What Does Exodus 30:2 Mean in the King James?

A cubit shall be the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof; foursquare shall it be: and two cubits shall be the height thereof: the horns thereof shall be of the same.

Exodus 30:2 · 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 altar’s horns are “from it”: what rises beyond its square base belongs to the altar’s own body.

THE MEANING

The altar stands on a one-cubit square and rises two cubits; its horns come from the same body. Its upward reach is part of its form, not a separate structure.

THE ROOT

קַרְנֹתָיו

qarnotav

GROWS FROM

קרן

q-r-n

The word family centers on a horn or projecting point; as a verb, it describes rays shining outward.

The Hebrew noun for the altar’s horns belongs to the same root family as a verb for shining or radiating. English separates these images, while the Hebrew lets a horn and a ray echo as forms that project outward.

ALSO GROWS

qeren: horn; also a projecting point, ray, or emblem of strength

קֶרֶן

The altar’s horns are literal projections, while the same noun can describe a ray; both make outward extension visible.

qaran: to shine or emit rays

קָרַן

In Exodus 34:29, this verb describes Moses’ face shining, extending the root’s image from a crafted horn to radiance emerging from a face.

THE PATTERN

The q-r-n word family gives outward projection a shared image: a horn, strength, or rays emerge visibly from a source.

And thou shalt make the horns of it upon the four corners thereof: his horns shall be of the same: and thou shalt overlay it with brass.

Exodus 27:2 · KJVThe altar’s horns again arise as part of the altar’s own form, and the same q-r-n word family names them.

And it came to pass, when Moses came down from mount Sinai with the two tables of testimony in Moses’ hand, when he came down from the mount, that Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him.

Exodus 34:29 · KJVThe verb translated “shone” comes from the q-r-n root family, where projection appears as rays from a face.

All the horns of the wicked also will I cut off; but the horns of the righteous shall be exalted.

Psalm 75:10 · KJVHere “horns” from the same root picture strength as something raised or diminished.

THE THREAD

And it came to pass, when Moses came down from mount Sinai with the two tables of testimony in Moses’ hand, when he came down from the mount, that Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him.

Exodus 34:29 · KJV

The altar’s “horns” and the verb translated “shone” share the consonants ⁨ק־ר־ן⁩. One is a crafted projection; the other is radiance from a face, and the root lets both images illuminate what projects from the altar.

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