What Does Ezekiel 41:1 Mean?
Afterward he brought me to the temple, and measured the posts, six forearms broad on the one side and six forearms broad on the other, which was the breadth of the pitched tent.
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
Afterward he brought me to the temple, and measured the posts, six cubits broad on the one side, and six cubits broad on the other side, which was the breadth of the tabernacle.THE KEY
The temple’s measured breadth uses the same root that names a spacious place, making room itself part of the architecture.
THE MEANING
You are shown a dwelling whose breadth is measured on both sides. The repeated six-cubit spans give its space visible boundaries, while the word for breadth also carries the sense of spaciousness. Here, dimension and roominess meet in one word.
THE ROOT
רֹחַב
roḥav
GROWS FROM
ר־ח־ב
r-ḥ-b
To be wide or spacious; to make room.
The word translated “broad” belongs to the same root as words for an open expanse and a public square. English gives you a dimension; the Hebrew also lets you hear spaciousness in it.
ALSO GROWS
merḥav: A wide or open place.
מֶרְחָב
The same root names a place where there is room; Psalm 118:5 uses this word for the “large place” where the speaker is set.
reḥov: A broad street or public square.
רְחוֹב
The root also describes an open area shared by many, extending breadth from a measured span to a place people can occupy.
THE PATTERN
Scripture makes dwelling visible through space given shape, dimension, or room.
Moreover you shall make the dwelling with ten curtains of fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet; with cherubim of cunning work you shall make them.And the house that king Solomon built for the LORD, its length was sixty forearms, and its breadth twenty, and its height thirty forearms.In my Father's house are many places to remain. If it were not so, I would have told you, for I go to make ready a place for you.THE THREAD
From the narrow place I call out to the LORD, and the LORD answers me in a wide place.The word translated “broad” here (רֹחַב, roḥav: breadth or spaciousness) and the “large place” in the psalm (מֶרְחָב, merḥav: open space) grow from the same root, ר־ח־ב (r-ḥ-b). The shared root lets the temple’s measured width echo a spaciousness experienced as room to stand.
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