Bible Strands
Exodus 25:20
And the cherubim are to have wings that spread upward, overshadowing the mercy seat. The cherubim are to face each other, looking toward the mercy seat.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — God gives Moses and the Israelite artisans the exact construction specifications for the mercy seat during the wilderness tabernacle project.
The words — כְּנָפַיִם (khe.na.Fa.yim) means wings, and סֹכְכִים (so.khe.Khim) literally means covering or overshadowing, describing the physical function of the cherubim's wings.
The thread — The same winged cherubim configuration appears in 1 Kings 8:7 where they overshadow the ark, 1 Chronicles 28:18 which records the gold cherubim plans, and Hebrews 9:5 which notes they overshadowed the mercy seat.
Why it lands — The passage commands precise obedience to divine architectural instructions, requiring the cherubim to face each other with upward-spread wings directly over the mercy seat.
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 the cherubims shall stretch forth their wings on high, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and their faces shall look one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubims be.
Cross-references
- 1 Kings 8:7 For the cherubim spread their wings over the place of the ark and overshadowed the ark and its poles.
- 1 Chronicles 28:18 the weight of the refined gold for the altar of incense; and the plans for the chariot of the gold cherubim that spread their wings and overshadowed the ark of the covenant of the LORD.
- Hebrews 9:5 Above the ark were the cherubim of glory, overshadowing the mercy seat. But we cannot discuss these things in detail now.
- Genesis 28:12 And Jacob had a dream about a ladder that rested on the earth with its top reaching up to heaven, and God’s angels were going up and down the ladder.
- Exodus 25:18 Make two cherubim of hammered gold at the ends of the mercy seat,
- 2 Chronicles 3:10 In the Most Holy Place he made two cherubim of sculptured work, and he overlaid them with gold.
- Isaiah 6:1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted; and the train of His robe filled the temple.
- Ezekiel 1:20 Wherever the spirit would go, they would go, and the wheels would rise alongside them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.
- Ezekiel 28:14 You were anointed as a guardian cherub, for I had ordained you. You were on the holy mountain of God; you walked among the fiery stones.
- Matthew 24:31 And He will send out His angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather His elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.