1 Kings 6:18
in 1 Kings 6The cedar paneling inside the temple was carved with gourds and open flowers. Everything was cedar; not a stone could be seen.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And there was cedar on the house within, carved with knops and open flowers: all was cedar; there was no stone seen.
KJV
And the cedar of the house within was carved with knops and open flowers: all was cedar; there was no stone seen.
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This verse in 1 Kings 6
Commentary
6 notes on this verseWe have said of cedarwood that it betokened the unsurpassable beauty of the virtues. Now the entire house is covered inside with this wood when the hearts of the righteous begin to shine with nothing but the love of good works, and the house has …
This site's exposition
So Solomon built the temple and finished it
on 1 Kings 6:14-22
The inner sanctuary is a cube, “twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and twenty cubits high”. The only other space in Scripture given equal length, width and height is the New Jerusalem at Revelation 21:16. The whole house is overlaid with gold “until everything was completely finished”.
This site's exposition
carved with gourds and open flowers
The gourds were carved knobs in the shape of gourds, and the open flowers were opening buds, in Albert Barnes's reading. Carvings of plants are among the oldest ornaments in architecture and abound in the temples of Egypt and Persia. Bede reads the cedar as the beauty of virtue.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
And the cedar of the house within,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Knops and open flowers - Rather, “gourds and opening flower-buds.” Imitations of the vegetable world are among the earliest of architectural ornaments. They abound in the architecture of Egypt and Persia. In that of Assyria they occur more sparingly.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
The cedar-wood was beautifully embellished with figures in relievo, representing clusters of foliage, open flowers, cherubims, and palm trees. The whole interior was overlaid with gold, so that neither wood nor stone was seen; nothing met the eye but pure gold, either plain or richly chased.
The words behind it
13 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְאֶ֤רֶז | veerez | and cedar | H730 → | 73 times |
| אֶל־ | ʾel- | [was] to | H413 → | 5510 times |
| הַבַּ֙יִת֙ | habayit | the house | H1004 → | 2046 times |
| פְּנִ֔ימָה | penimah | within | H6441 → | 13 times |
| מִקְלַ֣עַת | miklaat | carving of | H4734 → | 4 times |
| פְּקָעִ֔ים | pekaim | gourds | H6497 → | 3 times |
| וּפְטוּרֵ֖י | ufeturei | and spread out [things] of | H6362 → | 9 times |
| צִצִּ֑ים | tzitzim | flowers | H6731 → | 15 times |
| הַכֹּ֣ל | hakol | <the> everything | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| אֶ֔רֶז | ʾerez | [was] cedar | H730 → | 73 times |
| אֵ֥ין | ʾein | not | H369 → | 789 times |
| אֶ֖בֶן | ʾeven | stone | H68 → | 273 times |
| נִרְאָֽה׃ | nirah | [was] visible | H7200 → | 1300 times |
וְאֶ֤רֶזand cedar
veerezH730 →73 times
אֶל־[was] to
ʾel-H413 →5510 times
הַבַּ֙יִת֙the house
habayitH1004 →2046 times
פְּנִ֔ימָהwithin
penimahH6441 →13 times
מִקְלַ֣עַתcarving of
miklaatH4734 →4 times
פְּקָעִ֔יםgourds
pekaimH6497 →3 times
וּפְטוּרֵ֖יand spread out [things] of
ufetureiH6362 →9 times
צִצִּ֑יםflowers
tzitzimH6731 →15 times
הַכֹּ֣ל<the> everything
hakolH3605 →5413 times
אֶ֔רֶז[was] cedar
ʾerezH730 →73 times
אֵ֥יןnot
ʾeinH369 →789 times
אֶ֖בֶןstone
ʾevenH68 →273 times
נִרְאָֽה׃[was] visible
nirahH7200 →1300 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
3 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
1 Kings 7:24Below the rim, ornamental buds encircled it, ten per cubit all the way around the Sea, cast in two rows as a part of the Sea.
it leads to
- 2 Chronicles 4:3
Below the rim, figures of oxen encircled it, ten per cubit all the way around the Sea, cast in two rows as a part of the Sea.
- Exodus 37:17–22
Then he made the lampstand out of pure hammered gold, all of one piece: its base and shaft, its cups, and its buds and petals.
- Exodus 25:31–36
Then you are to make a lampstand of pure, hammered gold. It shall be made of one piece, including its base and shaft, its cups, and its buds and petals.
- 2 Chronicles 4:3
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies12
About 1 Kings
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Bede, Of the Temple of Solomon 1.11.1; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Keil, The Books of the Kings.