Exodus 26:16

Old Testament Law (Torah) ASV (1901)

What does Exodus 26:16 say?

The American Standard Version records this verse as: “Ten cubits shall be the length of a board, and a cubit and a half the breadth of each board.” Read the surrounding verses and the named sources below before drawing broader conclusions.

The verse

Ten cubits shall be the length of a board, and a cubit and a half the breadth of each board.
Exodus 26:16 — American Standard Version

Context — Exodus 26

American Standard Version (1901) — public domain. Click any verse for its study page.
16Ten cubits shall be the length of a board, and a cubit and a half the breadth of each board.

What do historical commentaries say?

John Gill's Exposition
John Gill (1697–1771) · Exposition of the Old and New Testament · 18th-century historical commentary
“Ten cubits shall be the length of a board, etc.] Or five yards, according to the common cubit: and a cubit and a half shall be the breadth of one board; or three quarters of a yard; and from hence we may learn what were the height and the length of the tabernacle; according to the common computation of a cubit, it was but five yards high and fifteen long, since there were but twenty boards on each side, (<022618>Exodus 26:18,20), but if three inches are added to each cubit, it will make its measures considerably larger: Josephus f787 says the boards were four fingers thick: according to Bishop Cumberland the boards of the tabernacle, containing fifteen Jewish square cubits, were very near…”
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Barnes' Notes
Albert Barnes (1798–1870) · Notes on the Whole Bible · 19th-century historical commentary
“(Compare Exodus 36:8-33.) The tabernacle was to comprise three main parts, the tabernacle Exodus 26:1-6, more strictly so-called, its tent Exodus 26:7-13, and its covering Exodus 26:14 (Compare Exodus 35:11; Exodus 39:33-34; Exodus 40:19, Exodus 40:34; Numbers 3:25, etc.). These parts are very clearly distinguished in the Hebrew, but they are confounded in many places of the English Version (see Exodus 26:7, Exodus 26:9, etc.). The tabernacle itself was to consist of curtains of fine linen woven with colored figures of cherubim, and a structure of boards which was to contain the holy place and the most holy place; the tent was to be a true tent of goats’ hair cloth to contain and shelter the…”
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Related study paths

Sources and verification