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Exodus 37:20

in Exodus 37

And on the lampstand were four cups shaped like almond blossoms with buds and petals.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And in the candlestick were four cups made like almond-blossoms, the knops thereof, and the flowers thereof;

KJV

And in the candlestick were four bowls made like almonds, his knops, and his flowers:

This verse in Exodus 37

Commentary

4 notes on this verse

This site's exposition

Then he made the lampstand out of pure hammered gold

on Exodus 37:17-22

The lampstand is the one item of furniture given no dimensions, here or in the command at 25:31 to 39. The only quantity is a weight of gold, all of it hammered into one piece.

This site's exposition

four cups shaped like almond blossoms

The shaft carries four almond cups where each branch carries three, as 25:34 orders. Across the whole lampstand that makes twenty-two cups. Each was hammered from the same talent of gold that verse 24 names.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

29 And he made the holy anointing oil, and the pure incense of sweet spices, according to the work of the apothecary. The making of the golden altar, on which incense was to be burnt daily, which signified both the prayers of saints and the intercession of Christ, to which are owing the acceptableness and success of those prayers.

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

Every object was symbolical of important truth--every piece of furniture was made the hieroglyphic of a doctrine or a duty--on the floor and along the sides of that movable edifice was exhibited, by emblematic signs addressed to the eye, the whole remedial scheme of the gospel.

The words behind it

6 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.

  • וּבַמְּנֹרָ֖הand [were] on the lampstand

    uvamenorahH4501 →42 times

  • אַרְבָּעָ֣הfour

    ʾarbaahH702 →318 times

  • גְבִעִ֑יםcups

    geviimH1375 →14 times

  • מְשֻׁ֨קָּדִ֔יםshaped like almond blossoms

    meshukadimH8246 →6 times

  • כַּפְתֹּרֶ֖יהָbulbs its

    kaftoreihaH3730 →18 times

  • וּפְרָחֶֽיהָ׃and blossoms its

    uferacheihaH6525 →17 times

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

The walk

8 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

    Numbers 17:8

    The next day Moses entered the Tent of the Testimony and saw that Aaron’s staff, representing the house of Levi, had sprouted, put forth buds, blossomed, and produced almonds.

    it leads to

    • Ezekiel 17:24

      Then all the trees of the field will know that I am the LORD. I bring the tall tree down and make the low tree tall. I dry up the green tree and make…

    • John 15:1–6

      “I am the true vine, and My Father is the keeper of the vineyard.

  • Through

    Jeremiah 1:11

    And the word of the LORD came to me, asking, “Jeremiah, what do you see?” “I see a branch of an almond tree,” I replied.

    it leads to

    • Amos 7:8

      “Amos, what do you see?” asked the LORD. “A plumb line,” I replied. “Behold,” said the Lord, “I am setting a plumb line among My people Israel; I will no longer spare them:

    • Amos 8:2

      “Amos, what do you see?” He asked. “A basket of summer fruit,” I replied. So the LORD said to me, “The end has come for My people Israel; I will no longer spare them.”

    • Zechariah 5:2

      “What do you see?” asked the angel. “I see a flying scroll,” I replied, “twenty cubits long and ten cubits wide.”

    • Jeremiah 24:3

      “Jeremiah,” the LORD asked, “what do you see?” “Figs!” I replied. “The good figs are very good, but the bad figs are very bad, so bad they cannot be eaten.”

    • Zechariah 4:2

      “What do you see?” he asked. “I see a solid gold lampstand,” I replied, “with a bowl at the top and seven lamps on it, with seven spouts to the lamps.

  • Through

    Ecclesiastes 12:5

    when men fear the heights and dangers of the road, when the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper loses its spring, and the caper berry shrivels—for then man goes to his eternal home and mourners…

    it leads to

    • Job 17:13

      If I look for Sheol as my home, if I spread out my bed in darkness,

Where this verse is studied

About Exodus

The Israelites Leaving Egypt, David Roberts, 1829. Public domain.
The Israelites Leaving Egypt, David Roberts, 1829. Public domain.

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.