Exodus 36:8-38
New English Translation
The Building of the Tabernacle
8 All the skilled among those who were doing the work made the tabernacle with ten curtains of fine twisted linen and blue and purple and scarlet yarn; they were made with cherubim that were the work of an artistic designer. 9 The length of one curtain was 42 feet, and the width of one curtain was 6 feet—the same size for each of the curtains. 10 He joined[a] five of the curtains to one another, and the other[b] five curtains he joined to one another. 11 He made loops of blue material along the edge of the end curtain in the first set; he did the same along the edge of the end curtain in the second set. 12 He made fifty loops on the first curtain, and he made fifty loops on the end curtain that was in the second set, with the loops opposite one another. 13 He made fifty gold clasps and joined the curtains together to one another with the clasps, so that the tabernacle was a unit.[c]
14 He made curtains of goats’ hair for a tent over the tabernacle; he made eleven curtains.[d] 15 The length of one curtain was 45 feet, and the width of one curtain was 6 feet—one size for all eleven curtains. 16 He joined five curtains by themselves and six curtains by themselves. 17 He made fifty loops along the edge of the end curtain in the first set and fifty loops along the edge of the curtain that joined the second set. 18 He made fifty bronze clasps to join the tent together so that it might be a unit.[e] 19 He made a covering for the tent out of ram skins dyed red and over that a covering of fine leather.[f]
20 He made the frames[g] for the tabernacle of acacia wood[h] as uprights.[i] 21 The length of each[j] frame was 15 feet, the width of each[k] frame was 2¼ feet, 22 with[l] two projections per frame parallel one to another.[m] He made all the frames of the tabernacle in this way. 23 So he made frames for the tabernacle: twenty frames for the south side. 24 He made forty silver bases under the twenty frames—two bases under the first frame for its two projections, and likewise[n] two bases under the next frame for its two projections, 25 and for the second side of the tabernacle, the north side, he made twenty frames 26 and their forty silver bases, two bases under the first frame and two bases under the next[o] frame. 27 And for the back of the tabernacle on the west he made six frames. 28 He made two frames for the corners of the tabernacle on the back. 29 At the two corners[p] they were doubled at the lower end and[q] finished together at the top in one ring. So he did for both. 30 So there were eight frames and their silver bases, sixteen bases, two bases under each frame.
31 He made bars of acacia wood, five for the frames on one side of the tabernacle 32 and five bars for the frames on the second side of the tabernacle, and five bars for the frames of the tabernacle for the back side on the west. 33 He made the middle bar to reach from end to end in the center of the frames. 34 He overlaid the frames with gold and made their rings of gold to provide places[r] for the bars, and he overlaid the bars with gold.
35 He made the special curtain of blue, purple, and scarlet yarn and fine twisted linen; he made[s] it with cherubim, the work of an artistic designer. 36 He made for it four posts of acacia wood and overlaid them with gold, with gold hooks,[t] and he cast for them four silver bases.
37 He made a hanging for the entrance of the tent of blue, purple, and scarlet yarn and fine twisted linen, the work of an embroiderer, 38 and its five posts and their hooks. He overlaid their tops[u] and their bands with gold, but their five bases were bronze.[v]
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Exodus 36:10 tn The verb is singular since it probably is referring to Bezalel, but since he would not do all the work himself, it may be that the verbs could be given a plural subject: “they joined.”
- Exodus 36:10 tn The words “the other” have been supplied.
- Exodus 36:13 tn Heb “one.”
- Exodus 36:14 tn Heb “eleven curtains he made them.”
- Exodus 36:18 tn The construction uses the infinitive construct from the verb “to be” to express this purpose clause: “to be one,” or, “so that it might be a unit.”
- Exodus 36:19 tn See the note on this phrase in Exod 25:5.
- Exodus 36:20 tn There is debate whether the word הַקְּרָשִׁים (haqqerashim) means “boards” or “frames” or “planks” (see Ezek 27:6) or “beams,” given the size of them. The literature on this includes M. Haran, “The Priestly Image of the Tabernacle,” HUCA 36 (1965): 192; B. A. Levine, “The Description of the Tabernacle Texts of the Pentateuch,” JAOS 85 (1965): 307-18; J. Morgenstern, “The Ark, the Ephod, and the Tent,” HUCA 17 (1942/43): 153-265; 18 (1943/44): 1-52.
- Exodus 36:20 tn “Wood” is an adverbial accusative.
- Exodus 36:20 tn The plural participle “standing” refers to how these items will be situated; they will be vertical rather than horizontal (U. Cassuto, Exodus, 354).
- Exodus 36:21 tn Heb “the frame.”
- Exodus 36:21 tn Heb “the one.”
