27:1 “You are to make the 3 altar of acacia wood, seven feet six inches long, 4 and seven feet six inches wide; the altar is to be square, 5 and its height is to be 6 four feet six inches. 27:2 You are to make its four horns 7 on its four corners; its horns will be part of it, 8 and you are to overlay it with bronze. 27:3 You are to make its pots for the ashes, 9 its shovels, its tossing bowls, 10 its meat hooks, and its fire pans – you are to make all 11 its utensils of bronze. 27:4 You are to make a grating 12 for it, a network of bronze, and you are to make on the network four bronze rings on its four corners. 27:5 You are to put it under the ledge of the altar below, so that the network will come 13 halfway up the altar. 14 27:6 You are to make poles for the altar, poles of acacia wood, and you are to overlay them with bronze. 27:7 The poles are to be put 15 into the rings so that the poles will be on two sides of the altar when carrying it. 16 27:8 You are to make the altar hollow, out of boards. Just as it was shown you 17 on the mountain, so they must make it. 18
27:1 “You are to make the 19 altar of acacia wood, seven feet six inches long, 20 and seven feet six inches wide; the altar is to be square, 21 and its height is to be 22 four feet six inches.
43:13 “And these are the measurements of the altar: 39 Its base 40 is 1¾ feet 41 high, 42 and 1¾ feet 43 wide, and its border nine inches 44 on its edge. This is to be the height 45 of the altar. 43:14 From the base of the ground to the lower edge is 3½ feet, 46 and the width 1¾ feet; 47 and from the smaller ledge to the larger edge, 7 feet, 48 and the width 1¾ feet; 43:15 and the altar hearth, 7 feet, and from the altar hearth four horns projecting upward. 43:16 Now the altar hearth 49 is a perfect square, 21 feet 50 long and 21 feet wide. 43:17 The ledge is 24½ feet 51 long and 24½ feet wide on four sides; the border around it is 10½ inches, 52 and its surrounding base 1¾ feet. 53 Its steps face east.”
1 sn The tabernacle was located in Gibeon; see 1 Chr 21:29.
2 tn Heb “sought [or “inquired of”] him.”
3 tn The article on this word identifies this as the altar, meaning the main high altar on which the sacrifices would be made.
4 tn The dimensions are five cubits by five cubits by three cubits high.
5 tn Heb “four”; this refers to four sides. S. R. Driver says this is an archaism that means there were four equal sides (Exodus, 291).
6 tn Heb “and three cubits its height.”
7 sn The horns of the altar were indispensable – they were the most sacred part. Blood was put on them; fugitives could cling to them, and the priests would grab the horns of the little altar when making intercessory prayer. They signified power, as horns on an animal did in the wild (and so the word was used for kings as well). The horns may also represent the sacrificial animals killed on the altar.
8 sn The text, as before, uses the prepositional phrase “from it” or “part of it” to say that the horns will be part of the altar – of the same piece as the altar. They were not to be made separately and then attached, but made at the end of the boards used to build the altar (U. Cassuto, Exodus, 363).
9 sn The word is literally “its fat,” but sometimes it describes “fatty ashes” (TEV “the greasy ashes”). The fat would run down and mix with the ashes, and this had to be collected and removed.
10 sn This was the larger bowl used in tossing the blood at the side of the altar.
11 tn The text has “to all its vessels.” This is the lamed (ל) of inclusion according to Gesenius, meaning “all its utensils” (GKC 458 §143.e).
12 tn The noun מִכְבָּר (mikhbar) means “a grating”; it is related to the word that means a “sieve.” This formed a vertical support for the ledge, resting on the ground and supporting its outer edge (S. R. Driver, Exodus, 292).
13 tn The verb is the verb “to be,” here the perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive. It is “and it will be” or “that it may be,” or here “that it may come” halfway up.
14 tn Heb “to the half of the altar.”
15 tn The verb is a Hophal perfect with vav consecutive: וְהוּבָא (vÿhuva’, “and it will be brought”). The particle אֶת (’et) here introduces the subject of the passive verb (see a similar use in 21:28, “and its flesh will not be eaten”).
