The Fallible · Synthetic · Study Bible
The Veil
Exodus 26:31–35 — The Veil. Each verse below carries the full apparatus: the Berean Standard Bible, the vocalized original (tap any word), and a parsed breakdown of every term transcribed from the interlinear. Synthesized commentary, canonical threads, and the reading of Christ gather at the end, over the whole unit.
31Make a veil of blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, and finely spun linen, with cherubim skillfully worked into it.
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
wə·‘ā·śî·ṯā p̄ā·rō·ḵeṯ tə·ḵê·leṯ wə·’ar·gā·mān wə·ṯō·w·la·‘aṯ šā·nî mā·šə·zār wə·šêš kə·ru·ḇîm ḥō·šêḇ ma·‘ă·śêh ya·‘ă·śeh ’ō·ṯāh
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-you-shall-make a-pārōketh of-blue and-purple and-scarlet-of crimson, and-twisted linen; the-work-of-a-designer shall-he-make it, with-cherubim.
Where the English smooths the original
Vail - Literally, separation (see Exodus 35:12 note).
a veil ] Heb. pârôketh , only in P, in the same connexion, and 2 Chronicles 3:14 : the primary meaning was probably ‘that which shuts off’ cf. Ass. parâku , to bar or shut off, parakku, apartment , esp. shrine in a Temple; Syr. perakkâ (loan-word), a shrine ).Cambridge supplies the etymology the English name hides: the veil is named not for its fabric but for its function — "that which shuts off" — with cognates in Assyrian and Syriac for the barred inner shrine of a temple.
or rather it was typical of the human nature of Christ, his flesh, called in allusion to it the vail of his flesh, Hebrews 10:20 .
This is often considered in the New Testament as a figure of heaven, into which Christ is entered as our forerunner, and whither our hope extends, Hebrews 6:19-20 ; Hebrews 9:11 ; Hebrews 9:24 ; Hebrews 10:19 . But it also signified that under that dispensation divine grace was veiled, whereas now we behold it with open face.Benson holds the two New Testament readings of the veil together: as a figure of heaven, which Christ entered as forerunner (Heb 6:19–20), and as the sign that under the law divine grace was veiled — the second reading Paul takes up directly in 2 Cor 3.
To divide the dwelling into two rooms, a curtain was to be made, of the same material, and woven in the same artistic manner as the inner covering of the walls ( Exodus 26:1 ). This was called פּרכת, lit., division, separation, from פּרך to divide
32Hang it with gold hooks on four posts of acacia wood, overlaid with gold and standing on four silver bases.
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
wə·nā·ṯat·tāh ’ō·ṯāh zā·hāḇ wā·wê·hem ‘al- ’ar·bā·‘āh ‘am·mū·ḏê šiṭ·ṭîm mə·ṣup·pîm zā·hāḇ ‘al- ’ar·bā·‘āh ḵā·sep̄ ’aḏ·nê-
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-you-shall-hang it upon four pillars-of acacia overlaid-with gold; their-hooks gold, upon four bases-of silver.
Where the English smooths the original
F our pillars. —These seem to have been true pillars or columns, and not tent-poles. They were probably of equal height, and equally spaced, and were perhaps connected at the top by a cornice or beam. Together with the vail they formed a screen, which shut off the “Holy of Holies” from the outer chamber.
The contrast between these four pillars of the interior, and the " five pillars" at "the door of the tent" (vers. 36, 37), is striking, and justifies the supposition that the veil in the tabernacle did not completely divide the holy of holies from the holy place, but formed a screen, above which the space was open.The Pulpit Commentary reads the architecture against itself: four pillars (even) for the veil but five (odd) at the door imply the inner divider was a screen with open space above, not a sealed ceiling-to-floor wall.
these pillars may signify the deity of Christ, which is the support of his human nature, and in which it has its personal subsistence, and gives all its actions and sufferings virtue and efficacy; and being of "shittim wood", which is incorruptible, may denote his eternity, and being covered with gold, his glory
their {k} hooks shall be of gold, upon the four sockets of silver. (k) Some read heads of the pillars.
