What Does 2 Chronicles 3:4 Mean in the King James?

And the porch that was in the front of the house, the length of it was according to the breadth of the house, twenty cubits, and the height was an hundred and twenty: and he overlaid it within with pure gold.

2 Chronicles 3:4 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

The entrance carries the house’s full breadth, and that Hebrew breadth is the same root scripture uses for being brought into a spacious place.

THE MEANING

The front porch spans the breadth of the house, and its interior is covered in pure gold. The verse places spaciousness at the entrance and precious covering within.

THE ROOT

רוחב

roḥav

GROWS FROM

רחב

raḥav

To become wide or spacious; to make room.

English presents “breadth” as a measurement, while its root also names the opening of space. The same root appears in ⁨מֶרְחָב⁩ (merḥav, a broad place), so the porch’s width carries the language scripture uses for being brought into room.

ALSO GROWS

raḥav: Wide, broad.

רָחָב

This adjective makes explicit the spacious quality contained in the house’s measured breadth.

merḥav: A broad or spacious place.

מֶרְחָב

This is the same root in Psalm 118:5’s “large place,” where breadth describes room opened beyond distress.

THE PATTERN

Across scripture, breadth names room opening in a dwelling, a place of distress, and the inner life.

I called upon the LORD in distress: the LORD answered me, and set me in a large place.

Psalm 118:5 · KJV“Large place” is ⁨מֶרְחָב⁩ (merḥav, a spacious place), from the same root as the house’s breadth.

Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes;

Isaiah 54:2 · KJV“Enlarge” carries the root ⁨רחב⁩ (raḥav, to widen or make room), extending spaciousness into the dwelling itself.

O ye Corinthians, our mouth is open unto you, our heart is enlarged.

2 Corinthians 6:11 · KJVThe same pattern turns inward: spaciousness is pictured as an enlarged heart.

THE THREAD

I called upon the LORD in distress: the LORD answered me, and set me in a large place.

Psalm 118:5 · KJV

The word behind “breadth” here and “large place” there share ⁨רחב⁩ (raḥav, to become wide or make room). The porch’s architectural measure opens into a lived image of space beyond distress.

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