What Does Exodus 26:13 Mean in the King James?
And a cubit on the one side, and a cubit on the other side of that which remaineth in the length of the curtains of the tent, it shall hang over the sides of the tabernacle on this side and on that side, to cover it.
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 covering’s measured surplus is what lets it reach past the tent and shelter both sides.
THE MEANING
The curtains have a measured surplus: one cubit falls beyond each side. Their length reaches past the tent’s edge, so the sides are covered too. The extra length is part of how the covering works.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the assumption that what extends beyond the center is waste: here, the measured excess covers the sides.
THE ROOT
לְכַסֹּתוֹ
lekhassoto
GROWS FROM
כסה
Cover, conceal, or clothe.
“to cover it” in this verse is lekhassoto. The verse’s word for covering comes from the root כסה, which names both the act of covering and, in related forms, a covering itself. Here the measured surplus is part of that covering’s reach: it extends over both sides of the tent.
ALSO GROWS
kasah: To cover or conceal.
כָּסָה
This is the verbal form behind the verse’s “to cover it,” keeping the action tied to the covering’s reach.
mikhseh: A covering, or cover.
מִכְסֶה
This related noun uses the same root consonants to name the covering itself, alongside the verse’s action of covering.
אֹרֶךְ
orekh
GROWS FROM
ארך
Be long; lengthen.
The curtains’ “length” shares its root with language for something long in time as well as space. The verse uses that length as a measured reach: it continues beyond the tent’s span and covers the sides.
ALSO GROWS
arekh: Long.
אָרֵךְ
The adjective carries the same root into a description of extent, as the curtains’ length extends beyond the tent.
erekh appayim: Slow to flare.
אֶרֶךְ אַפַּיִם
The same root for length appears in this phrase about anger, where the stretch is temporal rather than spatial.
THE PATTERN
Protection is pictured as a covering that extends over and around those it shelters.
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.He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!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 use כסה: here, the curtains’ extra measure covers the tabernacle’s sides; there, the cherubim’s wings cover the mercy seat. The same root links the outer shelter to the central place within it.
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