33And hang the veil from the clasps and place the ark of the Testimony behind the veil. So the veil will separate the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place.
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
wə·nā·ṯat·tāh ’eṯ- hap·pā·rō·ḵeṯ ta·ḥaṯ haq·qə·rā·sîm wə·hê·ḇê·ṯā ’ă·rō·wn hā·‘ê·ḏūṯ šām·māh mib·bêṯ lap·pā·rō·ḵeṯ ’êṯ hap·pā·rō·ḵeṯ lā·ḵem wə·hiḇ·dî·lāh bên haq·qō·ḏeš ū·ḇên qō·ḏeš haq·qo·ḏā·šîm
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-you-shall-hang the-pārōketh under the-clasps, and-you-shall-bring there, inside the-pārōketh, the-ark of-the-Testimony; and-the-pārōketh shall-divide for-you between the-Holy and the-Holy-of-Holies.
Where the English smooths the original
Taches - Not the same as the hooks of the preceding verse, but the clasps of the tabernacle-cloth (see Exodus 26:6 ).
Under the taches , or, in the place (as the Hebrew tacheth oft signifies) of the taches, to wit, where the two curtains are joined together by taches, Exodus 26:6 .Poole flags the ambiguity in a single preposition: the Hebrew under the taches may mean in the place of — at the seam where the curtains join — rather than strictly directly below, the crux on which the chambers' proportions hang.
The Holy place is thus 20 cubits long, and the Most Holy place 10 cubits; as the latter is also Exodus 10 cubits high and 10 cubits wide, it forms a cube.Cambridge derives the geometry from the clasp-line: the inner sanctuary is a perfect 10-cubit cube — the same cubic Most Holy Place later realized, doubled, in Solomon's Temple and echoed in the New Jerusalem (Rev 21:16).
the curtain shall divide unto you between the holy place and the most holy" (הקּדשׁים קדשׁ the holy of holies). The inner compartment was made into the most holy place through the ark of the covenant with the throne of grace upon it.
the vail shall divide unto you between the holy place and the most holy; which was so thick, that there was no seeing through it; and none might enter by it into the holiest of all but the high priest, and he only on the day of atonement
34Put the mercy seat on the ark of the Testimony in the Most Holy Place.
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
wə·nā·ṯa·tā ’eṯ- hak·kap·pō·reṯ ‘al ’ă·rō·wn hā·‘ê·ḏuṯ bə·qō·ḏeš haq·qo·ḏā·šîm
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-you-shall-put the-kappōreth upon the-ark of-the-Testimony in the-Holy-of-Holies.
Where the English smooths the original
The sole furniture of the most holy place, or “Holy of Holies,” was to be the ark, with its covering of the mercy-seat.
And thou shalt put the mercy seat upon ark of the testimony,.... With the cherubim of glory overshadowing it; all which were a representation of the way of man's salvation flowing from the mercy and grace of God, through the propitiation by Christ, and his perfect righteousness, by which the law is fulfilled
The inner compartment was made into the most holy place through the ark of the covenant with the throne of grace upon it.Keil names the logic of the room: it is not holy first and then furnished, but made the Most Holy Place by what enters it — the ark crowned with the throne of grace (the kappōreth).
35And place the table outside the veil on the north side of the tabernacle, and put the lampstand opposite the table, on the south side.
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
wə·śam·tā ’eṯ- haš·šul·ḥān mi·ḥūṣ lap·pā·rō·ḵeṯ wə·haš·šul·ḥān ‘al- ṣā·p̄ō·wn ṣe·la‘ ham·miš·kān wə·’eṯ- tit·tên ham·mə·nō·rāh nō·ḵaḥ haš·šul·ḥān ‘al tê·mā·nāh ṣe·la‘
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-you-shall-set the-table outside the-pārōketh, and-the-lampstand opposite the-table on the-side-of the-dwelling southward; and-the-table you-shall-put on the-north-side.
Where the English smooths the original
signifying, that in the church of God, in the present state of things, which the holy place was an emblem of, there are both food and light
The table here is, of course, "the table of shew-bread" described in the preceding chapter (vers. 23-30), immediately after the mercy-seat It was to be set "without the veil," in the holy place or outer chamber, against the north wall.
over against ] opposite to , on the south side of the table.
