Bible Strands
Exodus 37:20
And on the lampstand were four cups shaped like almond blossoms with buds and petals.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The narrator records the artisan’s work on the tabernacle’s lampstand during its assembly.
The words — גְבִעִים (ge.vi.'Im) translates literally to cups, while מְשֻׁקָּדִים (me.Shu.ka.Dim) means shaped like almond blossoms.
The thread — The almond blossom cup design is specified earlier in Exodus 25:33 for the lampstand’s branches. The motif reappears in Numbers 17:8 as a sign of divine election and in Ecclesiastes 12:5 as a symbol of aging.
Why it lands — The verse records exact measurements and botanical shapes for a sacred object, demanding precise attention to liturgical construction. It requires the reader to recognize how physical craftsmanship encodes theological symbolism in worship spaces.
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 in the candlestick were four bowls made like almonds, his knops, and his flowers:
Cross-references
- Exodus 25:33 There are to be three cups shaped like almond blossoms on the first branch, each with buds and petals, three on the next branch, and the same for all six branches that extend from the lampstand.
- Numbers 17:8 The next day Moses entered the Tent of the Testimony and saw that Aaron’s staff, representing the house of Levi, had sprouted, put forth buds, blossomed, and produced almonds.
- Ecclesiastes 12:5 when men fear the heights and dangers of the road, when the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper loses its spring, and the caper berry shrivels—for then man goes to his eternal home and mourners walk the streets.
- Jeremiah 1:11 And the word of the LORD came to me, asking, “Jeremiah, what do you see?” “I see a branch of an almond tree,” I replied.