16 tn The construction is the infinitive construct with bet (ב) preposition: “in carrying it.” Here the meaning must be that the poles are not left in the rings, but only put into the rings when they carried it.
17 tn The verb is used impersonally; it reads “just as he showed you.” This form then can be made a passive in the translation.
18 tn Heb “thus they will make.” Here too it could be given a passive translation since the subject is not expressed. But “they” would normally refer to the people who will be making this and so can be retained in the translation.
19 tn The article on this word identifies this as the altar, meaning the main high altar on which the sacrifices would be made.
20 tn The dimensions are five cubits by five cubits by three cubits high.
21 tn Heb “four”; this refers to four sides. S. R. Driver says this is an archaism that means there were four equal sides (Exodus, 291).
22 tn Heb “and three cubits its height.”
23 tn Or “distinguish.” וְהִפְלֵיתִי (vÿhifleti) is the Hiphil perfect of פָּלָה (palah). The verb in Hiphil means “to set apart, make separate, make distinct.” God was going to keep the flies away from Goshen – he was setting that apart. The Greek text assumed that the word was from פָּלֵא (pale’), and translated it something like “I will marvelously glorify.”
24 tn The relative clause modifies the land of Goshen as the place “in which my people are dwelling.” But the normal word for “dwelling” is not used here. Instead, עֹמֵד (’omed) is used, which literally means “standing.” The land on which Israel stood was spared the flies and the hail.
25 tn Or “of the earth” (KJV, ASV, NAB).
26 sn Beginning with 8:1, the verse numbers through 8:32 in English Bibles differ from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 8:1 ET = 7:26 HT, 8:2 ET = 7:27 HT, 8:3 ET = 7:28 HT, 8:4 ET = 7:29 HT, 8:5 ET = 8:1 HT, etc., through 8:32 ET = 8:28 HT. Thus in English Bibles chapter 8 has 32 verses, while in the Hebrew Bible it has 28 verses, with the four extra verses attached to chapter 7.
27 tn The exact expression is “from man even to beast.” R. J. Williams lists this as an example of the inclusive use of the preposition מִן (min) to be rendered “both…and” (Hebrew Syntax, 57, §327).
28 tn Heb “all the cultivated grain of.”
29 tn The object “them” is implied in the context.
30 tn עוֹד (’od), an adverb meaning “yet, still,” can be inflected with suffixes and used as a predicator of existence, with the nuance “to still be, yet be” (T. O. Lambdin, Introduction to Biblical Hebrew, 171-72, §137). Then, it is joined here with the Hiphil participle מַחֲזִיק (makhaziq) to form the sentence “you are still holding them.”
31 tn Heb “and [the dew…] went up.”
32 tn The preterite with vav (ו) consecutive is here subordinated as a temporal clause to the main clause; since that clause calls special attention to what was there after the dew evaporated.
33 sn Translations usually refer to the manna as “bread.” In fact it appears to be more like grain, because it could be ground in hand-mills and made into cakes. The word involved says it is thin, flakelike (if an Arabic etymological connection is correct). What is known about it from the Bible in Exodus is that it was a very small flakelike substance, it would melt when the sun got hot, if left over it bred worms and became foul, it could be ground, baked, and boiled, it was abundant enough for the Israelites to gather an omer a day per person, and they gathered it day by day throughout the wilderness sojourn. Num 11 says it was like coriander seed with the appearance of bdellium, it tasted like fresh oil, and it fell with the dew. Deut 8:3 says it was unknown to Israel or her ancestors; Psalm 78:24 parallels it with grain. Some scholars compare ancient references to honeydew that came from the heavens. F. S. Bodenheimer (“The Manna of Sinai,” BA 10 [1947]: 2) says that it was a sudden surprise for the nomadic Israelites because it provided what they desired – sweetness. He says that it was a product that came from two insects, making the manna a honeydew excretion from plant lice and scale insects. The excretion hardens and drops to the ground as a sticky solid. He notes that some cicadas are called man in Arabic. This view accounts for some of the things in these passages: the right place, the right time, the right description, and a similar taste. But there are major difficulties: Exodus requires a far greater amount, it could breed worms, it could melt away, it could be baked into bread, it could decay and stink. The suggestion is in no way convincing. Bodenheimer argues that “worms” could mean “ants” that carried them away, but that is contrived – the text could have said ants. The fact that the Bible calls it “bread” creates no problem. לֶחֶם (lekhem) is used in a wide range of meanings from bread to all kinds of food including goats (Judg 13:15-16) and honey (1 Sam 14:24-28). Scripture does not say that manna was the only thing that they ate for the duration. But they did eat it throughout the forty years. It simply must refer to some supernatural provision for them in their diet. Modern suggestions may invite comparison and analysis, but they do not satisfy or explain the text.
