3 Kings 6:23
And he made in the oracle two cherubims of olive tree, of ten cubits in height.
Open 3 Kings 6:23 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Et fecit in oraculo duos cherubim de lignis olivarum, decem cubitorum altitudinis.
- Septuagint (Swete) shown from 3 Kings 6:22
- καὶ ἐποίησεν ἐν τῷ δαβεὶρ δύο χερουβεὶν δέκα πήχεων μέγεθος ἐσταθμωμένον.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- וַיַּ֣עַשׂ בַּדְּבִ֔יר שְׁנֵ֥י כְרוּבִ֖ים עֲצֵי שָׁ֑מֶן עֶ֥שֶׂר אַמּ֖וֹת קוֹמָתֽוֹ
Haydock's commentary
Olive. Hebrew, "trees full of oil or resin," distinguished from olive trees, 2 Esdras viii. 15. Vatable translates, "pine;" others, "cypress-wood." (Calmet)
Height. Their gigantic stature served to denote the magnificence and greatness of God. They looked towards the east. (Menochius)
Their wings extended equalled their height; so that the two cherubims occupied the whole space from north to south, (Haydock) covering the smaller cherubim of Moses. They only reached half the height of the sanctuary. Their form is not clearly ascertained. See Exodus xxv. 18. (Calmet)
What will the Iconoclasts say to these images, which adorned not only the temple, which the people might behold, but also the most sacred place? (Haydock)
Villalpand and Salien suppose, that a cherub resembled a young man in the higher parts, adorned with four wings of an eagle and a lion's skin, round his breast and shoulders, while his feet were like those of a calf. (Menochius)
Ezechiel seems to insinuate that, in the temple, the cherubim had two faces, one of a man and another of a lion, each looking at palm-trees; as these were placed alternately with cherubim, round the walls, Ezechiel xli. 18, 19.
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.