Limitless Word
For the entrance to the tent, you are to make a curtain embroidered with blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, and finely spun linen.
Exodus 26:36 · Berean Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB “You shall make a screen for the door of the Tent, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, the work of the embroiderer.
  • KJV And thou shalt make an hanging for the door of the tent, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, wrought with needlework.
  • NKJV “You shall make a screen for the door of the tabernacle, woven of blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and fine woven linen, made by a weaver.
  • NASB “You shall also make a curtain for the doorway of the tent of violet, purple, and scarlet material and fine twisted linen, the work of a weaver.
  • NLT “Make another curtain for the entrance to the sacred tent. Make it of finely woven linen and embroider it with exquisite designs, using blue, purple, and scarlet thread.

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 screen of fine embroidered linen in blue, purple, and scarlet was to cover the tent's entrance. This formed the doorway into the Holy Place.

Overview

A beautifully embroidered curtain served as the entrance to the tabernacle, marking the way in to God's dwelling. Its rich colors echoed the veil and the inner curtains, though as an entrance rather than a barrier. The door granting entry into God's house quietly anticipates Christ, who said, 'I am the door' (John 10:9).

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 11

  • Exod 36:37For the entrance to the tent, he made a curtain embroidered with blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, and finely spun linen,
  • Exod 40:28–29Then he put up the curtain at the entrance to the tabernacle.
  • 2 Sam 7:6For I have not dwelt in a house from the day I brought the Israelites up out of Egypt until this day, but I have moved about with a tent as My dwelling.
  • Exod 26:31Make a veil of blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, and finely spun linen, with cherubim skillfully worked into it.
  • John 14:6Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
  • Exod 35:11the tabernacle with its tent and covering, its clasps and frames, its crossbars, posts, and bases;
  • Num 3:25The duties of the Gershonites at the Tent of Meeting were the tabernacle and tent, its covering, the curtain for the entrance to the Tent of Meeting,
  • Ps 78:60He abandoned the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent He had pitched among men.
  • John 10:9I am the gate. If anyone enters through Me, he will be saved. He will come in and go out and find pasture.
  • Exod 39:33Then they brought the tabernacle to Moses: the tent with all its furnishings, its clasps, its frames, its crossbars, and its posts and bases;
  • Num 9:15On the day that the tabernacle, the Tent of the Testimony, was set up, the cloud covered it and appeared like fire above the tabernacle from evening until morning.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (5)

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 26:36YouTube · 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 26:36 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.