Width (literally or figuratively)
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Breadth names how wide something is or how far it extends across a space. In the Hebrew Scriptures this noun often belongs to dimensions: the ark Noah builds, the furnishings of the tabernacle, buildings, gates, and measured land.
Reader summary
Full entry for רֹחַב (H7341) · Open the biblical lexicon
Breadth names how wide something is or how far it extends across a space. In the Hebrew Scriptures this noun often belongs to dimensions: the ark Noah builds, the furnishings of the tabernacle, buildings, gates, and measured land.
The BSB source-word alignment has 101 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include wide (65), the width (7), . . . (4), and the width (3), deep (3).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 6:15. Its strongest book concentrations include Ezekiel (55), Exodus (22), 1 Kings (11), 2 Chronicles (6).
Breadth names how wide something is or how far it extends across a space. In the Hebrew Scriptures this noun often belongs to dimensions: the ark Noah builds, the furnishings of the tabernacle, buildings, gates, and measured land. These details first require the reader to imagine a real object or place. Their inclusion in a sacred narrative does not turn each measurement into a hidden message. God gives Noah particular instructions, and Israel receives a pattern for the tabernacle's furnishings; the width belongs to those instructions before it becomes material for reflection.
The word can also contribute to figurative language. First Kings 4:29 describes the extraordinary scope of Solomon's understanding as a gift from God, comparing it with the sand beside the sea. The image communicates abundance of understanding rather than a physical measurement of the king's heart or brain. Isaiah 8:8 uses the extent of the land within a threatening picture of Assyria's advance. Wide coverage there means an invasion's reach, not an invitation to personal enlargement. These different settings keep breadth from becoming an automatic synonym for blessing.
For teachers, the useful discipline is to ask what has breadth and what the passage does with it. The promised land, a crafted object, an invading force, and a person's understanding cannot simply exchange their meanings. Where Scripture celebrates God's gift, receive that gift with gratitude. Where it records a dimension, respect the stated dimension. Where it warns of sweeping danger, preserve the warning. Spiritual depth in a word study comes from attending to those distinctions, not from assigning a symbolic value to every measurement or treating unlimited expansion as God's purpose for every life.
Physical dimensions dominate many uses of breadth, while Solomon's understanding and Assyria's reach show distinct figurative applications. These representative passages distinguish measured space, promised land, divine provision for craftsmanship, and the effects of judgment.
And this is how you are to build it: The ark is to be 300 cubits long, 50 cubits wide, and 30 cubits high.
The ark's width is one of the concrete dimensions God gives Noah. The measurement serves the building instruction and does not independently establish a hidden doctrinal proportion.
Get up and walk around the land, through its length and breadth, for I will give it to you.”
Abram is told to walk through the land's length and breadth because God promises to give it to him. The promise has a specified recipient and land context.
And they are to construct an ark of acacia wood, two and a half cubits long, a cubit and a half wide, and a cubit and a half high.
The covenant ark's width belongs to a defined construction pattern. Respect for the instructions precedes any broader reflection on God's dwelling with His people.
And God gave Solomon wisdom, exceedingly deep insight, and understanding beyond measure, like the sand on the seashore.
God gives Solomon extraordinary wisdom and breadth of understanding, compared with seashore sand. The image magnifies the gift's scope without declaring him morally incapable of failure.
It will pour into Judah, swirling and sweeping over it, reaching up to the neck; its spreading streams will cover your entire land, O Immanuel!
Assyria's advance is pictured as an overwhelming flood extending across the land. Breadth intensifies the threatened reach of invasion rather than promising personal growth.
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.
Hebrew word. width (literally or figuratively)
width (literally or figuratively) BDB: breadth Usage: breadth, broad, largeness, thickness, wideness.
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
First Kings 4:29 places the giver before the impressive capacity: God gives Solomon wisdom and understanding. The breadth image and comparison with sand communicate a remarkable abundance. Readers are meant to recognize the gift rather than reduce it to an ordinary achievement or a measurement of personal worth. The verse does not say that extensive understanding makes its recipient incapable of folly.
That distinction is useful in a church or classroom. Knowledge, perceptiveness, and skill may be received gratefully and used in service, while remaining subject to moral accountability. A highly capable person still needs obedience and correction. A person with more limited intellectual capacity has not thereby received less human dignity or become less precious to God. The pastoral application concerns grateful stewardship of a gift, not ranking people by the reach of their minds. James 1:5 supplies a separate invitation to ask God for wisdom; it does not promise every believer Solomon's exceptional range.
1Kgs.4.29
The noun expresses breadth or extent; its referent determines whether the use is measurable or figurative. Solomon's description concerns understanding, whereas construction passages concern objects. An English rendering that omits the spatial image should not conceal that contextual difference.
Ephesians 3:18-19 uses spatial dimensions in a prayer concerning Christ's love, while James 1:5 invites prayer for wisdom. These provide thematic comparisons to figurative breadth and gifted understanding. Neither passage turns every Hebrew measurement into a prediction or guarantees unlimited capacity.