And he made the vail of blue, and purple, and crimson, and fine linen, and wrought cherubims thereon.

2 CHRONICLES 3:14KJV
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2 Chronicles 3:14 (KJV)

What does 2 Chronicles 3:14 mean?

2 Chronicles 3:14 describes a decorated curtain in the temple Solomon built in Jerusalem. Made with fine linen and rich colors, the curtain bore figures of cherubim, heavenly beings often pictured with wings.

The curtain marked off the temple’s innermost room, called the most holy place. The writer has just described large cherubim inside that room; now the curtain carries their likeness where the space is screened from view.

The Hebrew behind 2 Chronicles 3:14

  • “vail” — פָּרֹכֶת (parokhet): This word refers to a curtain or hanging screen. In the earlier tent of worship, a curtain with the same name separated the holy place from the most holy place.
  • “cherubims” — כְּרוּבִים (keruvim): These are heavenly beings represented in sacred art. The Hebrew plural already means more than one; the KJV adds an English plural ending.

Why 2 Chronicles 3:14 matters

  • The curtain was part of a carefully ordered building, not just a decoration. The most holy place had its own dimensions and furnishings in the surrounding description.
  • The colored curtain links Solomon’s temple with the earlier tent used for worship. Exodus 26:31 also describes a curtain of blue, purple, scarlet, and fine linen with cherubim on it.
  • The verse places images of cherubim on a textile as well as in the room itself. The large figures in 2 Chronicles 3:10–13 and the figures on the curtain show that the same image appeared in more than one form.

Where else these words appear

“crimson” Hebrew H3758 · used in 3 verses

  • 2 Chronicles 2:7 Send me now therefore a man cunning to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, and in iron, and in purple, and crimson, and blue, and that can skill to grave with the cunning men that are with me in Judah and in Jerusalem, whom David my father did provide.
  • 2 Chronicles 2:14 The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan, and his father was a man of Tyre, skilful to work in gold, and in silver, in brass, in iron, in stone, and in timber, in purple, in blue, and in fine linen, and in crimson; also to grave any manner of graving, and to find out every device which shall be put to him, with thy cunning men, and with the cunning men of my lord David thy father.

“linen” Hebrew H948 · used in 8 verses

  • 1 Chronicles 4:21 The sons of Shelah the son of Judah were, Er the father of Lecah, and Laadah the father of Mareshah, and the families of the house of them that wrought fine linen, of the house of Ashbea,
  • 2 Chronicles 2:14 The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan, and his father was a man of Tyre, skilful to work in gold, and in silver, in brass, in iron, in stone, and in timber, in purple, in blue, and in fine linen, and in crimson; also to grave any manner of graving, and to find out every device which shall be put to him, with thy cunning men, and with the cunning men of my lord David thy father.
  • Esther 1:6 Where were white, green, and blue, hangings, fastened with cords of fine linen and purple to silver rings and pillars of marble: the beds were of gold and silver, upon a pavement of red, and blue, and white, and black, marble.

“vail” Hebrew H6532 · used in 23 verses

  • Exodus 26:31 And thou shalt make a vail of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen of cunning work: with cherubims shall it be made:
  • Exodus 38:27 And of the hundred talents of silver were cast the sockets of the sanctuary, and the sockets of the vail; an hundred sockets of the hundred talents, a talent for a socket.
  • Leviticus 4:17 And the priest shall dip his finger in some of the blood, and sprinkle it seven times before the LORD, even before the vail.

“purple” Hebrew H713 · used in 38 verses

  • Exodus 25:4 And blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats' hair,
  • Exodus 35:25 And all the women that were wise hearted did spin with their hands, and brought that which they had spun, both of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, and of fine linen.
  • Exodus 39:24 And they made upon the hems of the robe pomegranates of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and twined linen.