keresh · board, frame

What it means

keresh (קֶרֶשׁ) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “board, frame”.

Board, plank; it may also be a wooden frame. Once it is the deck of a ship (Ezekiel 27:6).

How to say it

Approximate pronunciation. Vowels sound as in Spanish (a as in father, e as in bed, i as in machine, o as in note, u as in rule); the syllable in bold is stressed. The voice is your device's.

Its senses in the Bible

1. A flat piece of wood in the sanctuary.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

Board, plank: each of the upright pieces of wood that form the walls of the dwelling. In Ezekiel 27:6 it is the planking of a ship.

• The boards of the dwelling Exodus 26:15Exodus 26:16Exodus 36:20
• The charge of the sons of Merari Numbers 3:36
• The planking of the ship of Tyre Ezekiel 27:6

Historical and cultural background

Exodus 26 describes the boards: of acacia wood, standing upright, ten cubits long and a cubit and a half wide, each on two bases of silver (Exodus 26:15-19). When the dwelling was taken down, the sons of Merari carried them (Numbers 3:36).

How we translate it

“Boards” 31 times and “board” 17; the singular appears often in “each board”, because Exodus 26 and 36 repeat the word in Hebrew to say ‘each one’ (“Two tenons {shall be} for each board”, Exodus 26:17). In Numbers 3:36, “the frames of the dwelling”, and in Ezekiel 27:6, of a ship, “planking”.

How it is translated

The words this translation uses for it, most frequent first.

• boards ×31
• board ×17
• frames ×2
• planking ×1

Where it appears

• Exodus×48
• Numbers×2
• Ezekiel×1

• Exodus 26:15

  You shall make the boards for the dwelling of acacia wood, standing upright.

• Exodus 26:16

  Ten cubits shall be the length of the board, and a cubit and a half the width of each board.

• Exodus 26:17

  Two tenons shall be for each board, fitted one to another; so you shall do for all the boards of the dwelling.

• Exodus 26:18

  You shall make the boards for the dwelling: twenty boards for the southern side, toward the south.

• Exodus 26:19

  And forty bases of silver you shall make under the twenty boards, two bases under one board for its two tenons, and two bases under another board for its two tenons.

• Exodus 26:20

  And for the second side of the dwelling, on the north side, twenty boards,

• Exodus 26:21

  and their forty bases of silver, two bases under one board and two bases under another board.

• Exodus 26:22

  For the rear of the dwelling, westward, you shall make six boards.

• Exodus 26:23

  And two boards you shall make for the corners of the dwelling at the rear.

• Exodus 26:25

  So there shall be eight boards, with their bases of silver, sixteen bases, two bases under one board and two bases under another board.

• Exodus 26:26

  You shall make bars of acacia wood, five for the boards of one side of the dwelling,

• Exodus 26:27

  and five bars for the boards of the second side of the dwelling, and five bars for the boards of the side of the dwelling at the rear, westward.

• Exodus 26:28

  The middle bar, halfway up the boards, shall run from end to end.

• Exodus 26:29

  You shall overlay the boards with gold and make their rings of gold as holders for the bars, and you shall overlay the bars with gold.

• Exodus 35:11

  the dwelling, its tent and its covering, its clasps and its boards, its bars, its pillars and its bases;

• Exodus 36:20

  And he made the boards for the dwelling of acacia wood, standing upright.

• Exodus 36:21

  Ten cubits was the length of the board, and a cubit and a half the width of each board.

• Exodus 36:22

  Two tenons were for each board, joined one to another; so he made for all the boards of the dwelling.

• Exodus 36:23

  And he made the boards for the dwelling: twenty boards for the south side,

• Exodus 36:24

  and forty bases of silver he made under the twenty boards, two bases under one board for its two tenons, and two bases under another board for its two tenons.

• Exodus 36:25

  And for the second side of the dwelling, on the north side, he made twenty boards,

• Exodus 36:26

  and their forty bases of silver, two bases under one board and two bases under another board.

• Exodus 36:27

  And for the rear of the dwelling westward he made six boards.

• Exodus 36:28

  And two boards he made for the corners of the dwelling at the rear.

• Exodus 36:30

  And there were eight boards and their bases of silver, sixteen bases, two bases, two bases under each board.

• Exodus 36:31

  And he made bars of acacia wood, five for the boards of the one side of the dwelling,

• Exodus 36:32

  and five bars for the boards of the second side of the dwelling, and five bars for the boards of the dwelling at the rear westward.

• Exodus 36:33

  And he made the middle bar to pass through the middle of the boards from end to end.

• Exodus 36:34

  And the boards he overlaid with gold, and their rings he made of gold, holders for the bars; and he overlaid the bars with gold.

• Exodus 39:33

  And they brought the dwelling to Moses, the tent and all its utensils, its clasps, its boards, its bars, and its pillars, and its bases;

• Exodus 40:18

  And Moses set up the dwelling, and put its bases, and set its boards, and put its bars, and set up its pillars.

• Numbers 3:36

  And the appointed charge of the sons of Merari is the frames of the dwelling, and its bars, and its pillars, and its bases, and all its utensils, and all its service,

• Numbers 4:31

  And this is the charge of their load, for all their service in the tent of meeting: the frames of the dwelling, and its bars, and its pillars, and its bases,

• Ezekiel 27:6

  Of oaks from Bashan they made your oars; your planking they made of ivory set in boxwood from the coastlands of Kittim.

And 17 more times.