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Make a veil of blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, and finely spun linen, with cherubim skillfully worked into it.
Exodus 26:31 · Berean Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB “You shall make a veil of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, with cherubim. The work of the skillful workman shall it be made.
  • KJV And thou shalt make a vail of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen of cunning work: with cherubims shall it be made:
  • NKJV “You shall make a veil woven of blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and fine woven linen. It shall be woven with an artistic design of cherubim.
  • NASB “You shall also make a veil of violet, purple, and scarlet material, and fine twisted linen; it shall be made with cherubim, the work of a skilled embroiderer.
  • NLT “For the inside of the Tabernacle, make a special curtain of finely woven linen. Decorate it with blue, purple, and scarlet thread and with skillfully embroidered cherubim.

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

A veil of fine linen in blue, purple, and scarlet, woven with cherubim, was to be made. This curtain separated the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place.

Overview

The richly woven veil, bearing cherubim like the inner curtains, marked the boundary of God's immediate presence. The cherubim recalled the guardians barring access to holiness since Eden. Hebrews and the Gospels show this veil's deep significance: at Christ's death it was torn, opening the way into God's presence (Matthew 27:51; Hebrews 10:19-20).

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 24

  • Matt 27:51At that moment the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth quaked and the rocks were split.
  • 2 Chr 3:14He made the veil of blue, purple, and crimson yarn and fine linen, with cherubim woven into it.
  • Exod 36:35Next, he made the veil of blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, and finely spun linen, with cherubim skillfully worked into it.
  • Lev 16:2And the LORD said to Moses: “Tell your brother Aaron not to enter freely into the Most Holy Place behind the veil in front of the mercy seat on the ark, or else he will die, because I appear in the cloud above the mercy seat.
  • Exod 26:1“You are to construct the tabernacle itself with ten curtains of finely spun linen, each with blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, and cherubim skillfully worked into them.
  • Exod 36:8All the skilled craftsmen among the workmen made the ten curtains for the tabernacle. They were made of finely spun linen, as well as blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, with cherubim skillfully worked into them.
  • Heb 9:3–8Behind the second curtain was a room called the Most Holy Place,
  • 2 Chr 2:7–13Send me, therefore, a craftsman skilled in engraving to work with gold and silver, with bronze and iron, and with purple, crimson, and blue yarn. He will work with my craftsmen in Judah and Jerusalem, whom my father David provided.
  • Exod 40:21Then he brought the ark into the tabernacle, put up the veil for the screen, and shielded off the ark of the Testimony, just as the LORD had commanded him.
  • Exod 35:25Every skilled woman spun with her hands and brought what she had spun: blue, purple, or scarlet yarn, or fine linen.
  • Exod 25:18Make two cherubim of hammered gold at the ends of the mercy seat,
  • Exod 35:6blue, purple, and scarlet yarn; fine linen and goat hair;
  • Ps 137:5If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand cease to function.
  • Exod 25:4blue, purple, and scarlet yarn; fine linen and goat hair;
  • Exod 35:35He has filled them with skill to do all kinds of work as engravers, designers, embroiderers in blue, purple, and scarlet yarn and fine linen, and as weavers—as artistic designers of every kind of craft.
  • Exod 28:15You are also to make a breastpiece of judgment with the same workmanship as the ephod. Construct it with gold, with blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, and with finely spun linen.
  • Lev 16:15Aaron shall then slaughter the goat for the sin offering for the people and bring its blood behind the veil, and with its blood he must do as he did with the bull’s blood: He is to sprinkle it against the mercy seat and in front of it.
  • Eph 2:14For He Himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has torn down the dividing wall of hostility
  • Exod 38:23With him was Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, an engraver, designer, and embroiderer in blue, purple, and scarlet yarn and fine linen.
  • Exod 40:3Put the ark of the Testimony in it and screen off the ark with the veil.
  • Mark 15:38And the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.
  • Heb 10:20–21by the new and living way opened for us through the curtain of His body,
  • Luke 23:45The sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was torn down the middle.
  • Song 7:1How beautiful are your sandaled feet, O daughter of the prince! The curves of your thighs are like jewels, the handiwork of a master.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (6)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Exodus videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Exodus 26:31YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on ExodusMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

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 26:31 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

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.