Bible Strands
1 Kings 6:4
He also had narrow windows framed high in the temple.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The biblical narrator addresses the reader during the architectural survey of Solomon’s temple construction. This verse records a specific structural detail while the front portico and surrounding side chambers are being measured and built.
The words — The phrase employs שְקֻפִים (she.ku.Fim), meaning frames or shutters, and אֲטֻמִים ('a.tu.Mim), meaning shut or closed, to describe the window assembly. Together they indicate the windows were fitted with fixed or closable frames rather than left as open apertures.
The thread — The same architectural feature appears in Ezekiel’s temple vision, where Ezekiel 40:16, 41:16, and 41:26 describe similar framed or beveled windows surrounding the gateway and sanctuary. This lexical and structural repetition links Solomon’s historical temple to the prophet’s future vision.
Why it lands — The text specifies that the temple windows were positioned high and fitted with shutters, indicating a deliberate architectural choice to regulate light and maintain structural integrity. A reader must note this practical detail as part of the temple’s precise construction specifications rather than interpreting it symbolically.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And for the house he made windows of narrow lights.
Cross-references
- Ezekiel 40:16 The gate chambers and their side pillars had beveled windows all around the inside of the gateway. The porticos also had windows all around on the inside. Each side pillar was decorated with palm trees.
- Ezekiel 41:16 as well as the thresholds and the beveled windows and the galleries all around with their three levels opposite the threshold, were overlaid with wood on all sides. They were paneled from the ground to the windows, and the windows were covered.
- Ezekiel 41:26 There were beveled windows and palm trees on the sidewalls of the portico. The side rooms of the temple also had canopies.
- Song of Solomon 2:9 My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag. Look, he stands behind our wall, gazing through the windows, peering through the lattice.