The sanctuary curtain marks an interior boundary associated with the holy place and access beyond it. The Gospels report the temple veil torn when Jesus dies, placing the event within the account of His death rather than treating it as an isolated architectural curiosity.
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Full entry for καταπέτασμα (G2665) · Open the biblical lexicon
The sanctuary curtain marks an interior boundary associated with the holy place and access beyond it. The Gospels report the temple veil torn when Jesus dies, placing the event within the account of His death rather than treating it as an isolated architectural curiosity.
The BSB source-word alignment has 6 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include curtain (3), veil (3).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 27:51. Its strongest book concentrations include Hebrews (3), Luke (1), Mark (1), Matthew (1).
This entry includes 1 verse guide that explain exact original-language forms in context.
The sanctuary curtain marks an interior boundary associated with the holy place and access beyond it. The Gospels report the temple veil torn when Jesus dies, placing the event within the account of His death rather than treating it as an isolated architectural curiosity. Hebrews names the second curtain when describing the sanctuary and later speaks of hope reaching behind the curtain where Jesus has entered as forerunner.
Its exhortation connects the living way of approach with His body and the confidence supplied by His blood. This is a substantial gospel connection stated by the letter itself. It does not mean that every ordinary curtain is Christ's body, or that His sacrifice removes the need for reverent worship. The teaching centers on the access His priestly work provides, not on imaginative details about fabric.
The Gospel veil event belongs to Jesus' death. Hebrews moves from the sanctuary's second curtain to the hope anchored where Jesus has entered and the living way of approach secured through Him.
At that moment the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth quaked, and the rocks were split.
The temple veil tears from top to bottom immediately after Jesus gives up His spirit, alongside the earthquake and other narrated signs.
We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain,
Hope enters behind the curtain in the sanctuary image, with the next verse identifying Jesus as the forerunner who has entered on His people's behalf.
By the new and living way opened for us through the curtain of His body,
The living way through the curtain is explicitly related to Christ's body, within the exhortation to draw near because of His blood and priesthood.
Behind the second curtain was a room called the Most Holy Place,
The second curtain is located before the room called the Most Holy Place, clarifying the spatial reference used in the letter's sanctuary description.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Verse-level guides showing how this original-language form works in its specific context, including grammar, verse function, and guarded interpretation.
Greek word. The Temple's inner veil separating the Holy Place from God's presence in the Holy of Holies.
The Temple's inner veil separating the Holy Place from God's presence in the Holy of Holies.
(= cl. παραπέτασμα) [in LXX chiefly for פֹּרֶכֶת (the veil of the Holy of Holies), Exo.26:31, Lev.21:23, al.; also for מָסָךְ (the outer veil), Exo.35:12, Num_3:26, al. (elsewhere κάλυμμα) ;] in NT always the inner veil or curtain of the Temple (or Tabernacle): Mat.27:51, Mrk.15:38, Luk.23:45, Heb.6:19 9:3; figuratively, ἡ σὰρξ αὐτοῦ Heb.10:20.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
6 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
a veil, curtain
Read versea veil, curtain
Read versea veil, curtain
Read versea veil, curtain
Read versea veil, curtain
Read versea veil, curtain
Read verseFull New Testament corpus: 260 chapters, 7,957 verses, 140,628 tokens. Data source: honza/textus-receptus (data only), with authority check against byztxt/greektext-textus-receptus.
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
This word appears as a noun across 3 case and number patterns. The form changes show how the word functions in a sentence; they do not change the basic lexical meaning by themselves.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 2 selected witnesses from 6 lexical occurrence verses.
καταπέτασμα is built from these roots:
Symbolizes access to God opened by Christ’s death.Luke 23:44–49
The curtain's significance is not discovered by assigning meanings to its threads. Hebrews provides the connection openly: Jesus has entered on behalf of His people, and confidence to approach rests on His blood and the living way associated with His body. That sequence places grace before exhortation. Believers draw near because of His accomplished ministry, rather than earning entrance through extraordinary devotion or religious rank.
Matthew's torn veil remains a sign within the death narrative and should not be expanded into unrecorded claims about witnesses or later temple events. The church can teach access with both assurance and reverence. Confidence before God is compatible with the letter's calls to faithful gathering, mutual encouragement, and persevering hope; the opened way does not make communal responsibility dispensable.
Heb.10.20
The Greek comparison identifies a sanctuary curtain in these witnesses. Hebrews' references to the second curtain and to Jesus beyond it specify the setting; the term must not be equated with every Hebrew word for fabric or hanging.
Exodus' sanctuary distinctions supply background for Hebrews' description of the holy spaces. The letter makes the Christological movement itself through Jesus' blood, body, entrance, and priesthood. Readers should follow that explicit interpretation rather than attach Christological identities to every fabric component of the earlier sanctuary.