What does מְנוֹרָה (mĕnwōrāh) mean in the Bible?
Lampstand names a support for lamps, with its setting determining the object's role. Exodus describes the tabernacle's hammered gold lampstand and its position opposite the table.
Hebrew · H4501
מְנוֹרָה
Lampstand names a support for lamps, with its setting determining the object's role. Exodus describes the tabernacle's hammered gold lampstand and its position opposite the table.
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מְנוֹרָהH4501
Pronunciationmĕnwōrāh
What does מְנוֹרָה (mĕnwōrāh) mean in the Bible?
Reader summary
Full entry for מְנוֹרָה (H4501) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render H4501?
The BSB source-word alignment has 42 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include the lampstand (11), - (5), lampstand (4), of the lampstand (4), . . . (3).
Where does מְנוֹרָה (mĕnwōrāh) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Exodus 25:31. Its strongest book concentrations include Exodus (20), 1 Chronicles (7), Numbers (6), 2 Chronicles (3).
What This Word Actually Means
Lampstand names a support for lamps, with its setting determining the object's role. Exodus describes the tabernacle's hammered gold lampstand and its position opposite the table. Numbers specifies the lamps' direction, and Leviticus names their continuing care before the Lord. Second Kings also uses the word in the Shunammite woman's proposed room for Elisha, where a bed, table, chair and light make practical hospitality visible.
Zechariah places a gold lampstand in a vision whose accompanying word is addressed to Zerubbabel. These settings should remain distinct. A lampstand can belong to commanded sanctuary service, an ordinary furnished room or a described vision without carrying the same symbolism in each. Teach the actual material, placement, maintenance or narrated meaning without turning every household light into a sacred code or requiring present worship spaces to reproduce ancient furnishings.
How the Bible Uses It
Tabernacle construction and maintenance, a guest room and Zechariah's vision place lampstands in different relationships. The described object and any stated explanation govern its contribution.
- Exod.25.31
Then you are to make a lampstand of pure, hammered gold. It shall be made of one piece, including its base and shaft, its cups, and its buds and petals.
The lampstand is commanded as hammered pure gold of one piece, giving its construction explicit material and design rather than an inferred modern symbol.
- 2Kgs.4.10
Please let us make a small room upstairs and put in it a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp for him. Then when he comes to us, he can stay there.”
The Shunammite woman proposes a furnished room with a bed, table, chair and lamp for Elisha, keeping the light within concrete hospitality.
- Zech.4.2
“What do you see?” he asked. “I see a solid gold lampstand,” I replied, “with a bowl at the top and seven lamps on it, with seven spouts to the lamps.
The gold lampstand appears in the prophet's vision, whose accompanying explanation addresses Zerubbabel and the Lord's Spirit rather than every lamp in ordinary life.
Source Word Evidence
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders Itthe lampstand11×Exodus 25:33, Exodus 25:35, Exodus 26:35, Exodus 30:27
-5×Exodus 25:32, Exodus 37:17, Exodus 37:18, Numbers 8:4
lampstand4×Leviticus 24:4, 1 Chronicles 28:15, 2 Chronicles 13:11, Zechariah 4:2
of the lampstand4×Exodus 25:32, Numbers 8:2, Numbers 8:3, Zechariah 4:11
. . .3×1 Chronicles 28:15
lampstands3×1 Chronicles 28:15, 2 Chronicles 4:7, Jeremiah 52:19
And on the lampstand2×Exodus 25:34, Exodus 37:20
gold lampstand2×Exodus 31:8, Exodus 39:37
of each lampstand2×1 Chronicles 28:15
the lampstands2×1 Kings 7:49, 2 Chronicles 4:20
a lampstand1×Exodus 25:31
and a lamp1×2 Kings 4:10
It1×Exodus 25:31
the lampstand {as well}1×Exodus 40:4
Show sample aligned rows
Exodus 25:31מְנֹרַ֖תtoa lampstandNoun - feminine singular constructExodus 25:31הַמְּנוֹרָה֙toItArticle | Noun - feminine singularExodus 25:32מְנֹרָ֗הtoof the lampstandNoun - feminine singularExodus 25:32מְנֹרָ֔הto-Noun - feminine singularExodus 25:33הַמְּנֹרָֽה׃tothe lampstandArticle | Noun - feminine singularExodus 25:34וּבַמְּנֹרָ֖הtoAnd on the lampstandConjunctive waw, Preposition-b, Article | Noun - feminine singularExodus 25:35הַמְּנֹרָֽה׃tothe lampstandArticle | Noun - feminine singularExodus 26:35הַמְּנֹרָה֙tothe lampstandArticle | Noun - feminine singularExodus 30:27הַמְּנֹרָ֖הtothe lampstandArticle | Noun - feminine singularExodus 31:8הַמְּנֹרָ֥הtogold lampstandArticle | Noun - feminine singular
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned rowExodus 25:31
Aligned rows42
Books represented9
