טֶ֫פַח (te.phach)
te.phach
handbreadth
H:N-MQuick Reference
- Language
- Biblical Hebrew
- Testament
- Old Testament
- Occurrences
- 3 verses
- Root
- —
- Part of speech
- H:N-M
Word Overview
The Hebrew noun te.phach refers to a handbreadth, serving as a basic unit of linear measurement in the Old Testament. It denotes the width of an open hand or, more precisely, the span between the thumb and little finger when fully extended. This practical, body-based metric provided a standard for everyday dimensions before standardized systems existed.
Although it appears only three times in Scripture, its presence is notable in architectural descriptions within 1 Kings and 2 Chronicles. These passages use the term to specify the thickness of temple structures or coping stones, grounding sacred geometry in tangible, human-scale proportions. The word bridges the gap between abstract divine instruction and physical construction.
Its brevity in the text highlights how ancient Israelites measured their world through familiar bodily references. By anchoring monumental religious architecture to such a small, personal unit, the text emphasizes that the temple’s grandeur was built from ordinary, accessible measures, reflecting a theology where the divine presence inhabited spaces crafted by human hands.
Based on public-domain lexicons (Strong's, Thayer, Gesenius, Brown-Driver-Briggs and others).
What This Word Means for Your Faith
A handbreadth is a small, intimate unit: the width of an open hand. In 1 Kings 7, it describes the thickness of the bronze sea's rim: "It was a hand width thick." That detail grounds the temple's splendor in something you could touch. The vessel held two thousand baths for priestly washing, yet its rim was just a hand's width. God does not dismiss the small and familiar. The majestic was built with measurements that every Israelite understood.
Your own life holds many "handbreadths": a quiet prayer, a meal shared, a simple kindness. These seem as thin as the rim of a great basin, yet God wove them into His plan for a holy place. The temple stones, cut according to measure, from foundation to coping, were set with such care. So too your ordinary faithfulness, measured in minutes and small acts, becomes part of a sacred dwelling. The God who filled the temple with glory does not overlook the handbreadth.
How it's translated
How this word is rendered word-by-word in the 3 verses where it appears, by frequency.
- [was] a hand breadth2×
- the/ coping stone1×
Forms in the text
The inflected forms of this word as they appear in Scripture, by frequency.
- טֶ֔פַח2×
- הַ/טְּפָח֔וֹת1×
Key Verses
-
I Kings 7:9
All these were of costly stones, even of stone cut according to measure, sawed with saws, inside and outside, even from the foundation to the coping, and so on the outside to the great court.
The term specifies the thickness of the coping stones, anchoring the temple's grand scale in a tangible human dimension.
-
I Kings 7:26
It was a hand width thick. Its brim was worked like the brim of a cup, like the flower of a lily. It held two thousand baths.
The handbreadth thickness of the bronze sea's rim highlights the deliberate, small-scale detail within a monumental vessel for priestly cleansing.
-
II Chronicles 4:5
It was a handbreadth thick. Its brim was made like the brim of a cup, like the flower of a lily. It received and held three thousand baths.
The same measurement in the Chronicler's account emphasizes the consistency and precision of the sacred design across Israel's history.