The two other things (already described) were to be placed outside the curtain, viz., in the holy place; the candlestick opposite to the table, the former on the south side of the dwelling, the latter towards the north.
The verse-by-verse work is done. What follows gathers the whole unit. All three layers below are machine-generated (⚙). Weigh them; they have no authority.
AI synthesis — woven from the public-domain voices above and the original text; generated and fallible.
The unit is named for a single object, and the object is named for what it does. The Hebrew is pārōketh (H6532), a rare word — only twenty-three verses in all of Scripture, almost all in the tabernacle texts. Barnes strips it to the bone: "Vail — literally, separation." Keil & Delitzsch trace the root: the curtain "was called פּרכת, lit., division, separation, from פּרך to divide." Cambridge digs deeper still, to cognates outside Hebrew — Assyrian parâku, "to bar or shut off," and parakku, "apartment, esp. shrine in a Temple." So the "veil" is not, at root, a decoration; it is a barrier, the thing that shuts off the inner shrine. And yet it is the most beautiful barrier imaginable — woven of blue, purple, and scarlet on twisted linen (māšəzār, H7806, one of only twenty-one occurrences), with cherubim worked in by the master weaver, "the work of the designer" (Cambridge). The same artistry, the same guardian figures, the same materials as the inner walls of 26:1 — for this is the wall within the wall, the line between the Holy Place and the place where God dwells.
The veil hangs on four acacia pillars, gilded, on silver sockets — and the voices read both the architecture and the materials. Ellicott argues these are "true pillars or columns, and not tent-poles," forming with the veil "a screen, which shut off the 'Holy of Holies' from the outer chamber." The Pulpit Commentary builds a careful inference from arithmetic: four pillars here against "five pillars" at the outer door (v. 37) "justifies the supposition that the veil in the tabernacle did not completely divide the holy of holies from the holy place, but formed a screen, above which the space was open." The materials descend by holiness: the mercy seat within is solid gold (25:17); these pillars are acacia overlaid with gold, standing on silver — the redemption-metal of the census (30:11–16). The barrier into God's presence rests on the price of ransomed lives. Gill takes the columns christologically — "the deity of Christ, which is the support of his human nature… being of 'shittim wood', which is incorruptible, may denote his eternity, and being covered with gold, his glory" — a reading offered, not proven, but native to the older voices.
Now the function is spoken outright. The veil is hung "under the clasps" — and Barnes is careful: "Not the same as the hooks of the preceding verse, but the clasps of the tabernacle-cloth" (26:6), the seam where the two halves of the inner covering join overhead. The ark is brought "within the veil," and then: "the veil shall divide unto you between the holy place and the most holy." The verb is hiḇdîlāh (H914, bādal) — the verb of Genesis 1, where God "divides" light from darkness and waters from waters, and of Leviticus 10:10, where the priests must "distinguish between the holy and the common." The veil does that work in cloth: it makes a holy distinction. Cambridge derives the room's geometry from the clasp-line — "the Most Holy place 10 cubits… it forms a cube" — the perfect cube later doubled in Solomon's Temple. Gill names the function plainly: it was "so thick, that there was no seeing through it; and none might enter by it into the holiest of all but the high priest, and he only on the day of atonement." Keil reads the cause of the room's holiness rightly: "The inner compartment was made into the most holy place through the ark of the covenant with the throne of grace upon it."
The unit ends by sorting the furniture by the line the veil has drawn. Within goes one thing only — the kappōreth upon the ark. Ellicott: "The sole furniture of the most holy place… was to be the ark, with its covering of the mercy-seat." The cover (H3727, built from kipper, "to atone") comes to rest over the Testimony: Gill reads the whole as "the way of man's salvation flowing from the mercy and grace of God, through the propitiation by Christ." Without the veil, in the holy place the priests enter daily, stand the table of the Presence-bread (north) and the golden lampstand (south), "the candlestick opposite to the table" (Keil). Gill draws the lesson: "in the church of God, in the present state of things… there are both food and light." The geography preaches: the place of atonement hidden behind the veil; the place of provision, bread and light, open to the ministering people. Two rooms, one dwelling — and a curtain between, woven with the guardians of Eden, marking how far a sinner may come, and no farther, until the veil is torn.
