1 Kings 6:28

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

He overlaid the cherubim with gold.

World English Bible · Public Domain

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וַיְצַ֥ף

tsâphâh

H6823

“and · to overlay”

Conjunction + Verb, Piel, Sequential Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular

Appears 47× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Exodus 25:11

Full BDB Definition

Origin: a primitive root [probably identical with H6822 through the idea of expansion in outlook, transferring to action]

TWOT: 1951

to lay out, lay over, overlay, cover - (Piel) to overlay, plate, stud - (Pual) to be laid over

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 →

4: words
4: distinct lemmas
Historical: section

Shared distinctive vocabulary

וַיְצַ֥ף to overlay H6823 occurs in 40 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Grammatical profile

1 verb
2 nouns
1 particle

Verb forms

וַיְצַ֥ף Piel · Sequential Imperfect

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 6 words from the Hebrew and 7 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 4 Hebrew tokens and 5 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.

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 6:28 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

וַיְצַ֥ף אֶת הַכְּרוּבִ֖ים זָהָֽב

He overlaid the cherubim with gold.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX 1 Kings 6:28 Septuagint · lemma form

καί περιἔχω ὁ χερουβιν χρυσίον

And he covered the cherubs with gold.

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)

וַחֲפָא יַת כְּרוּבַיָא דַהֲבָא:

(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 6:28 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 6:28 And he overlaid the cherubims with gold.

Ver. 28. And he overlaid the cherubims with gold.] Which could hardly be done without knocking and fastening it on with nails; unless we shall say that the gold was fastened on them with screw nails.

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 6:28-29. He overlaid the cherubims with gold — It must be observed, there were four cherubim in the most holy place of Solomon’s temple; two lesser made by Moses of massy gold, and two larger made by Solomon, overlaid with gold. Those made by Moses were part of the mercy-seat, and inseparable from it; these of Solomon seem to have spread their wings over it and them, being added only for the greater ornament of God’s house. He carved all the walls with figures of cherubims — As signs of the presence and protection of the angels vouchsafed by God to that place. And palm-trees — Emblems of that peace and victory over their enemies, which the Israelites duly serving God in that place might expect. Within and without — Within the oracle, and without it in the holy place. The floor of the house he overlaid with gold — That is, of the whole house, both within the oracle and without it, both of the most holy, and the holy place; which rendered it wonderfully splendid and magnificent.

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

Geneva Bible (1599)

Geneva Bible translators

For the others which Moses made of beaten gold, were taken away with the other jewels by their enemies, whom God permitted divers times to overcome them for their great sins.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

John Gill's Exposition

The two doors also were of olive tree,.... The two leaves of the door, as before observed, repeated for the sake of the ornament of them, as follows:

and he carved upon them carvings of cherubims, and palm trees, and open flowers; as upon the walls, Kg1 6:29;

and overlaid them with gold; the two doors:

and spread gold upon the cherubims, and upon the palm trees; thin plates of gold.

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

The Pulpit Commentary

And he overlaid the cherubims with gold.

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

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 4 words (4 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is tsâphâh (“to overlay”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

The word tsâphâh carries the sense “to overlay.” How does it shape the verse?
How does Exodus 25:11, which shares the word «to overlay», read alongside this verse?
The translations on this page render this verse differently — a whole-verse word diff, not a word-by-word alignment. What might account for the different wordings?
«וַיְצַ֥ף» is a Piel Sequential Imperfect verb. How does that grammatical form shape the action described?
Compare how Trapp's Complete Commentary and Joseph Benson's Commentary read this verse. Where do they agree or differ?

Things to notice

This verse counts 4 Hebrew ↔ 5 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 2 words in this verse.
4 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 4 words in this verse.