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2 Chronicles 3:13

in 2 Chronicles 3

So the total wingspan of these cherubim was twenty cubits. They stood on their feet, facing the main room.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

The wings of these cherubim spread themselves forth twenty cubits: and they stood on their feet, and their faces were toward the house.

KJV

The wings of these cherubims spread themselves forth twenty cubits: and they stood on their feet, and their faces were inward.

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This verse in 2 Chronicles 3

Commentary

5 notes on this verse
Their faces were inward - literally, as in the margin. Instead of looking toward one another, with heads bent downward over the mercy Seat, like the cherubim of Moses Exo 37:9, these of Solomon looked out from the sanctuary into the great chamber (“the house”). The cherubim thus stood upright on either side of the ark, like two sentinels guarding it.

This site's exposition

two cherubim of sculptured work

on 2 Chronicles 3:10-13

The Hebrew phrase behind “sculptured work” in verse 10 occurs nowhere else in the Hebrew Bible. Its sense is worked out from an Arabic cognate. These cherubim “stood on their feet, facing the main room,” where the cherubim of Exodus 37:9 faced each other over the mercy seat.

This site's exposition

stood on their feet

Barnes sets these cherubim beside the cherubim of Moses in Exodus 37:9, which faced each other over the mercy seat. Solomon's cherubim stood upright and faced out toward the main room. Barnes likens them to two sentinels.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

We must not worship angels, but we must worship with angels; for we have come into communion with them ( Heb. xii. 22 ), and must do the will of God as the angels do it. The thought that we are worshipping him before whom the angels cover their faces will help to inspire us with reverence in all our approaches to God.

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

two cherubims--These figures in the tabernacle were of pure gold (Ex 25:1-40) and overshadowed the mercy seat. The two placed in the temple were made of olive wood, overlaid with gold.

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How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

standing on their feet on the floor of the House to the west.
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on II Chronicles 3:13:1, via Sefaria, The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
And he made the dividing curtain of blue, purple and he hung it on the door that was in the cubit between the two partitions, through which they would enter the Holy of Holies.
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on II Chronicles 3:14:1, via Sefaria, The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg

This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.

Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 3 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.

The words behind it

12 Hebrew words

Every 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.

  • כַּנְפֵי֙[the] wings of

    kanfeiH3671 →109 times

  • הַכְּרוּבִ֣יםthe cherubim

    hakeruvimH3742 →91 times

  • הָאֵ֔לֶּה<the> these

    haelehH428 →746 times

  • פֹּֽרְשִׂ֖ים[were] spreading out

    poresimH6566 →67 times

  • אַמּ֣וֹתcubits

    ʾamotH520 →247 times

  • עֶשְׂרִ֑יםtwenty

    ʾesrimH6242 →315 times

  • וְהֵ֛םand they

    vehemH1992 →553 times

  • עֹמְדִ֥ים[were] standing

    ʾomedimH5975 →521 times

  • עַל־on

    ʾal-H5921 →5755 times

  • רַגְלֵיהֶ֖םfeet their

    ragleihemH7272 →247 times

  • וּפְנֵיהֶ֥םand faces their

    ufeneihemH6440 →2123 times

  • לַבָּֽיִת׃ ס[were] to the inside

    labayitH1004 →2046 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

2 in all, six open

The walk

5 stops

Each 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

    Exodus 25:20

    And the cherubim are to have wings that spread upward, overshadowing the mercy seat. The cherubim are to face each other, looking toward the mercy seat.

    it leads to

    • 1 Chronicles 28:18

      the weight of the refined gold for the altar of incense; and the plans for the chariot of the gold cherubim that spread their wings and overshadowed the ark of the covenant of the…

    • 1 Kings 8:7

      For the cherubim spread their wings over the place of the ark and overshadowed the ark and its poles.

    • Hebrews 9:5

      Above the ark were the cherubim of glory, overshadowing the mercy seat. But we cannot discuss these things in detail now.

    • Isaiah 6:1–5

      In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted; and the train of His robe filled the temple.

    • Exodus 25:18

      Make two cherubim of hammered gold at the ends of the mercy seat,

Where this verse is studied

About 2 Chronicles

Saphan Reading the Book of the Law to Josiah, Philip Galle, engraving after Maarten van Heemskerck, 1569, Royal Library of Belgium. Public domain.
Saphan Reading the Book of the Law to Josiah, Philip Galle, engraving after Maarten van Heemskerck, 1569, Royal Library of Belgium. Public domain.
2 Chronicles: the study guide →Read 2 Chronicles 3 →

This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in 2 Chronicles 3 →