Strong's Concordance
katapetasma: a curtain (the inner veil of the temple)
Original Word: καταπέτασμα, ατος, τόPart of Speech: Noun, Neuter
Transliteration: katapetasma
Phonetic Spelling: (kat-ap-et'-as-mah)
Short Definition: a veil, curtain
Definition: (lit: that which is spread out downwards, that which hangs down), a curtain, veil, of that which separated the Holy of Holies from the outer parts of the temple at Jerusalem, also of an outer curtain at the entrance to the Holy Place in the same temple.
Thayer's Greek Lexicon
STRONGS NT 2665: καταπέτασμακαταπέτασμα,
καταπετάσματος,
τό (
καταπετάννυμι to spread out over, to cover), an
Alex. Greek word for
παραπέτασμα. which the other Greeks use from
Herodotus down;
a veil spread out, a curtain — the name given in the Greek Scriptures, as well as in the writings of
Philo and
Josephus, to the two curtains in the temple at Jerusalem (
τά καταπετάσματα, 1 Macc. 4:51; (yet cf. Edersheim, Jesus the Messiah, 2:611)): one of them (Hebrew
מָסָך) at the entrance of the temple separated the Holy place from the outer court (
Exodus 26:37;
Exodus 38:18;
Numbers 3:26;
Josephus,
b. j. 5, 5, 4; it is called also
τό κάλυμμα by the
Sept. and
Philo,
Exodus 27:16;
Numbers 3:25;
Philo, vit. Moys. 3: §§ 5 and 9), the other veiled the Holy of holies from the Holy place (in Hebrew the
פָּרֹכֶת;
ἐνδοτερον καταπέτασμα,
Josephus, Antiquities 8, 3, 3;
τό ἐσωτατον καταπέτασμα Philo de gig. § 12; by the
Sept. and
Philo this is called pre-eminently
τό καταπέτασμα,
Exodus 26:31ff;
Leviticus 21:23;
Leviticus 24:3;
Philo, vit. Moys. as above). This latter
καταπέτασμα is the only one mentioned in the N. T.:
τό καταπέτασμα τοῦ ναοῦ,
Matthew 27:51;
Mark 15:38;
Luke 23:45;
τό δεύτερον καταπέτασμα,
Hebrews 9:3;
τό ἐσώτερον τοῦ καταπετάσματος (cf.
Leviticus 16:2, 12, 15;
Exodus 26:33)
the space more inward them the veil, equivalent to 'the space within the veil,' i. e. the Holy of holies, figuratively used of heaven, as the true abode of God,
Hebrews 6:19; in a similar figurative way the body of Christ is called
καταπέτασμα, in (Heb.)
