Exodus 38
38
The Making of the Altar for the Burnt Offering
1 He made the altar for the burnt offering of acacia wood seven feet six inches long and seven feet six inches wide – it was square – and its height was four feet six inches. 2 He made its horns on its four corners; its horns were part of it,#tn Heb “its horns were from it,” meaning from the same piece. and he overlaid it with bronze. 3 He made all the utensils of the altar – the pots, the shovels, the tossing bowls, the meat hooks, and the fire pans – he made all its utensils of bronze. 4 He made a grating for the altar, a network of bronze under its ledge, halfway up from the bottom. 5 He cast four rings for the four corners of the bronze grating, to provide places for the poles. 6 He made the poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with bronze. 7 He put the poles into the rings on the sides of the altar, with which to carry it. He made the altar#tn Heb “it”; the referent (the altar) has been specified in the translation for clarity. hollow, out of boards.
8 He made the large basin of bronze and its pedestal of bronze from the mirrors of the women who served#sn The word for “serve” is not the ordinary one. It means “to serve in a host,” especially in a war. It appears that women were organized into bands and served at the tent of meeting. S. R. Driver thinks that this meant “no doubt” washing, cleaning, or repairing (Exodus, 391). But there is no hint of that (see 1 Sam 2:22; and see Ps 68:11 [12 Hebrew text]). They seem to have had more to do than what Driver said. at the entrance of the tent of meeting.
The Construction of the Courtyard
9 He made the courtyard. For the south side#tn Heb “south side southward.” the hangings of the courtyard were of fine twisted linen, one hundred fifty feet long, 10 with#tn While this verse could be translated as an independent sentence, it is probably to be subordinated as a circumstantial clause in line with Exod 27:10-12, as well as v. 12 of this passage. their twenty posts and their twenty bronze bases, with the hooks of the posts and their bands of silver. 11 For the north side the hangings were#tn Here the phrase “the hangings were” has been supplied. one hundred fifty feet, with their twenty posts and their twenty bronze bases, with the hooks of the posts and their bands of silver. 12 For the west side there were#tn The phrase “there were” has been supplied. hangings seventy-five feet long, with#tn The text simply has “their posts ten and their bases ten”; this may be added here as a circumstantial clause with the main sentence in order to make sense out of the construction. their ten posts and their ten bases, with the hooks of the posts and their bands of silver. 13 For the east side, toward the sunrise, it was seventy-five feet wide,#tn The text simply says “seventy-five feet.” 14 with hangings on one side#tn The word literally means “shoulder.” The next words, “of the gate,” have been supplied here. The east end contained the courtyard’s entry with a wall of curtains on each side of the entry (see v. 15). of the gate that were twenty-two and a half feet long, with their three posts and their three bases, 15 and for the second side of the gate of the courtyard, just like the other,#tn Heb “from this and from this” (cf, 17:12; 25:19; 26:13; 32:15; Josh 8:22, 33; 1 Kgs 10:19-20; Ezek 45:7). the hangings were twenty-two and a half feet long, with their three posts and their three bases. 16 All the hangings around the courtyard were of fine twisted linen. 17 The bases for the posts were bronze. The hooks of the posts and their bands were silver, their tops were overlaid with silver, and all the posts of the courtyard had silver bands.#tn Heb “they were banded with silver.” 18 The curtain#tn This word is different from the word for hangings; it has more of the idea of a screen, shielding or securing the area. for the gate of the courtyard was of blue, purple, and scarlet yarn and fine twisted linen, the work of an embroiderer. It was thirty feet long, and like the hangings in the courtyard, it was seven and a half feet high, 19 with four posts and their four bronze bases. Their hooks and their bands were silver, and their tops were overlaid with silver. 20 All the tent pegs of the tabernacle and of the courtyard all around were bronze.
The Materials of the Construction
21 This is the inventory#tn The Hebrew word is פְּקוּדֵי (pÿqude), which in a slavishly literal way would be “visitations of” the tabernacle. But the word often has the idea of “numbering” or “appointing” as well. Here it is an accounting or enumeration of the materials that people brought, so the contemporary term “inventory” is a close approximation. By using this Hebrew word there is also the indication that whatever was given, i.e., appointed for the tabernacle, was changed forever in its use. This is consistent with this Hebrew root, which does have a sense of changing the destiny of someone (“God will surely visit you”). The list in this section will also be tied to the numbering of the people. of the tabernacle, the tabernacle of the testimony, which was counted#tn The same verb is used here, but now in the Pual perfect tense, third masculine singular. A translation “was numbered” or “was counted” works. The verb is singular because it refers to the tabernacle as a unit. This section will list what made up the tabernacle. by the order#tn Heb “at/by the mouth of.” of Moses, being the work#tn The noun is “work” or “service.” S. R. Driver explains that the reckonings were not made for the Levites, but that they were the work of the Levites, done by them under the direction of Ithamar (Exodus, 393). of the Levites under the direction#tn Heb “by the hand of.” of Ithamar, son of Aaron the priest. 22 Now Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, made everything that the Lord had commanded Moses; 23 and with him was Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, an artisan, a designer, and an embroiderer in blue, purple, and scarlet yarn and fine linen.
24 All the gold that was used for the work, in all the work of the sanctuary#tn These words form the casus pendens, or independent nominative absolute, followed by the apodosis beginning with the vav (ו; see U. Cassuto, Exodus, 469). (namely,#tn Heb “and it was.” the gold of the wave offering) was twenty-nine talents and 730 shekels,#sn There were 3000 shekels in a talent, and so the total weight here in shekels would be 87,730 shekels of gold. If the sanctuary shekel was 224 grs., then this was about 40,940 oz. troy. This is estimated to be a little over a ton (cf. NCV “over 2,000 pounds”; TEV “a thousand kilogrammes”; CEV “two thousand two hundred nine pounds”; NLT “about 2,200 pounds”), although other widely diverging estimates are also given. according to the sanctuary shekel.
