30:34 The Lord said to Moses: “Take 1 spices, gum resin, 2 onycha, 3 galbanum, 4 and pure frankincense 5 of equal amounts 6
1 tn The construction is “take to you,” which could be left in that literal sense, but more likely the suffix is an ethical dative, stressing the subject of the imperative.
2 sn This is from a word that means “to drip”; the spice is a balsam that drips from a resinous tree.
3 sn This may be a plant, or it may be from a species of mollusks; it is mentioned in Ugaritic and Akkadian; it gives a pungent odor when burnt.
4 sn This is a gum from plants of the genus Ferula; it has an unpleasant odor, but when mixed with others is pleasant.
5 tn The word “spice is repeated here, suggesting that the first three formed half of the ingredient and this spice the other half – but this is conjecture (U. Cassuto, Exodus, 400).
6 tn Heb “of each part there will be an equal part.”