Knop

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

Our "knob" (Exodus 25:31 - 36-37; Exodus 17-22).

(1) Κaphtor , pomegranate-like knops or balls, associated with flowers in architectural ornamentation, also a boss from which, as crowning the stem, branches spring out. In  Amos 9:1 instead of "lintel" ( Kaphtor ), and  Zephaniah 2:14 translated "the sphere-like capital of the column." The Hebrew implies something crowning a work and at its top.

(2) Ρeqaiym ( 1 Kings 6:18;  1 Kings 7:24), gourd-like oval ornaments running in straight rows, carved in the cedar wainscot of the temple interior, and an ornament cast round the great" sea" below the brim; in double row, ten to a cubit, two inches from center to center ( 1 Kings 6:18;  1 Kings 7:24). Ρaqowt means "wild gourds".

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

KNOP . Another form of ‘knob,’ is used to render two different words in EV [Note: English Version.] . 1 . The knops of the stem and arms of the golden candlestick, or rather lampstand, of the Tabernacle (  Exodus 25:31 etc.) were the spheroidal ornaments still recognizable in the representation on the Arch of   Titus 2:1-15 . Knops also denote certain ornaments, probably egg- or gourd-shaped, carved on the cedar lining of the walls of Solomon’s Temple (  1 Kings 6:18 note RVm [Note: Revised Version margin.] ), and similar ornaments on the ‘brazen sea’ (  1 Kings 7:24 ).

A. R. S. Kennedy.

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Knop. A word employed, in the Authorized Version, to translate two terms which refer to some architectural or ornamental object, but which have nothing in common.

1. Caphtor. - This occurs in the description of the candlestick of the sacred tent in  Exodus 25:31-36 and  Exodus 37:17-22.

2. The second term, Peka'im , is found only in  1 Kings 6:18 and  1 Kings 7:24. The word no doubt signifies some globular thing resembling a small gourd or an egg, though as to the character of the ornament, we are quite in the dark.

Easton's Bible Dictionary

Heb. peka'im, found only in  1 Kings 6:18,7:24 , an ornament resembling a small gourd or an egg, on the cedar wainscot in the temple and on the castings on the brim of the brazen sea.

Copyright Statement These dictionary topics are from M.G. Easton M.A., DD Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Third Edition, published by Thomas Nelson, 1897. Public Domain.

Bibliography Information Easton, Matthew George. Entry for 'Knop'. Easton's Bible Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/ebd/k/knop.html. 1897.

People's Dictionary of the Bible

Knop. An ornament of the golden candlestick,  Exodus 25:31;  Exodus 37:17, and elsewhere, probably formed like a pomegranate. Also a carved ornament of the cedar-work of the temple, and the molten sea,  1 Kings 6:18;  1 Kings 7:24, perhaps like wild gourds or cucumbers.

Webster's Dictionary

(1): ( n.) Any boldly projecting sculptured ornament; esp., the ornamental termination of a pinnacle, and then synonymous with finial; - called also knob, and knosp.

(2): ( n.) A knob; a bud; a bunch; a button.

Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types

 Exodus 25:31 (c) These knops were ornaments on the candlestick. They represent those beautiful traits of character which should adorn the Christian life and cause the Christian's faith to be admired by others.

Holman Bible Dictionary

 1 Kings 6:18 1 Kings 7:24Knob

King James Dictionary

KNOP, n. nop. a different spelling of knap or nob.

A knob a tufted top a bud a bunch a button.

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

that is, KNOB (Anglo-Saxon cnoep), a word employed in the A.V. to translate two terms, of the real meaning of which all that we can say with certainty is that they refer to some architectural or ornamental object, and that they have nothing in common.

1. Kaphtor ( כִּפְתּוֹר or כִּפְתֹּר ) occurs in the description of the candlestick of the sacred tent ( Exodus 25:31-36;  Exodus 37:17-22, the two passages being identical). The knops are here distinguished from the shaft, branches, bowls, and flowers of the candlestick; but the knop and the flower go together, and seem intended to imitate the produce of an almond-tree. In another part of the work they appear to form a boss, from which the branches are to spring out from the main stem. In  Amos 9:1 the same word is rendered, with doubtful accuracy, "lintel." The same rendering is used in  Zephaniah 2:14, where the reference is to some part of the palace of Nineveh, to be exposed when the wooden upper story -the" cedar work"-was destroyed. The Hebrew word seems to contain the sense of "covering" and " crowning" (Gesenius, Thes. Heb. p. 709). Josephus's description (Ant. 3: 6,7) names both balls ( Σφαιρία ) and pomegranates ( Ῥοϊ v Σκοι ), either of which may be the Kaphtor. The Targum agrees with the latter, the Sept. ( Σφαιπωτῆρες ) with the former. (See Lintel).

All these circumstances point to a signification corresponding essentially to that of crown; and in the case of the sacred candelabrum, the term seems to point to a sharp ornamental swell placed (like a horizontal button) immediately beneath the cups that surmounted each arm and section of the shaft. (See Tabernacle).

2. The second term, Pekaim ( פְּקָעַים ), is found only in  1 Kings 6:18;  1 Kings 7:24. It refers in the former to carvings executed in the cedar wainscot of the interior of the Temple, and, as in the preceding word, is associated with flowers. In the latter case it denotes an ornament cast round the great reservoir or " sea" of Solomon's Temple below the brim: there was a double row of them, ten to a cubit, or about two inches from centre to centre. The word no doubt signifies some globular thing resembling a small gourd (being only the masc. of the fem. term so rendered in  2 Kings 4:39) or an egg, though as to the character of the ornament we are quite in the dark. The following wood-cut of a portion of a richly ornamented door-step or slab from Kouvunjik probably represents something approximating to the " knop and the flower" of Solomon's Temple. But as the building from which this is taken was the work of a king at least as late as the son of Esar-haddon, contemporary with the latter part of the reign of Manasseh, it is only natural to suppose that the character of the ornament would have undergone considerable modification from what it was in the time of Solomon. — Smith.

Mr. Paine suggests (Temple of Solomon, p. 41) that the difference in gender (above noted) of the terms for the gourds (or cucumbers, as he renders) is accounted for by the circumstance that these ornaments were artificial (hence in the masc.), while the real fruit is fem. He thinks that on the laver they were arranged in vineform, ten in each of the two rows, like a netting (ib. p. 50). (See Brazen Sea).

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

nop  : In   Exodus 25:31 ff;   Exodus 37:17 ff ( kaphtōr ), part of the ornaments of the golden candlestick; in  1 Kings 6:18;  1 Kings 7:24 ( peḳa‛ı̄m ), gourd-like ornaments of the lining of Solomon's temple, and of the brazen sea (in  1 Kings 6:18 , the Revised Version margin "gourds"). See Candlestick , Golden; Temple; Sea , The Molten .