The wick trimmers and their trays must be of pure gold.
Parallel translations
- WEB Its snuffers and its snuff dishes shall be of pure gold.
- KJV And the tongs thereof, and the snuffdishes thereof, shall be of pure gold.
- NKJV And its wick-trimmers and their trays shall be of pure gold.
- NASB Its tongs and its trays shall be of pure gold.
- NLT The lamp snuffers and trays must also be made of pure gold.
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 lampstand's tools — snuffers (wick trimmers) and snuff dishes — were also to be made of pure gold. Even the maintenance implements of God's house shared in its holiness and value.
Overview
Tending the lamp required trimming wicks and removing the residue, so these tools too were fashioned of pure gold to match the lampstand. Nothing connected to the light that burned before the Lord was treated as common. This care reminds us that serving God is never trivial, and points forward to Christ, the true Light, whose ministry is wholly precious and holy.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- 1 Kgs 7:50the pure gold basins, wick trimmers, sprinkling bowls, ladles, and censers; and the gold hinges for the doors of the inner temple (that is, the Most Holy Place) as well as for the doors of the main hall of the temple.
- 2 Chr 4:21the flowers, lamps, and tongs of gold—of purest gold;
- 2 Kgs 25:14They also took away the pots, shovels, wick trimmers, dishes, and all the articles of bronze used in the temple service.
- Num 4:9They are to take a blue cloth and cover the lampstand used for light, together with its lamps, wick trimmers, and trays, as well as the jars of oil with which to supply it.
- Jer 52:18They also took away the pots, shovels, wick trimmers, sprinkling bowls, dishes, and all the articles of bronze used in the temple service.
- 2 Kgs 12:13However, the money brought into the house of the LORD was not used for making silver basins, wick trimmers, sprinkling bowls, trumpets, or any articles of gold or silver for the house of the LORD.
- Exod 37:23He also made its seven lamps, its wick trimmers, and trays of pure gold.
- Isa 6:6Then one of the seraphim flew to me, and in his hand was a glowing coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar.
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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 25:38 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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