What does קֶרֶשׁ (qereš) mean in the Bible?
A board or structural frame is a substantial piece of wood given a particular place in an assembled structure. Exodus commands upright acacia frames for the tabernacle and later reports their construction.
Hebrew · H7175
קֶרֶשׁ
A board or structural frame is a substantial piece of wood given a particular place in an assembled structure. Exodus commands upright acacia frames for the tabernacle and later reports their construction.
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קֶרֶשׁH7175
Pronunciationqereš
What does קֶרֶשׁ (qereš) mean in the Bible?
Reader summary
Full entry for קֶרֶשׁ (H7175) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render H7175?
The BSB source-word alignment has 51 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include frames (15), frame (7), - (5), the frames (5), Each frame (2).
Where does קֶרֶשׁ (qereš) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Exodus 26:15. Its strongest book concentrations include Exodus (48), Numbers (2), Ezekiel (1).
What This Word Actually Means
A board or structural frame is a substantial piece of wood given a particular place in an assembled structure. Exodus commands upright acacia frames for the tabernacle and later reports their construction. The repeated vocabulary lets readers compare instruction with execution, noticing obedience through the making of specified components. Ezekiel's lament over Tyre brings comparable wooden construction into the picture of a richly furnished ship, where the deck belongs to commercial splendor that the wider poem will expose as vulnerable.
A sanctuary frame and a ship's deck cannot be assigned one identical spiritual meaning. The word helps us attend to material, orientation, and function. Its value for teaching lies in reading the actual structure faithfully, allowing craftsmanship, commanded service, and the fragility of impressive human achievement to emerge from their own passages.
How the Bible Uses It
Exodus moves from instructions for upright wooden frames to the account of their manufacture. Ezekiel uses fine ship construction within the lament over Tyre, giving the material a different literary and moral setting.
- Exod.26.15
You are to construct upright frames of acacia wood for the tabernacle.
Upright acacia frames are commanded for the tabernacle, immediately followed by their dimensions and the fittings that join them into the structure.
- Exod.36.20
Next, he constructed upright frames of acacia wood for the tabernacle.
The construction report repeats the upright acacia frames, allowing readers to compare the carried-out work with the earlier sanctuary instructions.
- Ezek.27.6
Of oaks from Bashan they made your oars; of wood from the coasts of Cyprus they made your deck, inlaid with ivory.
Tyre's deck is described among costly ship materials in a lament whose later movement announces the ruin of the impressive trading vessel.
Source Word Evidence
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders Itframes15×Exodus 26:15, Exodus 26:18, Exodus 26:19, Exodus 26:20
frame7×Exodus 26:17, Exodus 26:19, Exodus 26:21, Exodus 26:25
-5×Exodus 26:16, Exodus 26:18, Exodus 36:23, Exodus 36:24
the frames5×Exodus 26:17, Exodus 26:29, Exodus 36:22, Exodus 36:34
Each frame2×Exodus 26:16, Exodus 36:21
for [those]2×Exodus 26:27, Exodus 36:32
for the frames2×Exodus 26:26, Exodus 36:31
for those2×Exodus 26:27, Exodus 36:32
its frames2×Exodus 39:33, Exodus 40:18
of the frames2×Exodus 26:28, Exodus 36:33
. . .1×Exodus 36:21
and frames1×Exodus 35:11
for each frame1×Exodus 36:24
your deck1×Ezekiel 27:6
Show sample aligned rows
Exodus 26:15הַקְּרָשִׁ֖יםtoframesArticle | Noun - masculine pluralExodus 26:16הַקָּ֑רֶשׁtoEach frameArticle | Noun - masculine singularExodus 26:16הַקֶּ֥רֶשׁto-Article | Noun - masculine singularExodus 26:17לַקֶּ֙רֶשׁ֙toframePreposition-l, Article | Noun - masculine singularExodus 26:17קַרְשֵׁ֥יtothe framesNoun - masculine plural constructExodus 26:18הַקְּרָשִׁ֖יםto-Article | Noun - masculine pluralExodus 26:18קֶ֔רֶשׁtoframesNoun - masculine singularExodus 26:19הַקָּ֑רֶשׁtoframesArticle | Noun - masculine singularExodus 26:19הַקֶּ֤רֶשׁtoframeArticle | Noun - masculine singularExodus 26:19הַקֶּ֥רֶשׁtoArticle | Noun - masculine singular
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned rowExodus 26:15
