Passage

Exodus 25.17-22

Book: Exodus · NASB95

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

"15. The staves shall be in the rings of the ark: they shall not be taken from it. 16. And thou shalt put into the ark the testimony which I shall give thee."

"17. And thou shalt make a mercy-seat of pure gold: two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof. 18. And thou shalt make two cherubim of gold; of beaten work shalt thou make them, at the two ends of the mercy-seat. 19. And make one cherub at the one end, and one cherub at the other end: of one piece with the mercy-seat shall ye make the cherubim on the two ends thereof. 20. And the cherubim shall spread out their wings on high, covering the mercy-seat with their wings, with their faces one to another; toward the mercy-seat shall the faces of the cherubim be. 21. And thou shalt put the mercy-seat above upon the ark; and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee. 22. And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy-seat, from between the two cherubim which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel."

"23. And thou shalt make a table of acacia wood: two cubits shall be the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof. 24. And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, and make thereto a crown of gold round about." (Exodus 25:15-24, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"15. The poles shall be in the rings of the ark. They shall not be taken from it. 16. You shall put the testimony which I shall give you into the ark."

"17. You shall make a mercy seat of pure gold. Two and a half cubits shall be its length, and a cubit and a half its width. 18. You shall make two cherubim of hammered gold. You shall make them at the two ends of the mercy seat. 19. Make one cherub at the one end, and one cherub at the other end. You shall make the cherubim on its two ends of one piece with the mercy seat. 20. The cherubim shall spread out their wings upward, covering the mercy seat with their wings, with their faces toward one another. The faces of the cherubim shall be toward the mercy seat. 21. You shall put the mercy seat on top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the testimony that I will give you. 22. There I will meet with you, and I will tell you from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are on the ark of the testimony, all that I command you for the children of Israel."

"23. “You shall make a table of acacia wood. Two cubits shall be its length, and a cubit its width, and one and a half cubits its height. 24. You shall overlay it with pure gold, and make a gold molding around it." (Exodus 25:15-24, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"15. The staves shall be in the rings of the ark: they shall not be taken from it. 16. And thou shalt put into the ark the testimony which I shall give thee."

"17. And thou shalt make a mercy seat of pure gold: two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof. 18. And thou shalt make two cherubims of gold, of beaten work shalt thou make them, in the two ends of the mercy seat. 19. And make one cherub on the one end, and the other cherub on the other end: even of the mercy seat shall ye make the cherubims on the two ends thereof. ^{of: or, of the matter of the mercy seat} 20. 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. 21. And thou shalt put the mercy seat above upon the ark; and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee. 22. And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel."

"23. Thou shalt also make a table of shittim wood: two cubits shall be the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof. 24. And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, and make thereto a crown of gold round about." (Exodus 25:15-24, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"15. in the rings of the ark are the staves, they are not turned aside from it; 16. and thou hast put unto the ark the testimony which I give unto thee."

"17. 'And thou hast made a mercy-seat of pure gold, two cubits and a half its length, and a cubit and a half its breadth; 18. and thou hast made two cherubs of gold, beaten work dost thou make them, at the two ends of the mercy-seat; 19. and make thou one cherub at the end on this side, and one cherub at the end on that; at the mercy-seat ye do make the cherubs on its two ends. 20. 'And the cherubs have been spreading out wings on high, covering the mercy-seat over with their wings, and their faces [are] one towards another, towards the mercy-seat are the faces of the cherubs. 21. 'And thou hast put the mercy-seat on the ark above, and unto the ark thou dost put the testimony which I give unto thee; 22. and I have met with thee there, and have spoken with thee from off the mercy-seat (from between the two cherubs, which [are] on the ark of the testimony) all that which I command thee concerning the sons of Israel."

"23. 'And thou hast made a table of shittim wood, two cubits its length, and a cubit its breadth, and a cubit and a half its height, 24. and hast overlaid it [with] pure gold, and hast made for it a crown of gold round about," (Exodus 25:15-24, YLT)

Setting

Speaker: TBD
Audience: TBD
Location: TBD
Time period: TBD

Theological reading

Patristic / early-church-father exegesis, to be added.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

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Quoted in

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.