Text -- Exodus 35:20-35 (NET)

35:20 So the whole community of the Israelites went out from the presence of Moses. 35:21 Everyone whose heart stirred him to action and everyone whose spirit was willing came and brought the offering for the Lord for the work of the tent of meeting, for all its service, and for the holy garments. 35:22 They came, men and women alike, all who had willing hearts. They brought brooches, earrings, rings and ornaments, all kinds of gold jewelry, and everyone came who waved a wave offering of gold to the Lord. 35:23 Everyone who had blue, purple, or scarlet yarn, fine linen, goats’ hair, ram skins dyed red, or fine leather brought them. 35:24 Everyone making an offering of silver or bronze brought it as an offering to the Lord, and everyone who had acacia wood for any work of the service brought it. 35:25 Every woman who was skilled spun with her hands and brought what she had spun, blue, purple, or scarlet yarn, or fine linen, 35:26 and all the women whose heart stirred them to action and who were skilled spun goats’ hair. 35:27 The leaders brought onyx stones and other gems to be mounted for the ephod and the breastpiece, 35:28 and spices and olive oil for the light, for the anointing oil, and for the fragrant incense. 35:29 The Israelites brought a freewill offering to the Lord, every man and woman whose heart was willing to bring materials for all the work that the Lord through Moses had commanded them to do. 35:30 Moses said to the Israelites, “See, the Lord has chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. 35:31 He has filled him with the Spirit of God– with skill, with understanding, with knowledge, and in all kinds of work, 35:32 to design artistic designs, to work in gold, in silver, and in bronze, 35:33 and in cutting stones for their setting, and in cutting wood, to do work in every artistic craft. 35:34 And he has put it in his heart to teach, he and Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan. 35:35 He has filled them with skill to do all kinds of work as craftsmen, as designers, as embroiderers in blue, purple, and scarlet yarn and in fine linen, and as weavers. They are craftsmen in all the work and artistic designers.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Exo 35:21

¹ tn Heb “man.”

² tn The verb means “lift up, bear, carry.” Here the subject is “heart” or will, and so the expression describes one moved within to act.

³ tn Heb “his spirit made him willing.” The verb is used in Scripture for the freewill offering that people brought (Lev 7).

⁴ tn Literally “the garments of holiness,” the genitive is the attributive genitive, marking out what type of garments these were.

NET Notes: Exo 35:22

¹ tn The expression in Hebrew is “men on/after the women,” meaning men with women, to ensure that it was clear that the preceding verse did not mean only men. B. Jacob takes it further, saying that the men came after the women because the latter had taken the initiative (Exodus, 1017).

² tn Heb “all gold utensils.”

³ tn The verb could be translated “offered,” but it is cognate with the following noun that is the wave offering. This sentence underscores the freewill nature of the offerings people made. The word “came” is supplied from v. 21 and v. 22.

NET Notes: Exo 35:23

¹ tn The text uses a relative clause with a resumptive pronoun for this: “who was found with him,” meaning “with whom was found.”

² tn The conjunction in this verse is translated “or” because the sentence does not intend to say that each person had all these things. They brought what they had.

³ tn See the note on this phrase in Exod 25:5.

⁴ tn Here “them” has been supplied.

NET Notes: Exo 35:24

¹ tn This translation takes “offering” as an adverbial accusative explaining the form or purpose of their bringing things. It could also be rendered as the direct object, but that would seem to repeat without much difference what had just been said.

² sn U. Cassuto notes that the expression “with whom was found” does not rule out the idea that these folks went out and cut down acacia trees (Exodus, 458). It is unlikely that they had much wood in their tents.

³ tn Here “it” has been supplied.

NET Notes: Exo 35:25

¹ tn Heb “wisdom of heart,” which means that they were skilled and could make all the right choices about the work.

NET Notes: Exo 35:26

¹ tn The text simply uses a prepositional phrase, “with/in wisdom.” It seems to be qualifying “the women” as the relative clause is.

NET Notes: Exo 35:27

¹ tn Heb “and stones of the filling.”

NET Notes: Exo 35:29

¹ tn Heb “by the hand of.”

² tn Here “them” has been supplied.

NET Notes: Exo 35:30

¹ tn Heb “called by name” (so KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV). This expression means that the person was specifically chosen for some important task (S. R. Driver, Exodus, 342). See the expression with Cyrus in Isa 45:3-4.

NET Notes: Exo 35:33

¹ tn Heb “to set.”

² tn Heb “in every work of thought,” meaning, every work that required the implementation of design or plan.

NET Notes: Exo 35:34

¹ sn The expression means that God has given them the ability and the desire to teach others how to do the work. The infinitive construct “to teach” is related to the word Torah, “instruction, guide, law.” They will be able to direct others in the work.

NET Notes: Exo 35:35

¹ tn The expression “wisdom of heart,” or “wisdom in heart,” means artistic skill. The decisions and plans they make are skilled. The expression forms a second accusative after the verb of filling.

² tn The expression “all the work” means “all kinds of work.”

³ tn Here “They are” has been supplied.

⁴ tn Heb “doers of all work.”

⁵ tn Heb “designers of designs.”