, making the space between rooms human in measure.
ALSO GROWS
Forearm: The forearm, from elbow toward the fingertips.
אַמָּה
The bodily span lies beneath the unit used to space the chambers.
Cubit: A length measured by the forearm’s span; here, the five-cubit interval.
אַמָּה / אַמּוֹת
The gap between chambers is given a body-scaled measure.
THE PATTERN
The dwelling of God becomes inhabitable through measured spaces, intervals, and passages.
According to all that I show you, the form of the dwelling and the form of all its vessels, so you make it.And the one who speaks with me holds a golden reed to measure the city, and its gates, and its wall.Let all things become well shaped, and in rank.THE THREAD
And the one who speaks with me holds a golden reed to measure the city, and its gates, and its wall.Here, one reed measures a chamber and its threshold; in Revelation, a reed measures the city and its gates. The small unit opens onto a vision of an entire inhabited space shaped by measure.
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