What Does Exodus 26:19 Mean in the King James?

And thou shalt make forty sockets of silver under the twenty boards; two sockets under one board for his two tenons, and two sockets under another board for his two tenons.
Exodus 26:19 · 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

A board’s two “hands” fit into silver bases, so what looks self-standing is held by support hidden underneath.

The structure is supported beneath what you can see: each board’s two “hands” enter bases below it. Its steadiness comes through many fitted points of contact, with each base receiving the weight above it.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The false belief that what stands upright supports itself dissolves here: each board depends on a base fitted beneath it.

אֲדָנִים

ʾădānîm

GROWS FROM

אדן

A base, pedestal, or socket that receives and supports what stands above it.

The same Hebrew noun rendered “sockets” here appears as “foundations” in Job 38:6. These are the structural footings themselves, receiving the boards’ weight beneath the visible frame.

ALSO GROWS

adanim: The plural form used here for the silver sockets.

אֲדָנִים

Each base receives one of a board’s tenons, turning a separate board into part of a standing structure.

adaneha: The same noun with a possessive ending, translated “foundations” in Job 38:6.

אֲדָנֶיהָ

It carries the image from a board’s footing to the earth’s foundations.

יְדֹתָיו

yedotav

GROWS FROM

יד

Hand; by extension, power, means, or agency.

The word translated “tenons” comes from ⁨יָד⁩ (yad, hand), so the joinery is pictured as the board’s hands. Each board stands where those hands enter and are held by a base.

ALSO GROWS

yad: The hand, the body part used to grasp and make contact.

יָד

The tenons are literally named as hands: they reach from the board into its support.

bəyad: An expression using the same word for hand, often conveying agency or means.

בְּיַד

The hand is where the board’s weight meets the base; its support is enacted through that point of contact.

A structure stands as its separate parts are secured by foundations that receive their weight.

And they shall be eight boards, and their sockets of silver, sixteen sockets; two sockets under one board, and two sockets under another board.
Exodus 26:25 · KJVThe repeated arrangement shows each board held by a pair of bases beneath it.
Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof;
Job 38:6 · KJVThe question pictures the earth itself as a structure whose foundations secure what stands above.
And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;
Ephesians 2:20 · KJVThe image of a standing structure rests on foundations and a fitted cornerstone.
Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof;
Job 38:6 · KJV

The word rendered “sockets” here and “foundations” in Job is ⁨אֲדָנִים⁩ / ⁨אֲדָנֶיהָ⁩ (adanim / adaneha), from ⁨אדן⁩ (adan), meaning a base or socket. Job widens the image from each board’s footing to the earth’s footing: what stands is secured by what lies beneath.

Read the SDV Bible.

Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.

Get Selah Verse

The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.

Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us

Exodus 26:19 KJV Meaning