What Does 2 Chronicles 3:7 Mean in the King James?

He overlaid also the house, the beams, the posts, and the walls thereof, and the doors thereof, with gold; and graved cherubims on the walls.

2 Chronicles 3:7 · 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 word rendered “graved” is ⁨וַיִּפְתַּח⁩ (wayyiftaḥ, “he engraved”), from ⁨פתח⁩ (pataḥ, “to open”): the gold-covered house is also described as having walls opened into cherubim.

THE MEANING

The house gleams under gold, while its walls carry engraved cherubim: covering and carved form occupy the same sacred interior. The Hebrew word for engraving comes from a root meaning “open,” so the wall’s carved image is named through the language of an opening.

THE ROOT

וַיִּפְתַּח

wayyiftaḥ

GROWS FROM

פתח

Open; make an opening.

The English “graved” makes the action sound like decoration, while ⁨פתח⁩ carries the underlying image of opening. The carving is named as an opening in the wall’s surface, making the cherubim visible there.

ALSO GROWS

petaḥ: Opening; entrance.

פֶּתַח

This branch names an opening directly, revealing the shared root beneath the word translated “graved.”

pittuaḥ: Engraving; carved work.

פִּתּוּחַ

This branch names carved ornament, linking the verse’s engraved figures to the root’s sense of opening.

וַיְצַף

wayəṣap

GROWS FROM

צפה

Cover; overlay; plate over.

“overlaid” in this verse is wayəṣap. Gold is laid over the beams, posts, walls, and doors, so brilliance rests upon the house’s structure. Alongside the language of opening, the verse holds covering and carved form together in one interior.

ALSO GROWS

ṣippûy: Coating; overlay.

צִפּוּי

This noun names the covering layer laid over the house.

ṣāpûy: Covered; coated.

צָפוּי

This form describes something under a covering, echoing the gold laid over the house’s structure.

THE PATTERN

The sacred dwelling bears cherubim imagery across its coverings, walls, and furnishings.

Moreover thou shalt make the tabernacle with ten curtains of fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet: with cherubims of cunning work shalt thou make them.

Exodus 26:1 · KJVCherubim appear in the tabernacle’s woven coverings, as they are engraved on the temple walls here.

And he carved all the walls of the house round about with carved figures of cherubims and palm trees and open flowers, within and without.

1 Kings 6:29 · KJVThe walls carry carved cherubim alongside palms and flowers, extending the imagery throughout the house.

And over it the cherubims of glory shadowing the mercyseat; of which we can not now speak particularly.

Hebrews 9:5 · KJVCherubim also mark the space above the mercy seat, carrying the same imagery onto the sanctuary’s central furnishing.

THE THREAD

The two doors also were of olive tree; and he carved upon them carvings of cherubims and palm trees and open flowers, and overlaid them with gold, and spread gold upon the cherubims, and upon the palm trees.

1 Kings 6:32 · KJV

This verse uses the same ⁨פתח⁩ (pataḥ, “open”) root for the carving on the doors, then describes gold laid over the carved forms. The wall and the door share the same movement: a surface is covered and marked with cherubim.

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