1 Kings 6:27

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

He set the cherubim within the inner house; and the wings of the cherubim were stretched forth, so that the wing of the one touched the one wall, and the wing of the other cherub touched the other wall; and their wings touched one another in the midst of the house.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Highlights

1 first appearance in the Hebrew Bible

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הַפְּנִימִ֗י

pᵉnîymîy

H6442

“the · inner”

Particle, Definite Article + Adjective, Adjective, Masculine, Singular, Absolute

Appears 32× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears here

Full BDB Definition

Origin: from H6440

TWOT: 1782d

inner

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

28: words
13: distinct lemmas
Historical: section

First appearance in Scripture

This word makes its first canonical appearance in the Hebrew Bible here:

הַפְּנִימִ֗י inner H6442

Shared distinctive vocabulary

הַפְּנִימִ֗י inner H6442 occurs in 29 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Grammatical profile

5 verbs
15 nouns
4 adjectives
2 prepositions
2 particles

Verb forms

וַיִּתֵּ֨ן Qal · Sequential Imperfect
וַֽיִּפְרְשׂוּ֮ Qal · Sequential Imperfect
וַתִּגַּ֤ע Qal · Sequential Imperfect
נֹגַ֖עַת Qal · Participle Active
נֹגְעֹ֖ת Qal · Participle Active

Repetition

Words recur within this verse — often emphatic in Hebrew:

כַּנְפֵ֣י wing H3671 ×6
הַכְּרוּבִ֜ים cherub H3742 ×3
וַתִּגַּ֤ע to touch H5060 ×3
בְּת֣וֹךְ midst H8432 ×2
הַבַּ֣יִת house H1004 ×2
בַּקִּ֔יר wall H7023 ×2
הַשֵּׁנִ֔י second H8145 ×2
אֶל to H413 ×2

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 51 words from the Hebrew and 50 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — closely comparable.

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

In the original languages it is 28 Hebrew tokens and 40 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to 1 Kings 6:27 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Exodus 25:20 The cherubim shall spread out their wings upward, covering the mercy seat with their wings, with their faces toward one another. The faces of the cherubim shall be toward the mercy seat.
Exodus 37:9 The cherubim spread out their wings on high, covering the mercy seat with their wings, with their faces toward one another. The faces of the cherubim were toward the mercy seat.
2 Chronicles 5:8 For the cherubim spread forth their wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubim covered the ark and the poles of it above.
1 Kings 8:7 For the cherubim spread forth their wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubim covered the ark and the poles of it above.
2 Chronicles 3:11 The wings of the cherubim were twenty cubits long: the wing of the one [cherub] was five cubits, reaching to the wall of the house; and the other wing was [likewise] five cubits, reaching to the wing of the other cherub.

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew 1 Kings 6:27 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

וַיִּתֵּ֨ן אֶת הַכְּרוּבִ֜ים בְּת֣וֹךְ הַבַּ֣יִת הַפְּנִימִ֗י וַֽיִּפְרְשׂוּ֮ אֶת כַּנְפֵ֣י הַכְּרֻבִים֒ וַתִּגַּ֤ע כְּנַף הָֽאֶחָד֙ בַּקִּ֔יר וּכְנַף֙ הַכְּר֣וּב הַשֵּׁנִ֔י נֹגַ֖עַת בַּקִּ֣יר הַשֵּׁנִ֑י וְכַנְפֵיהֶם֙ אֶל תּ֣וֹךְ הַבַּ֔יִת נֹגְעֹ֖ת כָּנָ֥ף אֶל כָּנָֽף

He set the cherubim within the inner house; and the wings of the cherubim were stretched forth, so that the wing of the one touched the one wall, and the wing of the other cherub touched the other wall; and their wings touched one another in the midst of the house.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX 1 Kings 6:27 Septuagint · lemma form

καί ἀμφότεροι ὁ χερουβιν ἐν μέσος ὁ οἶκος ὁ ἐσώτερος καί διαπετάζω ὁ πτέρυξ αὐτός καί ἅπτομαι πτέρυξ εἷς ὁ τοῖχος καί πτέρυξ ἅπτομαι ὁ τοῖχος ὁ δεύτερος καί ὁ πτέρυξ αὐτός ὁ ἐν μέσος ὁ οἶκος ἅπτομαι πτέρυξ πτέρυξ

And both the cherubs were in the midst of the innermost part of the house; and they spread out their wings, and one wing touched the wall, and the wing of the other cherub touched the other wall; and their wings in the midst of the house touched each other.

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Targum (Aramaic paraphrase)

The Targum is the ancient Jewish Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Scriptures — an interpretive translation, not the Hebrew text itself. Onkelos (literal) and Pseudo-Jonathan (expansive) render the Torah, and Jonathan the Prophets. Coverage is partial: where no permissively-licensed English translation exists for a verse, only the Aramaic is shown. This is verse-level text, not a word-by-word alignment to the Hebrew.

Targum Jonathan Prophets (Joshua–Malachi)

וִיהַב יַת כְּרוּבַיָא בְּגוֹ בֵיתָא גַוָאָה וּפְרָסוּ יַת כַּנְפֵי כְרוּבַיָא וּמַטְיָא כַנְפָא דְחָד בְּכוֹתְלָא וְכַנְפָא דִכְרוּבָא תִנְיָנָא מַטְיָא בְּכוֹתְלָא תִנְיָנָא וְכַנְפֵיהוֹן לְגוֹ בֵיתָא מַטְיָא כְּנַף לִכְנָף:

(no public-domain English translation for this verse)

Targum Jonathan — Aramaic: “Mikraot Gedolot” (public domain). English: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “London "Chaldee Paraphrase," 1871” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.

