31
For the entrance to the inner sanctuary, Solomon constructed doors of olive wood with five-sided doorposts.
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
wə·’êṯ pe·ṯaḥ had·də·ḇîr ‘ā·śāh dal·ṯō·wṯ šā·men ‘ă·ṣê- ḥă·mi·šîṯ hā·’a·yil mə·zū·zō·wṯ
Word by word10 · parsed
√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Conjunctive wawDirect object marker
√ pethach — an opening (literally), iNounmasculine singular construct
pethach — an opening, doorway Not the door but the gap the door fills. The same noun returns at v. 33 for the way into the Holy Place, so the unit is framed by two openings, an inner and an outer, and everything between them is carpentry about access.
√ dᵉbîyr — the shrine or innermost part of the sanctuaryArticleNounmasculine singular
dᵉbîyr — the shrine, the innermost part of the sanctuary The word for the room that held the ark. What is being described here is the last barrier: the point past which the whole graded holiness of the house stops. JFB marks the contrast the unit turns on, solid olive here, cypress at the outer door.
√ ʻâsâh — to do or make, in the broadest sense and widest applicationVerbQalPerfectthird person masculine singular
ʻâsâh — to make, to do (Qal perfect, 3ms) One unnamed “he” makes everything in this unit; Solomon's name is supplied by the translators. Cambridge and K&D both observe that this single verb has to be carried forward into v. 32 and v. 34, where the Hebrew gives nouns with no verb at all.
√ deleth — something swinging, iNounfeminine plural construct
√ shemen — grease, especially liquid (as from the olive, often perfumed)Nounmasculine singular
shemen — oil, grease, fat The wood is named for its oil. Olive oil is what anoints priest and king (1 Samuel 16:13) and what burns in the lamp before this very room (Exodus 27:20); the cherubim inside were of the same wood (1 Kings 6:23). Gill takes the choice typologically, Christ as “the true olive tree.”
√ ʻêts — a tree (from its firmness)Nounmasculine plural construct
ʻêts — tree, wood (construct plural) Construct with shemen: “trees of oil.”
√ chămîyshîy — fifthNumberordinal feminine singular
chămîyshîy — fifth (ordinal) The crux of the verse. Barnes reads lintel and post each as a fifth; Poole floats “five-square”; Cambridge and K&D read a doorway four cubits square, a fifth of a twenty-cubit wall. The Hebrew supports none of these decisively, and the Pulpit Commentary records that Gesenius himself devoted pages to it.
√ ʼayil — properly, strengthArticleNounmasculine singular
ʼayil — strength; architectural projection An obscure term, left unglossed in the interlinear. K&D construes mᵉzûzôṯ as an explanatory apposition subordinate to it, so the phrase describes the whole projecting frame rather than two separate members. This is the honest place to say that a detail of the holiest door in Israel is no longer recoverable.
√ mᵉzûwzâh — a door-post (as prominent)Nounfeminine plural construct
mᵉzûwzâh — doorpost (as prominent) The word is rare and loaded: it is what the Passover blood was struck upon (Exodus 12:7, 12:22) and what the commandments were to be written on (Deuteronomy 6:9). Here the doorposts of the shrine are not marked with blood or with words but carry a frame of oil-wood, and Cambridge notes it is the member the hinges hung from.