Tested against Scripture as the final authority — and offered as a fallible reading, not a verdict — three things stand out in this unit. First, the veil's name is its meaning. The hardest lexical fact here is that pārōketh is built on pārak, "to divide," and that Barnes, Keil, and Cambridge all read it as separation / a thing that shuts off. This is not a curtain that happens to divide; it is the divider, in cloth. The whole tabernacle is about God coming near, and the veil is the precise measure of how near a sinner may come — to the threshold of the Most Holy Place, and not a step beyond. Second, the barrier is beautiful, and it is guarded. The same cherubim that bar the way to Eden's tree of life (Gen 3:24) are woven into this barrier. The veil does not merely keep men out crudely; it preaches, in blue and purple and scarlet and gold, that the way to God is closed by holiness, not by mere distance. Third, the whole arrangement is provisional. The New Testament writers — Hebrews especially — read this veil as a standing testimony "that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while the first tabernacle was standing" (Heb 9:8). Henry: "which was signified by the rending of this vail at the death of Christ, Mt 27:51." The veil is, in its very design, a wall waiting to be torn — and when it tears, top to bottom, it is God's own hand opening what the cherubim once guarded. The unit, read whole, is the gospel in architecture: a real and beautiful barrier, set up by God, that God Himself would one day take down in the flesh of His Son.
The veil is a wall built to be torn — guarded by the cherubim of Eden, until the hand that posted them opens the way through the flesh of His Son.
AI-generated connections. Each carries a verification badge with a recorded basis; contested links are flagged.
The veil is woven of the same materials, by the same craft, as the inner covering of the dwelling itself (26:1) — Keil: "of the same material, and woven in the same artistic manner as the inner covering of the walls." The Verifier confirms a dense verbal overlap built on rare vocabulary: the twisted-linen word shâzar (only 21 verses), the royal ’argâmân (purple), shânîy (scarlet), shêsh (linen), and kərûb (cherub) all recur together. When so many scarce color- and craft-words cluster, the link is a quotation in substance: the veil is the dwelling's own fabric, repeated as a wall within the wall.
Exodus 26:31 · Exodus 26:1
basis: Verifier on Exod 26:31 ↔ 26:1: shared rare lexemes H7806 shâzar (21 vv), H8336 shêsh (37 vv), H713 ʼargâmân (38 vv), H8144 shânîy (42 vv), with H3742 kᵉrûwb (66 vv) — clustered rare color/craft vocabulary, the same fabric repeated.
The command of v. 33 — hang the veil, bring the ark within it — is carried out at the tabernacle's consecration: Moses "brought the ark into the tabernacle, and set up the veil of the screen, and screened the ark of the Testimony" (40:21). The Verifier records a verbal overlap on the rare divider-word pārōketh (23 vv) together with ‘ēḏûṯ/Testimony (59 vv) and ’ārôn/ark — the command and its fulfilment told in the same scarce vocabulary, so the link reads as quotation, not mere echo.
Exodus 26:33 · Exodus 40:21
basis: Verifier on Exod 26:33 ↔ 40:21: shared lexemes H6532 pôreketh (23 vv), H5715 ʻêdûwth (59 vv), H727 ʼârôwn (174 vv) — rare divider-word plus two more shared across command and fulfilment.
What the veil is for is spelled out in Leviticus 16: the LORD warns Aaron not to come "at any time into the Holy Place inside the veil, before the mercy seat… so that he will not die," for God "will appear in the cloud over the mercy seat" (16:2). The shared terms are the rare pārōketh (23 vv) and ’ārôn/ark, alongside the common qōdesh (holy). Because the verbal overlap is real but the ritual vocabulary of sacrifice differs, the Verifier scores this structural/thematic, not a quotation. The link is doctrinally central — this is the one day, and the one man, the veil admits — but lexically it rests on the cover-and-divider words alone, and is tiered accordingly.
