The innermost room at the back of the main temple building; location of the ark of the covenant; regarded as the holiest place.
About Most Holy Place (of the Temple)
The inner room of the tabernacle and temple where they kept the ark of the covenant. The ark was a gold-covered wooden box that held important holy items, including the stone tablets with the Ten Commandments (Exodus 25:10–22).
This room was the most holy space in Israelite worship. Only the high priest could enter it, and only once each year on the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16). Before entering, the high priest had to perform special cleansing rituals.
Key References
And the main hall in front of this room was forty cubits long.
He partitioned off the twenty cubits at the rear of the temple with cedar boards from floor to ceiling to form within the temple an inner sanctuary, the Most Holy Place.
All Scripture References (24)
1 Kings (7)
He partitioned off the twenty cubits at the rear of the temple with cedar boards from floor to ceiling to form within the temple an inner sanctuary, the Most Holy Place.
And the main hall in front of this room was forty cubits long.
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.
So he overlaid with gold the whole interior of the temple, until everything was completely finished. He also overlaid with gold the entire altar that belonged to the inner sanctuary.
the lampstands of pure gold in front of the inner sanctuary, five on the right side and five on the left; the gold flowers, lamps, and tongs;
the pure gold basins, wick trimmers, sprinkling bowls, ladles, and censers; and the gold hinges for the doors of the inner temple (that is, the Most Holy Place) as well as for the doors of the main hall of the temple.
Then the priests brought the ark of the covenant of the LORD to its place in the inner sanctuary of the temple, the Most Holy Place, beneath the wings of the cherubim.
1 Chronicles (1)
the son of Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Eliel, the son of Toah,
2 Chronicles (6)
Then he made the Most Holy Place; its length corresponded to the width of the temple—twenty cubits long and twenty cubits wide. And he overlaid the inside with six hundred talents of fine gold.
In the Most Holy Place he made two cherubim of sculptured work, and he overlaid them with gold.
He made the veil of blue, purple, and crimson yarn and fine linen, with cherubim woven into it.
the lampstands of pure gold and their lamps, to burn in front of the inner sanctuary as prescribed;
the wick trimmers, sprinkling bowls, ladles, and censers of pure gold; and the gold doors of the temple: the inner doors to the Most Holy Place as well as the doors of the main hall.
Then the priests brought the ark of the covenant of the LORD to its place in the inner sanctuary of the temple, the Most Holy Place, beneath the wings of the cherubim.
Psalms (1)
Hear my cry for mercy when I call to You for help, when I lift up my hands toward Your holy sanctuary.
Ezekiel (4)
Then he measured the room adjacent to the inner sanctuary to be twenty cubits long and twenty cubits wide. And he said to me, “This is the Most Holy Place.”
They must not approach Me to serve Me as priests or come near any of My holy things or the most holy things. They will bear the shame of the abominations they have committed.
From this holy portion, you are to measure off a length of 25,000 cubits and a width of 10,000 cubits, and in it will be the sanctuary, the Most Holy Place.
It will be a special portion for them set apart from the land, a most holy portion adjacent to the territory of the Levites.
Daniel (1)
Seventy weeks are decreed for your people and your holy city to stop their transgression, to put an end to sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy Place.
Hebrews (4)
Behind the second curtain was a room called the Most Holy Place,
But only the high priest entered the second room, and then only once a year, and never without blood, which he offered for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance.
Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus,
by the new and living way opened for us through the curtain of His body,