The cherubim will face each other and look down on the atonement cover. With their wings spread above it, they will protect it.
Parallel translations
- WEB 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.
- KJV 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.
- BSB 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.
- NKJV And the cherubim shall stretch out their wings above, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and they shall face one another; the faces of the cherubim shall be toward the mercy seat.
- NASB And the cherubim shall have their wings spread upward, covering the atoning cover with their wings and facing one another; the faces of the cherubim are to be turned toward the atoning cover.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The cherubim spread their wings over the mercy seat, facing one another and looking toward it. Their posture framed and honored the place where God met His people.
Overview
With wings outstretched and faces bowed toward the mercy seat, the cherubim depict reverent attention to the place of atonement and God's presence. This visual centered all attention on the throne of grace between them. Heaven itself, represented by the cherubim, gazes upon the meeting place of God and sinners. The image foreshadows the wonder of angels who long to look into the salvation accomplished in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 19
- 1 Chr 28:18and for the altar of incense refined gold by weight; and gold for the plans for the chariot, and the cherubim that spread out and cover the ark of Yahweh’s covenant.
- 1 Kgs 8:7For the cherubim spread their wings out over the place of the ark, and the cherubim covered the ark and its poles above.
- Heb 9:5and above it cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat, of which things we can’t speak now in detail.
- Isa 6:1–5In the year that king Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up; and his train filled the temple.
- 2 Chr 3:10In the most holy place he made two cherubim by carving; and they overlaid them with gold.
- Gen 28:12He dreamed. Behold, a stairway set upon the earth, and its top reached to heaven. Behold, the angels of God ascending and descending on it.
- Eph 3:10to the intent that now through the assembly the manifold wisdom of God might be made known to the principalities and the powers in the heavenly places,
- 1 Pet 3:22who is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, angels and authorities and powers being made subject to him.
- Rev 5:11–12I saw, and I heard something like a voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousands of ten thousands, and thousands of thousands;
- 1 Cor 4:9For, I think that God has displayed us, the apostles, last of all, like men sentenced to death. For we are made a spectacle to the world, both to angels and men.
- Col 2:10and in him you are made full, who is the head of all principality and power;
- Ezek 1:20Wherever the spirit was to go, they went; there was the spirit to go: and the wheels were lifted up beside them; for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.
- John 1:51He said to him, “Most certainly, I tell you, hereafter you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”
- Exod 25:18You shall make two cherubim of hammered gold. You shall make them at the two ends of the mercy seat.
- 1 Cor 11:10For this cause the woman ought to have authority over her own head, because of the angels.
- Heb 1:14Aren’t they all serving spirits, sent out to do service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation?
- Matt 24:31He will send out his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together his chosen ones from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.
- 1 Pet 1:12To them it was revealed, that not to themselves, but to you, they ministered these things, which now have been announced to you through those who preached the Good News to you by the Holy Spirit sent out from heaven; which things angels desire to look into.
- Ezek 28:14You were the anointed cherub who covers: and I set you, so that you were on the holy mountain of God; you have walked up and down in the middle of the stones of fire.
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Christ at the center
The Passover lamb whose blood turns away death, the exodus through the sea, the manna, the rock, and the tabernacle where God dwells with his people all foreshadow Jesus — our Passover, our redemption, the bread from heaven, and God-with-us in the flesh.
How Exodus 25:20 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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