What Does Exodus 39:15 Mean in the King James?
And they made upon the breastplate chains at the ends, of wreathen work of pure gold.
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 chains belongs to the same root family as “roots”: what joins is also what anchors.
THE MEANING
What rests over the heart is joined by links carefully made of pure gold. Connection appears here as crafted continuity: the breastpiece is held in place by braided strands, each joined to the next.
THE ROOT
שַׁרְשְׁרֹת
sharshrot
GROWS FROM
שרש
To take root or strike roots; the Hebrew word for chains belongs to this root family.
The Hebrew chain word shares its consonant family with שֹׁרֶשׁ (shoresh, root): the language holds rooting and linking together. The chains across the breastpiece make that hidden connection visible, each link joins and anchors.
ALSO GROWS
sharash: To take root, strike roots
שָׁרַשׁ
Rooting anchors something in relation to what sustains it; each chain link, in turn, joins securely to the next.
shoresh: Root
שֹׁרֶשׁ
This noun carries the family’s image of an anchor beneath the surface, alongside the chain’s visible links.
טָהוֹר
tahor
GROWS FROM
טהר
To be clean or pure.
The links are made of pure gold, so their purity belongs to their material, not merely their appearance. The root also names cleansing: the verse places purity in the substance of what joins the breastpiece.
ALSO GROWS
taharah: Purity, cleanness
טָהֳרָה
This noun carries the same quality named for the gold, making purity part of the chain’s substance.
tiher: Cleansed, purified
טִהֵר
This verb shows the root’s active sense: purity can describe both a clean state and the act of cleansing.
THE PATTERN
What is held in place is joined through connections shaped to serve the whole.
And two chains of pure gold at the ends; of wreathen work shalt thou make them, and fasten the wreathen chains to the ouches.And nets of checker work, and wreaths of chain work, for the chapiters which were upon the top of the pillars; seven for the one chapiter, and seven for the other chapiter.From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.THE THREAD
And two chains of pure gold at the ends; of wreathen work shalt thou make them, and fasten the wreathen chains to the ouches.This verse repeats שַׁרְשְׁרֹת (sharshrot, chains), the same Hebrew word used for the breastpiece’s links. It adds that the chains fasten to the settings, showing how their joining holds the whole piece together.
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