Exodus20Leviticus1Numbers61 Kings12 Kings11 Chronicles72 Chronicles3Jeremiah1Zechariah2
Source forms
הַמְּנֹרָה֙4xham·mə·nō·rāhExodus 26:35, Exodus 37:17, Exodus 40:24, Numbers 8:4
הַמְּנֹרָֽה׃3xham·mə·nō·rāhExodus 25:33, Exodus 25:35, Exodus 37:19
הַמְּנוֹרָ֔ה2xham·mə·nō·w·rāhNumbers 8:2, Numbers 8:3
הַמְּנֹרָ֖ה2xham·mə·nō·rāhExodus 30:27, Exodus 37:17
וּבַמְּנֹרָ֖ה2xū·ḇam·mə·nō·rāhExodus 25:34, Exodus 37:20
מְנוֹרָ֥ה2xmə·nō·w·rāh1 Chronicles 28:15
מְנֹרָ֗ה2xmə·nō·rāhExodus 25:32, Exodus 37:18
מְנֹרָ֔ה2xmə·nō·rāhExodus 25:32, Exodus 37:18
Parsing patterns
Article | Noun - feminine singular18xExodus 25:31, Exodus 25:33, Exodus 25:35, Exodus 26:35
Noun - feminine singular6xExodus 25:32, Exodus 37:18, 1 Chronicles 28:15
Noun - feminine singular construct4xExodus 25:31, Exodus 35:14, Numbers 4:9, Zechariah 4:2
Article | Noun - feminine plural3x1 Kings 7:49, 2 Chronicles 4:20, Jeremiah 52:19
Conjunctive waw | Noun - feminine singular3x2 Kings 4:10, 1 Chronicles 28:15
Conjunctive waw, Preposition-b, Article | Noun - feminine singular2xExodus 25:34, Exodus 37:20
Conjunctive waw | Noun - feminine singular construct1x2 Chronicles 13:11
Conjunctive waw, Article | Noun - feminine singular1xNumbers 3:31
Using This Word Well
Be careful not to...
- Encourage practical hospitality without promising that an object guarantees spiritual protection.
- Avoid issuing a modern architecture rule or institutional identity claim from the word.
Avoid claiming...
- Every lampstand symbolizes a church or guarantees the same visionary promise.
- The Hebrew noun specifies a complete rule for present worship-space design.
Evidence Summary
Hebrew word. The seven-branched lampstand symbolizes God's perpetual presence and holy illumination in the temple sanctuary
Source Gloss
a chandelier
Extended definitionSource: Open Scriptures Hebrew Lexicon + Brown-Driver-Briggs
The seven-branched lampstand symbolizes God's perpetual presence and holy illumination in the temple sanctuary
a chandelier BDB: lampstand Usage: candlestick.
Grammatical Forms
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
Word Origins
מְנוֹרָה is built from these roots:
For the Preacher and Teacher
The object's name does not replace its setting. Exodus and Numbers describe an actual gold lampstand and the direction of lamps, while Leviticus requires ongoing tending in the sanctuary. Those concrete instructions keep worship service visible as particular work rather than an abstract lighting metaphor. The room prepared for Elisha uses a lamp beside ordinary furnishings, showing hospitality without declaring the household object a sanctuary replica.
Zechariah's lampstand belongs to a vision and a word explicitly addressed to Zerubbabel, including reliance on the Lord's Spirit. Carry that named explanation with the vision instead of assigning it to every later lamp. A later passage may explicitly identify its own lampstands with churches, but that supplied meaning does not silently rewrite all earlier uses.
Teach each object through its place, purpose and stated explanation, without inventing building mandates or institutional guarantees.
Anchor passage
Exod.25.31
Doctrinal connections
- Exodus 25:31-33 describes the lampstand's gold, unified construction and branches, keeping commanded material and form attached to the tabernacle account.
- Exodus 26:35 places the lampstand opposite the table outside the veil, giving its position within the described sanctuary arrangement.
- Numbers 8:1-4 directs the seven lamps toward the front and reports Aaron's obedience to the commanded pattern, joining instruction with actual service.
- Leviticus 24:2-4 names supplied oil and continuing tending before the Lord, making maintenance part of the particular sanctuary responsibility.
- Second Kings 4:8-12 places the room's lamp beside a bed, table and chair in the Shunammite woman's hospitality, without declaring a new sanctuary.
- Zechariah 4:2-7 places the gold lampstand in a vision and addresses Zerubbabel with the Lord's word about his Spirit, bounding the stated encouragement.
The licensed Hebrew range identifies a lampstand. English references to a lamp or candlestick can describe its light-bearing role, but neither a modern fixture nor an imported symbol should replace the specified object. Material, position and surrounding explanation supply the distinction among these uses.
From Old to New Testament
Revelation 1:20 explicitly identifies its seven golden lampstands as seven churches. That Greek visionary explanation is supplied in its own sentence; it is not a reason to reinterpret Elisha's guest-room lamp or every tabernacle construction detail as an identical church symbol. Reading the passages together preserves the later named identification while leaving earlier objects and Zechariah's addressed word in their actual settings.