What Does 1 Kings 6:17 Mean in the King James?
And the house, that is, the temple before it, was forty cubits long.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The house’s measured length is defined by the inner chamber before which it stands, a chamber whose name is often linked to speech.
THE MEANING
The house is measured in relation to the inner sanctuary before it. Its length is made legible by the chamber it approaches, whose Hebrew name is often associated with speech. The verse holds measured space and an inward center together.
THE ROOT
דְּבִיר
debir
GROWS FROM
דבר
To speak; speech, word, or utterance. The link between דְּבִיר (debir), the inner sanctuary or oracle, and this root is often proposed, though its etymology is debated.
The KJV’s “temple” here translates דְּבִיר (debir), referring to the inner sanctuary. Its often-proposed connection to דָּבַר (dāvar), “to speak,” lets the sanctuary’s name echo speech: the measured house stands before a room associated with utterance.
ALSO GROWS
dāvar: Word, matter, or thing.
דָּבָר
The shared root lets the inner sanctuary’s name echo the Hebrew word for what is spoken.
dibbēr: He spoke; to speak or utter.
דִּבֵּר
This verbal branch makes the possible speech connection in the sanctuary’s name audible.
THE PATTERN
Sacred structures distinguish an outer space from an inner sanctuary and describe each in relation to the other.
And the oracle in the forepart was twenty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in breadth, and twenty cubits in the height thereof: and he overlaid it with pure gold; and so covered the altar which was of cedar.So he measured the length thereof, twenty cubits; and the breadth, twenty cubits, before the temple: and he said unto me, This is the most holy place.And after the second veil, the tabernacle which is called the Holiest of all;THE THREAD
And the oracle in the forepart was twenty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in breadth, and twenty cubits in the height thereof: and he overlaid it with pure gold; and so covered the altar which was of cedar.Here, “oracle” translates the same Hebrew דְּבִיר (debir) that appears in this verse as “temple.” The next measurement gives that inner chamber dimensions of its own, clarifying that the forty cubits describe the house before it.
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