25:17 “You are to make an atonement lid 4 of pure gold; 5 its length is to be three feet nine inches, and its width is to be two feet three inches.
28:22 “You are to make for the breastpiece braided chains like cords of pure gold,
28:36 “You are to make a plate 13 of pure gold and engrave on it the way a seal is engraved: 14 “Holiness to the Lord.” 15
37:6 He made 20 an atonement lid of pure gold; its length was three feet nine inches, and its width was two feet three inches.
37:29 He made the sacred anointing oil and the pure fragrant incense, the work of a perfumer.
39:15 They made for the breastpiece braided chains like cords of pure gold,
1 tn The verbs throughout here are perfect tenses with the vav (ו) consecutives. They are equal to the imperfect tense of instruction and/or injunction.
2 tn Here the verb is an imperfect tense; for the perfect sequence to work the verb would have to be at the front of the clause.
3 tn The word זֵר (zer) is used only in Exodus and seems to describe something on the order of a crown molding, an ornamental border running at the top of the chest on all four sides. There is no indication of its appearance or function.
4 tn The noun is כַּפֹּרֶת (kapporet), translated “atonement lid” or “atonement plate.” The traditional translation “mercy-seat” (so KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV) came from Tyndale in 1530 and was also used by Luther in 1523. The noun is formed from the word “to make atonement.” The item that the Israelites should make would be more than just a lid for the ark. It would be the place where atonement was signified. The translation of “covering” is probably incorrect, for it derives from a rare use of the verb, if the same verb at all (the evidence shows “cover” is from another root with the same letters as this). The value of this place was that Yahweh sat enthroned above it, and so the ark essentially was the “footstool.” Blood was applied to the lid of the box, for that was the place of atonement (see S. R. Driver, Exodus, 269-270).
5 tn After verbs of making or producing, the accusative (like “gold” here) may be used to express the material from which something is made (see GKC 371 §117.hh).
7 tn “Gold” is an adverbial accusative of material.
10 tn Or “a deep gold dish.” The four nouns in this list are items associated with the table and its use.
11 tn Or “cups” (NAB, TEV).
12 tn The expression “for pouring out offerings” represents Hebrew אֲשֶׁר יֻסַּךְ בָּהֵן (’asher yussakh bahen). This literally says, “which it may be poured out with them,” or “with which [libations] may be poured out.”
13 tn Heb “will be from it.”
16 tn Heb “a talent.”
17 tn The text has “he will make it” or “one will make it.” With no expressed subject it is given a passive translation.
19 tn The word צִּיץ (tsits) seems to mean “a shining thing” and so here a plate of metal. It originally meant “flower,” but they could not write on a flower. So it must have the sense of something worn openly, visible, and shining. The Rabbinic tradition says it was two fingers wide and stretched from ear to ear, but this is an attempt to give details that the Law does not give (see B. Jacob, Exodus, 818).
20 tn Heb “the engravings of a seal”; this phrase is an adverbial accusative of manner.
21 sn The engraving was a perpetual reminder of the holiness that was due the
22 tn This is an accusative of result or product.
23 tn The word is in apposition to “incense,” further defining the kind of incense that is to be made.
24 tn The word מְמֻלָּח (mÿmullakh), a passive participle, is usually taken to mean “salted.” Since there is no meaning like that for the Pual form, the word probably should be taken as “mixed,” as in Rashi and Tg. Onq. Seasoning with salt would work if it were food, but since it is not food, if it means “salted” it would be a symbol of what was sound and whole for the covenant. Some have thought that it would have helped the incense burn quickly with more smoke.
25 tn Or “molding.”
28 tn Heb “and he made.”
31 tn Heb “were from it.”