Exodus 28:32

28:32 There is to be an opening ¹  in its top ²  in the center of it, with an edge all around the opening, the work of a weaver, ³  like the opening of a collar, ⁴  so that it cannot be torn. ⁵ 

Exodus 36:6

36:6 Moses instructed them to take ⁶  his message ⁷  throughout the camp, saying, “Let no man or woman do any more work for the offering for the sanctuary.” So the people were restrained from bringing any more. ⁸ 

Exodus 38:21

The Materials of the Construction

38:21 This is the inventory ⁹  of the tabernacle, the tabernacle of the testimony, which was counted ¹⁰  by the order ¹¹  of Moses, being the work ¹²  of the Levites under the direction ¹³  of Ithamar, son of Aaron the priest.

Exodus 39:5

39:5 The artistically woven waistband of the ephod that was on it was like it, of one piece with it, ¹⁴  of gold, blue, purple, and scarlet yarn and fine twisted linen, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.

[28:32]  ¹ tn Heb “mouth” or “opening” (פִּי, pi; in construct).

[28:32]  ² tn The “mouth of its head” probably means its neck; it may be rendered “the opening for the head,” except the pronominal suffix would have to refer to Aaron, and that is not immediately within the context.

[28:32]  ³ tn Or “woven work” (KJV, ASV, NASB), that is, “the work of a weaver.” The expression suggests that the weaving was from the fabric edges itself and not something woven and then added to the robe. It was obviously intended to keep the opening from fraying.

[28:32]  ⁴ tn The expression כְּפִי תַחְרָא (kÿfi takhra’) is difficult. It was early rendered “like the opening of a coat of mail.” It occurs only here and in the parallel 39:23. Tg. Onq. has “coat of mail.” S. R. Driver suggests “a linen corselet,” after the Greek (Exodus, 308). See J. Cohen, “A Samaritan Authentication of the Rabbinic Interpretation of kephi tahra’,” VT 24 (1974): 361-66.

[28:32]  ⁵ tn The verb is the Niphal imperfect, here given the nuance of potential imperfect. Here it serves in a final clause (purpose/result), introduced only by the negative (see GKC 503-4 §165.a).

[36:6]  ⁶ tn The verse simply reads, “and Moses commanded and they caused [a voice] to cross over in the camp.” The second preterite with the vav may be subordinated to the first clause, giving the intent (purpose or result).

[36:6]  ⁷ tn Heb “voice.”

[36:6]  ⁸ tn The verse ends with the infinitive serving as the object of the preposition: “from bringing.”

[38:21]  ¹¹ tn The Hebrew word is פְּקוּדֵי (pÿqude), which in a slavishly literal way would be “visitations of” the tabernacle. But the word often has the idea of “numbering” or “appointing” as well. Here it is an accounting or enumeration of the materials that people brought, so the contemporary term “inventory” is a close approximation. By using this Hebrew word there is also the indication that whatever was given, i.e., appointed for the tabernacle, was changed forever in its use. This is consistent with this Hebrew root, which does have a sense of changing the destiny of someone (“God will surely visit you”). The list in this section will also be tied to the numbering of the people.

[38:21]  ¹² tn The same verb is used here, but now in the Pual perfect tense, third masculine singular. A translation “was numbered” or “was counted” works. The verb is singular because it refers to the tabernacle as a unit. This section will list what made up the tabernacle.

[38:21]  ¹³ tn Heb “at/by the mouth of.”

[38:21]  ¹⁴ tn The noun is “work” or “service.” S. R. Driver explains that the reckonings were not made for the Levites, but that they were the work of the Levites, done by them under the direction of Ithamar (Exodus, 393).

[38:21]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “by the hand of.”

[39:5]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “from it” or the same.