THE FULL ARTICLE — from the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915), general editor James Orr — public domain, printed whole.

seld, sel'-ing (the King James Version and the English Revised Version Cieled, Cieling; the Hebrew words for "ceiled" are chippah, caphan, sachiph; for "ceiling," cippun): Ceiling occurs only in 1Ki 6:15. It comes from the root caphan, meaning "to cover." It has its common meaning of the upper surface of a room; there is, however, some doubt of the textual Ceiled is found in 2Ch 3:5 ((chippah); Jer 22:14; Hag 1:4 (caphan in both); Eze 41:16 (sachiph)), the text of the last passage being doubtful. In none of these cases does "ceiled" refer to the upper surface of a room, but to the covering or paneling of the inner walls of a house with cedar or other costly wood. This is in accordance with a common early use of the English word, no longer frequent.

George Ricker Berry