Exodus 26:33 · Leviticus 16:2
basis: Verifier on Exod 26:33 ↔ Lev 16:2: shared lexemes H6532 pôreketh (23 vv), H727 ʼârôwn (174 vv), H6944 qôdesh (382 vv), H1004 bayith (1709 vv) — the divider-word and ark in common, but the atonement ritual that explains the veil's purpose is not a verbal quotation.
Centuries later, Solomon "made the veil of blue and purple and crimson and fine linen, and worked cherubim on it" (2 Chr 3:14) — the only occurrence of pārōketh outside the Pentateuch (Cambridge). The Verifier confirms a verbal overlap on the rare divider-word pārōketh (23 vv) together with ’argâmân (purple, 38 vv), təkēleth (blue, 49 vv), and kərûb (cherub, 66 vv). The Chronicler is deliberately reproducing the Mosaic veil in the permanent house — multiple shared rare terms across the two builds, so the link is verbal, the tabernacle's barrier rewoven in stone-walled glory.
Exodus 26:31 · 2 Chronicles 3:14
basis: Verifier on Exod 26:31 ↔ 2 Chr 3:14: shared lexemes H6532 pôreketh (23 vv), H713 ʼargâmân (38 vv), H8504 tᵉkêleth (49 vv), H3742 kᵉrûwb (66 vv) — the rare divider-word and royal colors reproduced in the Temple veil.
The figures worked into the veil are the same order of beings posted "east of the garden of Eden… to guard the way to the tree of life" (Gen 3:24). The Verifier confirms the link on the shared word kərûb (H3742, 66 vv). Held honestly: a shared class-noun for guardian beings is a real structural connection — the cherubim are guardians of the holy in every appearance, and on the veil they stand woven into the very barrier that keeps the way to God's presence — but it is not a quotation, and the figures differ in form across contexts. Tiered structural, with the caution stated. The Eden reading is ancient and widely held, though no voice in this unit's sources makes the link in those words — it rests on the shared guardian-figure, not on a commentator's assertion.
Exodus 26:31 · Genesis 3:24
basis: Verifier: shared lexeme H3742 kᵉrûwb (66 vv) — a shared class-noun for guardian beings (Eden's gate, the veil); a recurring motif of barred access to the holy, not a verbal quotation; the figures' forms differ across contexts.
Hebrews reads this very veil as a standing sign: the Holy Spirit was "showing by this that the way into the holy places had not yet been opened as long as the first tabernacle was still standing" (Heb 9:8). When Christ died, "the veil of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom" (Matt 27:51) — Henry: this "was signified by the rending of this vail at the death of Christ." Held honestly: this is a cross-Testament link (Greek ↔ Hebrew), so it cannot rest on shared Strong's numbers; the Verifier finds "no shared original-language lexeme." The Greek katapetasma (the veil) is the LXX's standard rendering of pārōketh, and the Gospel and Hebrews build their theology on that identification — an interpretive and typological bridge, not a strictly verbal one. Flagged so the basis is argued in the open, not asserted.
Exodus 26:33 · Matthew 27:51 · Hebrews 9:8 · Hebrews 10:19
basis: Verifier on Exod 26:33 ↔ Heb 9:3 / Matt 27:51: no shared original-language lexeme (cross-Testament Greek↔Hebrew cannot share Strong's). The link is mediated by the LXX rendering pārōketh = katapetasma, on which Heb 9:8, Heb 10:19–20, and Matt 27:51 build the torn-veil typology — a translational/typological bridge, argued not asserted.
AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.
The oldest Christian reading of this veil is double, and the New Testament holds both halves together. As a barrier, the veil testified "that the way into the holiest of all was not made manifest, while the first tabernacle was standing" — Henry cites Heb 9:8 for exactly this, and Benson the same chapter (Heb 9:11, 9:24). As a way, Hebrews names it Christ's own body: we enter the holiest "by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh" (Heb 10:19–20). Gill, on this very verse, reaches the same identification: the veil was "typical of the human nature of Christ, his flesh, called in allusion to it the vail of his flesh, Hebrews 10:20." The torn flesh of Christ is the torn veil — the barrier that, broken, becomes the door. Held honestly: this is the New Testament's own typology (Heb 9–10), ancient and widely held, though it rests on the LXX identification of veil-words across the Testaments rather than on a shared Hebrew lexeme.
