Exodus 25:2

25:2 “Tell the Israelites to take ¹  an offering ²  for me; from every person motivated by a willing ³  heart you ⁴  are to receive my offering.

Exodus 35:21

35:21 Everyone ⁵  whose heart stirred him to action ⁶  and everyone whose spirit was willing ⁷  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. ⁸ 

Exodus 35:29

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 ⁹  Moses had commanded them ¹⁰  to do.

[25:2]  ¹ tn The verb is וְיִקְחוּ (vÿyiqkhu), the Qal imperfect or jussive with vav; after the imperative “speak” this verb indicates the purpose or result: “speak…that they may take” and continues with the force of a command.

[25:2]  ² tn The “offering” (תְּרוּמָה, tÿrumah) is perhaps better understood as a contribution since it was a freewill offering. There is some question about the etymology of the word. The traditional meaning of “heave-offering” derives from the idea of “elevation,” a root meaning “to be high” lying behind the word. B. Jacob says it is something sorted out of a mass of material and designated for a higher purpose (Exodus, 765). S. R. Driver (Exodus, 263) corrects the idea of “heave-offering” by relating the root to the Hiphil form of that root, herim, “to lift” or “take off.” He suggests the noun means “what is taken off” from a larger mass and so designated for sacred purposes. The LXX has “something taken off.”

[25:2]  ³ tn The verb יִדְּבֶנּוּ (yiddÿvennu) is related to the word for the “freewill offering” (נְדָבָה, nÿdavah). The verb is used of volunteering for military campaigns (Judg 5:2, 9) and the willing offerings for both the first and second temples (see 1 Chr 29:5, 6, 9, 14, 17).

[25:2]  ⁴ tn The pronoun is plural.

[35:21]  ⁵ tn Heb “man.”

[35:21]  ⁶ 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.

[35:21]  ⁷ tn Heb “his spirit made him willing.” The verb is used in Scripture for the freewill offering that people brought (Lev 7).

[35:21]  ⁸ tn Literally “the garments of holiness,” the genitive is the attributive genitive, marking out what type of garments these were.

[35:29]  ⁹ tn Heb “by the hand of.”

[35:29]  ¹⁰ tn Here “them” has been supplied.