Keluaran 36:8-38

The Building of the Tabernacle

36:8 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; they were made with cherubim that were the work of an artistic designer. 36:9 The length of one curtain was forty-two feet, and the width of one curtain was six feet – the same size for each of the curtains. 36:10 He joined ¹  five of the curtains to one another, and the other ²  five curtains he joined to one another. 36:11 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. 36:12 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. 36:13 He made fifty gold clasps and joined the curtains together to one another with the clasps, so that the tabernacle was a unit. ³ 

36:14 He made curtains of goats’ hair for a tent over the tabernacle; he made eleven curtains. ⁴  36:15 The length of one curtain was forty-five feet, and the width of one curtain was six feet – one size for all eleven curtains. 36:16 He joined five curtains by themselves and six curtains by themselves. 36:17 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. 36:18 He made fifty bronze clasps to join the tent together so that it might be a unit. ⁵  36:19 He made a covering for the tent out of ram skins dyed red and over that a covering of fine leather. ⁶ 

36:20 He made the frames ⁷  for the tabernacle of acacia wood ⁸  as uprights. ⁹  36:21 The length of each ¹⁰  frame was fifteen feet, the width of each ¹¹  frame was two and a quarter feet, 36:22 with ¹²  two projections per frame parallel one to another. ¹³  He made all the frames of the tabernacle in this way. 36:23 So he made frames for the tabernacle: twenty frames for the south side. 36:24 He made forty silver bases under the twenty frames – two bases under the first frame for its two projections, and likewise ¹⁴  two bases under the next frame for its two projections, 36:25 and for the second side of the tabernacle, the north side, he made twenty frames 36:26 and their forty silver bases, two bases under the first frame and two bases under the next ¹⁵  frame. 36:27 And for the back of the tabernacle on the west he made six frames. 36:28 He made two frames for the corners of the tabernacle on the back. 36:29 At the two corners ¹⁶  they were doubled at the lower end and ¹⁷  finished together at the top in one ring. So he did for both. 36:30 So there were eight frames and their silver bases, sixteen bases, two bases under each frame.

36:31 He made bars of acacia wood, five for the frames on one side of the tabernacle 36:32 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. 36:33 He made the middle bar to reach from end to end in the center of the frames. 36:34 He overlaid the frames with gold and made their rings of gold to provide places ¹⁸  for the bars, and he overlaid the bars with gold.

36:35 He made the special curtain of blue, purple, and scarlet yarn and fine twisted linen; he made ¹⁹  it with cherubim, the work of an artistic designer. 36:36 He made for it four posts of acacia wood and overlaid them with gold, with gold hooks, ²⁰  and he cast for them four silver bases.

36:37 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, 36:38 and its five posts and their hooks. He overlaid their tops ²¹  and their bands with gold, but their five bases were bronze. ²² 

[36:10]  ¹ 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.”

[36:10]  ² tn The words “the other” have been supplied.

[36:13]  ³ tn Heb “one.”

[36:14]  ⁴ tn Heb “eleven curtains he made them.”

[36:18]  ⁵ 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.”

[36:19]  ⁶ tn See the note on this phrase in Exod 25:5.

[36:20]  ⁷ tn There is debate whether the word הַקְּרָשִׁים (haqqÿrashim) 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.

[36:20]  ⁸ tn “Wood” is an adverbial accusative.

[36:20]  ⁹ tn The plural participle “standing” refers to how these items will be situated; they will be vertical rather than horizontal (U. Cassuto, Exodus, 354).

[36:21]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the frame.”

[36:21]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the one.”

[36:22]  ¹² tn Heb “two hands to the one frame.”

[36:22]  ¹³ tn Heb “joined one to one.”

[36:24]  ¹⁴ tn The clause is repeated to show the distributive sense; it literally says, “and two bases under the one frame for its two projections.”

[36:26]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “under the one frame” again.

[36:29]  ¹⁶ tn This is the last phrase of the verse, moved forward for clarity.

[36:29]  ¹⁷ 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.

[36:34]  ¹⁸ tn Literally “houses”; i.e., places to hold the bars.

[36:35]  ¹⁹ 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.

[36:36]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and their hooks gold.”

[36:38]  ²¹ 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).

[36:38]  ²² 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.