What Does 2 Chronicles 3:10 Mean in the King James?
And in the most holy house he made two cherubims of image work, and overlaid them with gold.
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 verse places crafted forms inside the most set-apart space, making holiness here something shaped and visible rather than empty.
THE MEANING
The innermost set-apart space holds two crafted figures beneath a gold covering. The verse presents sacred presence as something encountered through material form and careful workmanship.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the assumption that what is set apart must be formless: this room contains deliberate image-work.
THE ROOT
קֹדֶשׁ הַקֳּדָשִׁים
qodesh haqodashim
GROWS FROM
קדשׁ
q-d-sh
set apart, dedicate
“most holy” in this verse is qodesh haqodashim. The Hebrew phrase repeats the seed קדשׁ (q-d-sh): literally, “holy of holies.” English expresses this as a superlative, while the Hebrew repetition places the cherubim within an intensified space of set-apartness.
ALSO GROWS
qadosh: set apart
קָדוֹשׁ
It carries the same root meaning as the room: the cherubim stand inside what is set apart.
miqdash: sanctuary, set-apart place
מִקְדָּשׁ
The sanctuary’s name grows from the same root, connecting the place and its defining quality.
וַיְצַפֵּם
vayetsappem
GROWS FROM
צפה
ṣ-p-h
cover or plate over
“overlaid” in this verse is vayetsappem. This verb describes a covering laid over a form. The figures remain the underlying shape while gold becomes their visible surface, holding the crafted form and its covering together.
ALSO GROWS
tsippah: he covered or plated over
צִפָּה
This verb form shows the same covering action named in the verse.
tsippui: covering, plating
צִפּוּי
This noun names the layer placed over a surface, like the gold over the cherubim.
THE PATTERN
Across scripture, cherubim mark sacred presence as a boundary, a canopy, or both.
So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.And the cherubims shall stretch forth their wings on high, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and their faces shall look one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubims be.And over it the cherubims of glory shadowing the mercyseat; of which we can not now speak particularly.THE THREAD
And the cherubims shall stretch forth their wings on high, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and their faces shall look one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubims be.Both verses place two cherubim within the set-apart space. Exodus reveals their spatial role: their wings stretch over the mercy seat, making the pair a canopy over the place of meeting.
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