34 tn The preterite with vav consecutive is here subordinated to the next verb as a temporal clause. The main point of the verse is what they said.
35 tn Heb “a man to his brother.”
36 tn The text has: מָן הוּא כִּי לאֹ יָדְעוּ מַה־הוּא (man hu’ ki lo’ yadÿ’u mah hu’). From this statement the name “manna” was given to the substance. מָן for “what” is not found in Hebrew, but appears in Syriac as a contraction of ma den, “what then?” In Aramaic and Arabic man is “what?” The word is used here apparently for the sake of etymology. B. S. Childs (Exodus [OTL], 274) follows the approach that any connections to words that actually meant “what?” are unnecessary, for it is a play on the name (whatever it may have been) and therefore related only by sound to the term being explained. This, however, presumes that a substance was known prior to this account – a point that Deuteronomy does not seem to allow. S. R. Driver says that it is not known how early the contraction came into use, but that this verse seems to reflect it (Exodus, 149). Probably one must simply accept that in the early Israelite period man meant “what?” There seems to be sufficient evidence to support this. See EA 286,5; UT 435; DNWSI 1:157.
37 sn B. Jacob (Exodus, 454-55) suggests that Moses was saying to them, “It is not manna. It is the food Yahweh has given you.” He comes to this conclusion based on the strange popular etymology from the interrogative word, noting that people do not call things “what?”
38 sn For other views see G. Vermès, “‘He Is the Bread’ Targum Neofiti Ex. 16:15,” SJLA 8 (1975): 139-46; and G. J. Cowling, “Targum Neofiti Ex. 16:15,” AJBA (1974-75): 93-105.
39 tn Heb “the measurements of the altar by cubits, the cubit being a cubit and a handbreadth.” The measuring units here and in the remainder of this section are the Hebrew “long” cubit, consisting of a cubit (about 18 inches or 45 cm) and a handbreadth (about 3 inches or 7.5 cm), for a total of 21 inches (52.5 cm). Because modern readers are not familiar with the cubit as a unit of measurement, and due to the additional complication of the “long” cubit as opposed to the regular cubit, all measurements have been converted to American standard feet and inches, with the Hebrew measurements and the metric equivalents given in the notes. On the altar see Ezek 40:47.
40 tn The Hebrew term normally means “bosom.” Here it refers to a hollow in the ground.
41 tn Heb “one cubit” (i.e., 52.5 cm).
42 tn The word “high” is not in the Hebrew text but is supplied in the translation for clarity.
43 tn Heb “one cubit” (i.e., 52.5 cm).
44 tn Heb “one span.” A span was three handbreadths, or about nine inches (i.e., 22.5 cm).
45 tc Heb “bulge, protuberance, mound.” The translation follows the LXX.
46 tn Heb “two cubits” (i.e., 1.05 meters).
47 tn Heb “one cubit” (i.e., 52.5 cm; the phrase occurs again later in this verse).
48 tn Heb “four cubits” (i.e., 2.1 meters; the phrase also occurs in the next verse).
49 tn The precise Hebrew word used here to refer to an “altar hearth” occurs only here in the OT.
50 tn Heb “twelve cubits” (i.e., 6.3 meters; the phrase occurs twice in this verse).
51 tn Heb “fourteen”; the word “cubits” is not in the Hebrew text but is understood from the context; the phrase occurs again later in this verse. Fourteen cubits is about 7.35 meters.
52 tn Heb “half a cubit” (i.e., 26.25 cm).
53 tn Heb “one cubit” (i.e., 52.5 cm).