Aligned rows51
Books represented3
Exodus48Numbers2Ezekiel1
Source forms
הַקֶּ֥רֶשׁ8xhaq·qe·rešExodus 26:16, Exodus 26:19, Exodus 26:21, Exodus 26:25
הַקְּרָשִׁ֖ים4xhaq·qə·rā·šîmExodus 26:15, Exodus 26:18, Exodus 36:20, Exodus 36:23
לְקַרְשֵׁ֥י4xlə·qar·šêExodus 26:26, Exodus 26:27, Exodus 36:31, Exodus 36:32
הַקֶּ֣רֶשׁ3xhaq·qe·rešExodus 26:21, Exodus 26:25, Exodus 36:26
הַקָּ֑רֶשׁ3xhaq·qā·rešExodus 26:16, Exodus 26:19, Exodus 36:21
קְרָשָׁ֔יו3xqə·rā·šāwExodus 35:11, Exodus 39:33, Exodus 40:18
קְרָשִׁ֔ים3xqə·rā·šîmExodus 26:25, Exodus 36:23, Exodus 36:30
קְרָשִֽׁים׃3xqə·rā·šîmExodus 26:22, Exodus 36:25, Exodus 36:27
Parsing patterns
Article | Noun - masculine singular16xExodus 26:16, Exodus 26:19, Exodus 26:21, Exodus 26:25
Article | Noun - masculine plural9xExodus 26:15, Exodus 26:18, Exodus 26:28, Exodus 26:29
Noun - masculine plural8xExodus 26:22, Exodus 26:23, Exodus 26:25, Exodus 36:23
Preposition-l | Noun - masculine plural construct6xExodus 26:26, Exodus 26:27, Exodus 36:31, Exodus 36:32
Noun - masculine plural construct4xExodus 26:17, Exodus 36:22, Numbers 3:36, Numbers 4:31
Noun - masculine plural construct | third person masculine singular3xExodus 35:11, Exodus 39:33, Exodus 40:18
Noun - masculine singular2xExodus 26:18, Exodus 26:20
Preposition-l, Article | Noun - masculine singular2xExodus 26:17, Exodus 36:22
Using This Word Well
Be careful not to...
- Appreciate skilled workers without claiming their craftsmanship proves divine endorsement of an entire project.
- Give a building analogy its proper limits instead of letting it determine church membership or ministry roles.
Avoid claiming...
- The structural frame noun does not identify individual boards with individual Christians.
- Tyre's fine ship materials do not promise safety or moral approval to impressive commercial enterprises.
Evidence Summary
Hebrew word. Structural wooden component: plank or board forming framework of tabernacle, ships, or other constructions
Source Gloss
a slab or plank; by implication, a deck of a ship
Extended definitionSource: Open Scriptures Hebrew Lexicon + Brown-Driver-Briggs
Structural wooden component: plank or board forming framework of tabernacle, ships, or other constructions
a slab or plank; by implication, a deck of a ship BDB: board Usage: bench, board.
Grammatical Forms
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
For the Preacher and Teacher
The movement from command to construction is the main teaching opportunity in Exodus. The frames are not simply impressive woodwork; they belong to the work Israel has been directed to carry out. Reading the corresponding construction report makes the narrative's fidelity visible without requiring every plank to stand for a Christian trait. Ezekiel's ship picture asks another question.
Fine material and skilled labor form part of Tyre's commercial magnificence, but the lament does not end in security. The wider poem dismantles confidence in that achievement. Good craftsmanship deserves recognition, yet it cannot establish a building's spiritual meaning or protect a city from judgment. Each wooden component serves a described whole, and that whole must be read through its instructions, purpose, and eventual narrative movement.
Anchor passage
Exod.36.20
Doctrinal connections
- Exodus 26 gives the sanctuary framework a defined place in God's instructions.
- Exodus 36 presents making the frames within the account of obedient construction.
- Numbers 4 includes the frames among burdens assigned to sanctuary servants.
- Exodus 40 records assembling the framework when the tabernacle is erected.
- Ezekiel 27 exposes the vulnerability of Tyre's impressive commercial craftsmanship.
- First Corinthians 3 evaluates building work through its own explicit Christ-centered argument.
The lexical witness supports a wooden board or structural piece. Exodus' upright framing and Ezekiel's deck differ by placement and referent; a modern engineering reconstruction is unnecessary to recognize their distinct functions.
From Old to New Testament
Paul's building discussion in First Corinthians 3 names Christ as foundation and addresses the quality of ministry work. It may illuminate responsible attention to building imagery, but it does not convert Exodus' individual wooden frames into a coded account of particular Christians.