- Exodus 36:22 tn Heb “two hands to the one frame.”
- Exodus 36:22 tn Heb “joined one to one.”
- Exodus 36:24 tn The clause is repeated to show the distributive sense; it literally says, “and two bases under the one frame for its two projections.”
- Exodus 36:26 tn Heb “under the one frame” again.
- Exodus 36:29 tn This is the last phrase of the verse, moved forward for clarity.
- Exodus 36:29 tn This difficult verse uses the perfect tense at the beginning, and the second clause parallels it with יִהְיוּ (yihyu), which has to be taken here as a preterite without the consecutive vav (ו). The predicate “finished” or “completed” is the word תָּמִּים (tammim); it normally means “complete, sound, whole,” and related words describe the sacrifices as without blemish.
- Exodus 36:34 tn Literally “houses”; i.e., places to hold the bars.
- Exodus 36:35 tn The verb is simply “he made” but as in Exod 26:31 it probably means that the cherubim were worked into the curtain with the yarn, and so embroidered on the curtain.
- Exodus 36:36 tn Heb “and their hooks gold.”
- Exodus 36:38 tn The word is “their heads”; technically it would be “their capitals” (so ASV, NAB, NRSV). The bands were bands of metal surrounding these capitals just beneath them. These are not mentioned in Exod 26:37, and it sounds like the posts are to be covered with gold. But the gradation of metals is what is intended: the posts at the entrance to the Most Holy Place are all of gold; the posts at the entrance to the tent are overlaid with gold at the top; and the posts at the entrance to the courtyard are overlaid with silver at the top (S. R. Driver, Exodus, 387, citing Dillmann without reference).
- Exodus 36:38 sn For a good summary of the differences between the instruction section and the completion section, and the reasons for the changes and the omissions, see B. Jacob, Exodus, 1022-23.
Exodus 36:8-38
Common English Bible
Construction of the dwelling
8 All the skilled workers made the dwelling out of ten curtains of fine twisted linen and blue, purple, and deep red yarns, with figures of winged heavenly creatures worked into their design. 9 Each curtain was forty-two feet long and six feet wide. All the curtains were the same size.
10 They joined five of the curtains to each other and joined the other five curtains to each other. 11 They made loops of blue thread on the edge of the outer curtain of the first set. They did the same on the edge of the outer curtain of the second set. 12 They made fifty loops on the one curtain and fifty loops on the outer curtain that was in the second set. The loops were opposite each other. 13 They also made fifty gold clasps, and they used the clasps to join the curtains to each other so that the dwelling was one whole structure.
14 They also made curtains of goats’ hair for a tent over the dwelling. They made eleven curtains. 15 Each curtain was forty-five feet long and each curtain six feet wide. All eleven curtains were the same size. 16 They joined five curtains together and the six other curtains together. 17 They made fifty loops on the edge of the outer curtain of the one set and fifty loops on the edge of the other set of curtains. 18 They made fifty copper clasps to join the tent together so that it would be one whole structure. 19 They also made a covering for the tent of rams’ skins dyed red and an outer covering of beaded leather.
20 Then they made acacia-wood boards to stand upright as a frame for the dwelling. 21 Each board was fifteen feet long and twenty-seven inches wide. 22 Each board had two pegs for joining them to each other. They did this for all the dwelling’s boards. 23 They made twenty boards for the dwelling’s southern side. 24 They made forty silver bases under the twenty boards, with two bases under the first board for its two pegs, two bases under the next board for its two pegs, and so on. 25 For the dwelling’s other side on the north, they made twenty boards 26 and forty silver bases, two bases under the first board, two bases under the next board, and so on. 27 For the back of the dwelling on the west, they made six boards. 28 They made two additional boards for the dwelling’s rear corners. 29 They were spread out at the bottom but joined together at the top with one ring. In this way, these two boards formed the two corners. 30 And so there were eight boards with their sixteen silver bases, with two bases under every board.
31 They also made acacia-wood bars: five for the boards on one side of the dwelling, 32 five bars for the boards on the other side of the dwelling, and five bars for the boards on the back wall of the dwelling on the west. 33 They made the middle bar, which was halfway up the boards, run from one end to the other. 34 They covered the boards with gold. They made gold rings to house the bars and covered the bars with gold.
35 They made the veil of blue, purple, and deep red yarns and fine twisted linen, with figures of winged heavenly creatures worked into its design. 36 They made for it four acacia-wood posts covered in gold with gold hooks and cast four silver bases for them. 37 They made a screen for the entrance to the tent of blue, purple, and deep red yarns and fine twisted linen, decorated with needlework. 38 They made its five posts with hooks. They covered their tops and bands with gold, but made their five bases out of copper.
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