Hebrew word · H6441

פְּנִ֫ימָה

penimah

within

An adverb of place: 'inside, inward, indoors', often for the inner part of a building. It is formed from the root for 'face/front' (pānîm) with an ending that marks direction or location.

Appears 13 times in 12 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

toward the inside, within, faceward

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Psalm 45:13

Range of meaning

An adverb of place: 'inside, inward, indoors', often for the inner part of a building. It is formed from the root for 'face/front' (pānîm) with an ending that marks direction or location.

Against the English

KJV, YLT and WEB use 'within', which modern readers easily hear as 'inwardly, in her heart'. BSB, NIV and ESV add 'in her chamber' to keep the sense of place.

How it drifted

Greek 'within' (esōthen) and Latin 'from within' (ab intus) could both carry an inner, spiritual meaning. Once the verse was read allegorically, and especially after the KJV's 'all glorious within', the place word was taken as a statement about inner virtue.

Used elsewhere in the period

Used for the inside of the temple in 1 Kings 6:18 ('cedar within') and 1 Kings 6:29–30, for entering a room in 2 Chronicles 29:18 ('they went in to Hezekiah'), and in Ezekiel's temple vision for inner areas. In the Hebrew Bible it describes where something is, not a moral or psychological state.

Where it appears

Leviticus · 1

  1. Leviticus 10:18 פְּנִ֑ימָה within

    Since its blood was not brought inside the holy place, you should have eaten it in the sanctuary area, as I commanded.”

1 Kings · 4

  1. 1 Kings 6:18 פְּנִ֔ימָה within

    The cedar paneling inside the temple was carved with gourds and open flowers. Everything was cedar; not a stone could be seen.

    Here: 'On the inside'. The verse describes only the interior surfaces. The outside stone walls were not panelled.

  2. 1 Kings 6:19 מִפְּנִ֖ימָה from within

    Solomon also prepared the inner sanctuary within the temple to set the ark of the covenant of the LORD there.

  3. 1 Kings 6:21 מִפְּנִ֖ימָה from within

    So Solomon overlaid the inside of the temple with pure gold, and he extended gold chains across the front of the inner sanctuary, which was overlaid with gold.

  4. 1 Kings 6:30 לִפְנִ֖ימָה to within

    And he overlaid the temple floor with gold in both the inner and outer sanctuaries.

2 Kings · 1

  1. 2 Kings 7:11 פְּנִֽימָה׃ within

    The gatekeepers shouted the news, and it was reported to the king’s household.

2 Chronicles · 3

  1. 2 Chronicles 3:4 מִפְּנִ֖ימָה from within

    The portico at the front, extending across the width of the temple, was twenty cubits long and twenty cubits high. He overlaid the inside with pure gold.

  2. 2 Chronicles 29:16 לִפְנִ֣ימָה to within

    So the priests went inside the house of the LORD to cleanse it, and they brought out to the courtyard all the unclean things that they found in the temple of the LORD. Then the Levites took these things and carried them out to the Kidron Valley.

  3. 2 Chronicles 29:18 פְנִ֙ימָה֙ within

    Then they went in to King Hezekiah and reported, “We have cleansed the entire house of the LORD, the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils, and the table of the showbread with all its utensils.

Psalms · 1

  1. Psalm 45:13 פְּנִ֑ימָה within

    All glorious is the princess in her chamber; her gown is embroidered with gold.

    Here: A word of place: 'inside', meaning inside the palace or her chamber, where she is adorned before the procession or as she enters. It refers to a room, not to her inner character.

Ezekiel · 3

  1. Ezekiel 40:16 לִפְנִ֤ימָה לִפְנִ֔ימָה to within

    The gate chambers and their side pillars had beveled windows all around the inside of the gateway. The porticos also had windows all around on the inside. Each side pillar was decorated with palm trees.

    Here: Toward the inside. The windows opened onto the inner passage of the gate, or were seen from inside it.

  2. Ezekiel 41:3 לִפְנִ֔ימָה to within

    And he went into the inner sanctuary and measured the side pillars at the entrance to be two cubits wide. The entrance was six cubits wide, and the walls on each side were seven cubits wide.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.