What Does Exodus 38:12 Mean in the King James?
And for the west side were hangings of fifty cubits, their pillars ten, and their sockets ten; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets of silver.
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 Hebrew word for the silver bands that bind the posts also names the act of setting one’s affection on someone.
THE MEANING
A boundary holds through what fastens its visible parts: posts seated in sockets, joined by hooks and bands. The word behind those bands also names attachment of affection, so connection appears here as both structure and inward bond.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that what is visible alone makes a boundary secure dissolves here; the fastenings carry equal weight.
THE ROOT
חֲשֻׁקֵיהֶם
ḥăšuqêhem
GROWS FROM
חשק
To bind or attach; also to set one’s affection upon or long for.
The verse’s silver fillets come from חשק (ḥāšaq), a root that also describes being attached in affection. English calls these pieces of metal “fillets,” while Hebrew holds physical fastening and inward attachment in one word family.
ALSO GROWS
ḥăšuqîm: Fillets; connecting bands
חֲשֻׁקִים
This is the form behind the verse’s silver bands: the root’s physical image is something that binds parts together.
ḥāšaq: To attach oneself; to set one’s affection upon
חָשַׁק
Deuteronomy 7:7 uses this verb for the LORD setting his love upon Israel, carrying the root’s sense of attachment from joinery into affection.
ḥēšeq: Desire; delight
חֵשֶׁק
In 1 Kings 9:1, this related form names Solomon’s desire, showing the same word family reaching from physical connection toward inward longing.
THE PATTERN
A stable boundary depends on the joints and foundations that fasten its visible parts.
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.A Song of degrees for Solomon. Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;THE THREAD
The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people:The same root behind Exodus’s silver fillets appears in “set his love upon.” It binds physical fastening to chosen affection: what is attached is held close.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us