Commentary

Notes on 1 Kings 6:27 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Trapp's Complete Commentary

John Trapp

1Ki 6:27 And he set the cherubims within the inner house: and they stretched forth the wings of the cherubims, so that the wing of the one touched the [one] wall, and the wing of the other cherub touched the other wall; and their wings touched one another in the midst of the house.

Ver. 27. Within the inner house.] That is, Within the holy of holies, where they stood before the ark, to hide and cover it from the eyes even of the high priest.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Joseph Benson's Commentary

1Ki 6:27. He set the cherubims within the inner house — With their faces toward the sanctuary, so that they looked upon him that entered the oracle. They stretched forth the wings of the cherubims — Or, rather, the cherubims stretched forth their wings. So that the wing of one touched one wall, &c. — That is, they touched the south and north walls of the house. Whereas the wings of those cherubim that Moses made, stretched themselves from east to west. For they looked one upon the other over the mercy-seat. Their wings touched one another in the midst of the house — Where they must needs meet, being five cubits long on each side, and the house twenty cubits wide.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

27. And they stretched forth the wings of the cherubims] Which is the frequent Hebrew form of expressing the cherubim stretched forth their wings. So R.V. On the way in which these cherubim were placed see below on 1Ki_8:6. It would seem as if in Solomon’s Temple the cherubim did not face one another, as they are expressly said to have done in the Mosaic tabernacle (Exo_25:20).

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Gill's Exposition

And the floor of the house he overlaid with gold within and without. Both the floor of the holy place, and of the holy of holies; so the street of the new Jerusalem is said to be pure gold, Rev 21:21; this expresses the purity and magnificence of it, particularly the holy conversation of them that dwell in the church, in heaven, signified hereby.

; this expresses the purity and magnificence of it, particularly the holy conversation of them that dwell in the church, in heaven, signified hereby.

1 Kings 6:31

kg1 6:31

kg1 6:31

kg1 6:31And for the entering of the oracle he made doors of olive tree,.... The door of the holy of holies was a two leaved or folding door, made of olive wood; typical of Christ, the door into the church above and below, the way to heaven and eternal life, the true olive tree:

the lintel and side posts were a fifth part of the wall; four cubits, twenty cubits being the breadth of the oracle; or the lintel was four cubits, twenty being the height of it also, Kg1 6:20.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Whedon's Commentary on the Bible

Daniel D. Whedon

27. Their wings touched one another — They reached across the entire oracle, the two wings of each cherub covering a space ten cubits broad. 1Ki_6:24. “The wings were evidently fastened to the back, and placed close to one another upon the shoulder-blades, so that the small space between their starting-points is not taken into consideration in the calculation of their length.” — Keil.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Pulpit Commentary

And he set the cherubims within the inner house: and they stretched forth the wings of the cherubims The marg. reading, the cherubim stretched forth their wings, is altogether inadmissible, so that the wing of the one touched the one wall, and the wing of the other cherub touched the other wan, and their wings touched one another in the midst of the house. In 2Ch_3:10 we are told that the cherubim were of "image work" (the meaning of the Hebrews word is unknown). We also learn that they "stood on their feet" and, unlike the cherubim of the tabernacle, which faced each other, (Exo_27:9) faced the throne, i.e. , the cedar partition, and the east. The object of this arrangement probably was to enable the wings to be stretched out across the sanctuary. In the tabernacle the wings were "spread out on high". (Exo_25:20 Exo_27:9) In both cases the ark and mercy seat were placed under the overshadowing wings (ch. 8:6). There would be a clear space of eight or nine cubits between the bodies of the cherubim, and the ark only measured 2.5 cubits (Exo_25:10) in length and 1.5 cubits in breadth. Unlike Ezekiel"s cherubim (Ezekiel chs. 1, 10; cf., Rev_4:7) these had apparently but one face. The cherub was not a simple, but a complex being, having no unalterable and fixed form. See Bahr, Symbolik, 1. pp. 313, 314; Dict. Bib. vol. 1. pp. 301-303.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Scofield Reference Notes

C. I. Scofield

they stretched forth Or, the cherubim stretched forth their wings.

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

unfoldingWord translationNotes

Door43 World Missions Community

Solomon placed ... Solomon overlaid

Solomon would have commanded his workers to do this work. AT: "They placed ... They overlaid" (See: Metonymy)

innermost room

another name for the most holy place

overlaid

"covered." See how you translated this in 1 Kings 6:21.

translationWords

Solomon

cherub

holy place

gold

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

Rashi

Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (Rashi)

The wing of one touched the wall. The north[ern wall].

And the wing of the second cherub touched the other wall. The southern [wall]; they covered the Ark and its poles.

And their wings which were inside the chamber. The tips of the wings which were [towards] the center of the room.

Were touching wing to wing. Because the entire space of the room [i.e., the Holy of Holies] was twenty [amohs].

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

1 Kings, in the Historical, opens this verse with 28 words (13 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is pᵉnîymîy (“inner”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

How does “inner” (pᵉnîymîy) shape what this verse is saying?
The word “inner” first appears here in Scripture. What is being introduced at this debut?
1 Kings 6:36 shares the word «inner» with this verse. How do the two illuminate each other?
“wing” occurs 6× in this one verse. What is the effect of the repetition?
These translations render this verse differently; the difference is in the English rendering, not the original. What questions does that raise?
The verb «וַיִּתֵּ֨ן» is Qal Sequential Imperfect. How does its form color the action?
Reading how Trapp's Complete Commentary and Joseph Benson's Commentary read this verse, where do the two commentators agree and where do they part?

Things to notice

1 word makes its first canonical appearance in Scripture here.
This verse counts 28 Hebrew ↔ 40 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 16 words in this verse.
“wing” occurs 6× in this single verse.
13 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 28 words in this verse.