25 The silver of those who were numbered of the community was one hundred talents and 1,775 shekels,#sn This would be a total of 301,775 shekels (about 140,828 oz), being a half shekel exacted per person from 605,550 male Israelites 20 years old or more (Num 1:46). The amount is estimated to be around 3.75 tons. according to the sanctuary shekel, 26 one beka per person, that is, a half shekel,#sn The weight would be about half an ounce. according to the sanctuary shekel, for everyone who crossed over to those numbered, from twenty years old or older,#tn Heb “upward.” 603,550 in all.#tn The phrase “in all” has been supplied. 27 The one hundred talents of silver were used for casting the bases of the sanctuary and the bases of the special curtain – one hundred bases for one hundred talents, one talent per base. 28 From the remaining 1,775 shekels#tn Here the word “shekels” is understood; about 45 pounds. he made hooks for the posts, overlaid their tops, and made bands for them.
29 The bronze of the wave offering was seventy talents and 2,400 shekels.#sn The total shekels would have been 212,400 shekels, which would be about 108,749 oz. This would make about 2.5 to 3 tons. 30 With it he made the bases for the door of the tent of meeting, the bronze altar, the bronze grating for it, and all the utensils of the altar, 31 the bases for the courtyard all around, the bases for the gate of the courtyard, all the tent pegs of the tabernacle, and all the tent pegs of the courtyard all around.#sn The bronze altar is the altar for the burnt offering; the large bronze basin is not included here in the list.
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Exodus 38: NET
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Exodus 38
38
The altar of burnt offering
1They#38:1 Or He; also in verses 2-9 built the altar of burnt offering of acacia wood, three cubits#38:1 That is, about 1.4 metres high; it was square, five cubits long and five cubits wide.#38:1 That is, about 2.3 metres long and wide 2They made a horn at each of the four corners, so that the horns and the altar were of one piece, and they overlaid the altar with bronze. 3They made all its utensils of bronze – its pots, shovels, sprinkling bowls, meat forks and firepans. 4They made a grating for the altar, a bronze network, to be under its ledge, halfway up the altar. 5They cast bronze rings to hold the poles for the four corners of the bronze grating. 6They made the poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with bronze. 7They inserted the poles into the rings so they would be on the sides of the altar for carrying it. They made it hollow, out of boards.
The basin for washing
8They made the bronze basin and its bronze stand from the mirrors of the women who served at the entrance to the tent of meeting.
The courtyard
9Next they made the courtyard. The south side was a hundred cubits#38:9 That is, about 45 metres long and had curtains of finely twisted linen, 10with twenty posts and twenty bronze bases, and with silver hooks and bands on the posts. 11The north side was also a hundred cubits long and had twenty posts and twenty bronze bases, with silver hooks and bands on the posts.
12The west end was fifty cubits#38:12 That is, about 23 metres wide and had curtains, with ten posts and ten bases, with silver hooks and bands on the posts. 13The east end, towards the sunrise, was also fifty cubits wide. 14Curtains fifteen cubits#38:14 That is, about 6.8 metres long were on one side of the entrance, with three posts and three bases, 15and curtains fifteen cubits long were on the other side of the entrance to the courtyard, with three posts and three bases. 16All the curtains around the courtyard were of finely twisted linen. 17The bases for the posts were bronze. The hooks and bands on the posts were silver, and their tops were overlaid with silver; so all the posts of the courtyard had silver bands.
18The curtain for the entrance to the courtyard was made of blue, purple and scarlet yarn and finely twisted linen – the work of an embroiderer. It was twenty cubits#38:18 That is, about 9 metres long and, like the curtains of the courtyard, five cubits#38:18 That is, about 2.3 metres high, 19with four posts and four bronze bases. Their hooks and bands were silver, and their tops were overlaid with silver. 20All the tent pegs of the tabernacle and of the surrounding courtyard were bronze.
The materials used
21These are the amounts of the materials used for the tabernacle, the tabernacle of the covenant law, which were recorded at Moses’ command by the Levites under the direction of Ithamar son of Aaron, the priest. 22(Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, made everything the Lord commanded Moses; 23with him was Oholiab son of Ahisamak, of the tribe of Dan – an engraver and designer, and an embroiderer in blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen.) 24The total amount of the gold from the wave offering used for all the work on the sanctuary was 29 talents and 730 shekels,#38:24 The weight of the gold was about 1 metric ton. according to the sanctuary shekel.
25The silver obtained from those of the community who were counted in the census was 100 talents#38:25 That is, about 3.4 metric tons; also in verse 27 and 1,775 shekels,#38:25 That is, about 20 kilograms; also in verse 28 according to the sanctuary shekel – 26one beka per person, that is, half a shekel,#38:26 That is, about 5.7 grams according to the sanctuary shekel, from everyone who had crossed over to those counted, twenty years old or more, a total of 603,550 men. 27The 100 talents of silver were used to cast the bases for the sanctuary and for the curtain – 100 bases from the 100 talents, one talent for each base. 28They used the 1,775 shekels to make the hooks for the posts, to overlay the tops of the posts, and to make their bands.
29The bronze from the wave offering was 70 talents and 2,400 shekels.#38:29 The weight of the bronze was about 2.4 metric tons. 30They used it to make the bases for the entrance to the tent of meeting, the bronze altar with its bronze grating and all its utensils, 31the bases for the surrounding courtyard and those for its entrance and all the tent pegs for the tabernacle and those for the surrounding courtyard.
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