Exodus 26:31 · Exodus 26:33 · Hebrews 9:8 · Hebrews 10:19
At the death of Christ "the veil of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom" (Matt 27:51) — and the direction matters: not bottom to top, as a man would tear it, but top to bottom, as God tears it. Henry states the unit's typology plainly: the way into the holiest "was not made manifest, while the first tabernacle was standing… which was signified by the rending of this vail at the death of Christ." The cherubim woven into the veil (v. 31) are the same guardians who barred the way to the tree of life (Gen 3:24); the rending of the veil is God's own undoing of the exile from His presence. Now, Henry continues, "we have now boldness to enter into the holiest, in all acts of worship, by the blood of Jesus" — the very point Hebrews 10:19 presses. This is the ancient and near-universal Christian reading of the torn veil.
Exodus 26:33 · Matthew 27:51 · Hebrews 10:19 · Genesis 3:24
This reading is more inferential, offered as such. Benson and Gill both note a second sense of the veil: under the old covenant "divine grace was veiled, whereas now we behold it with open face" (Benson) — the veil signifying "the obscurity of the legal dispensation, the Gospel being veiled under the shadows of the law" (Gill). The thought reaches forward to Paul, who in 2 Corinthians 3 takes up the veil image directly: a veil lies over the reading of the old covenant, but "when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed" (2 Cor 3:16). The same word-picture — concealment under the law, unveiling in Christ — runs from this curtain to Paul's argument. The precise framing here is novel, but it is built from the voices and from Paul's own use of the figure.
Exodus 26:31 · Exodus 26:33 · Hebrews 9:8 · Hebrews 10:20
The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). Hebrew/Greek text, transliteration, morphology and Strong’s are transcribed from the Berean interlinear (CC0) + Strong’s lexicons (PD); the literal renderings, divergence notes, word notes and all synthesis are this tool’s own work (⚙) — fallible; verify them.
Named voices, quoted verbatim from public-domain works:
The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). The named voices are quoted verbatim from public-domain commentaries via Biblehub, attributed in place: Ellicott, Benson, Matthew Henry, Barnes, Jamieson-Fausset-Brown, Poole, Gill, the Geneva Study Bible, the Cambridge Bible, the Pulpit Commentary, and Keil & Delitzsch. This unit has no Psalms verse, so Spurgeon's Treasury of David is not featured here — his verse-by-verse work belongs to the Psalter.
The Hebrew is the Masoretic tradition; transliterations, literal renderings, divergence notes, and all synthesis (⚙) are this tool's own fallible work — check them against BDB/HALOT and a standard grammar. On the central word: the rendering of pārōketh as divider / separation (not merely "veil") follows Barnes ("literally, separation"), Keil & Delitzsch, and the Cambridge Bible's cognate evidence; it is the consensus of the voices and not contested here. On the chambers' geometry: whether the veil divided the dwelling into two equal halves or a 2-to-1 proportion turns on the single preposition taḥaṯ ("under") in v. 33, and the voices genuinely disagree — Ellicott allows either; Cambridge and the Pulpit Commentary favor the unequal division yielding a cubic Most Holy Place; Poole notes taḥaṯ "oft signifies" in the place of. That dispute is preserved, not resolved. On the cross-references: intra-Hebrew links carry bases computed by the Verifier from shared Strong's lexemes (with frequency given so rarity can be judged). The single flagged link — the veil → Hebrews 9:8 / Matthew 27:51 — is flagged on purpose: it is a cross-Testament (Greek↔Hebrew) connection that cannot rest on shared Strong's numbers and depends instead on the LXX's rendering of pārōketh as katapetasma, reused by the Gospel and Hebrews. The torn-veil typology is rich, ancient, and central to the New Testament, but its basis is translational and typological — argued, not asserted. "Test all things; hold fast what is good."
✦ = human, public-domain source, quoted and named. ⚙ = machine synthesis, to be verified. Flagged cross-references are left visible on purpose — the verifier working in the open. “Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)