Exodus 3:5

3:5 God ¹  said, “Do not approach any closer! ²  Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ³  ground.” ⁴ 

Exodus 22:31

22:31 “You will be holy ⁵  people to me; you must not eat any meat torn by animals in the field. ⁶  You must throw it to the dogs.

Exodus 28:29

28:29 Aaron will bear the names of the sons of Israel in the breastpiece of decision over his heart ⁷  when he goes into the holy place, for a memorial before the Lord continually.

Exodus 28:35

28:35 The robe ⁸  is to be on Aaron as he ministers, ⁹  and his sound will be heard ¹⁰  when he enters the Holy Place before the Lord and when he leaves, so that he does not die.

Exodus 29:29-30

29:29 “The holy garments that belong to Aaron are to belong to his sons after him, so that they may be anointed ¹¹  in them and consecrated ¹²  in them. 29:30 The priest who succeeds him ¹³  from his sons, when he first comes ¹⁴  to the tent of meeting to minister in the Holy Place, is to wear them for seven days. ¹⁵ 

Exodus 29:33-34

29:33 They are to eat those things by which atonement was made ¹⁶  to consecrate and to set them apart, but no one else ¹⁷  may eat them, for they are holy. 29:34 If any of the meat from the consecration offerings ¹⁸  or any of the bread is left over ¹⁹  until morning, then you are to burn up ²⁰  what is left over. It must not be eaten, ²¹  because it is holy.

Exodus 30:13

30:13 Everyone who crosses over to those who are numbered ²²  is to pay this: a half shekel ²³  according to the shekel of the sanctuary ²⁴  (a shekel weighs twenty gerahs). The half shekel is to be an offering ²⁵  to the Lord.

Exodus 31:15

31:15 Six days ²⁶  work may be done, ²⁷  but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of complete rest, ²⁸  holy to the Lord; anyone who does work on the Sabbath day must surely be put to death.

Exodus 35:2

35:2 In six days ²⁹  work may be done, but on the seventh day there must be a holy day ³⁰  for you, a Sabbath of complete rest to the Lord. ³¹  Anyone who does work on it will be put to death.

Exodus 36:4

36:4 So all the skilled people who were doing all the work on the sanctuary came from the work ³²  they were doing

Exodus 36:6

36:6 Moses instructed them to take ³³  his message ³⁴  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. ³⁵ 

Exodus 38:25

38:25 The silver of those who were numbered of the community was one hundred talents and 1,775 shekels, ³⁶  according to the sanctuary shekel,

Exodus 38:27

38:27 The one hundred talents of silver were used for casting the bases of the sanctuary and the bases of the special curtain – one hundred bases for one hundred talents, one talent per base.

Exodus 40:9

40:9 And take ³⁷  the anointing oil, and anoint ³⁸  the tabernacle and all that is in it, and sanctify ³⁹  it and all its furnishings, and it will be holy.

[3:5]  ¹ tn Heb “And he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[3:5]  ² sn Even though the Lord was drawing near to Moses, Moses could not casually approach him. There still was a barrier between God and human, and God had to remind Moses of this with instructions. The removal of sandals was, and still is in the East, a sign of humility and reverence in the presence of the Holy One. It was a way of excluding the dust and dirt of the world. But it also took away personal comfort and convenience and brought the person more closely in contact with the earth.

[3:5]  ³ sn The word קֹדֶשׁ (qodesh, “holy”) indicates “set apart, distinct, unique.” What made a mountain or other place holy was the fact that God chose that place to reveal himself or to reside among his people. Because God was in this place, the ground was different – it was holy.

[3:5]  ⁴ tn The causal clause includes within it a typical relative clause, which is made up of the relative pronoun, then the independent personal pronoun with the participle, and then the preposition with the resumptive pronoun. It would literally be “which you are standing on it,” but the relative pronoun and the resumptive pronoun are combined and rendered, “on which you are standing.”

[22:31]  ⁵ sn The use of this word here has to do with the laws of the sanctuary and not some advanced view of holiness. The ritual holiness at the sanctuary would prohibit eating anything torn to pieces.

[22:31]  ⁶ tn Or “by wild animals.”

[28:29]  ⁹ sn So Aaron will have the names of the tribes on his shoulders (v. 12) which bear the weight and symbol of office (see Isa 9:6; 22:22), and over his heart (implying that they have a constant place in his thoughts [Deut 6:6]). Thus he was to enter the presence of God as the nation’s representative, ever mindful of the nation’s interests, and ever bringing the remembrance of it before God (S. R. Driver, Exodus, 306).

[28:35]  ¹³ tn Heb “it”; the referent (the robe) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[28:35]  ¹⁴ tn The form is a Piel infinitive construct with the lamed (ל) preposition: “to minister” or “to serve.” It may be taken epexegetically here, “while serving,” although S. R. Driver takes it as a purpose, “in order that he may minister” (Exodus, 308). The point then would be that he dare not enter into the Holy Place without wearing it.

[28:35]  ¹⁵ sn God would hear the bells and be reminded that this priest was in his presence representing the nation and that the priest had followed the rules of the sanctuary by wearing the appropriate robes with their attachments.

[29:29]  ¹⁷ tn The construction is an infinitive construct with a lamed (ל) preposition. The form simply means “for anointing,” but it serves to express the purpose or result of their inheriting the sacred garments.

[29:29]  ¹⁸ tn This form is a Piel infinitive construct with a lamed (ל) preposition. It literally reads “for filling the hands,” the idiom used throughout this chapter for ordination or installation. Here too it has a parallel use of purpose or result.

[29:30]  ²¹ tn Heb “after him”; NCV, NLT “after Aaron.”

[29:30]  ²² tn The text just has the relative pronoun and the imperfect tense. It could be translated “who comes/enters.” But the context seems to indicate that this would be when he first comes to the tent to begin his tenure as High Priest, and so a temporal clause makes this clear. “First” has been supplied.

[29:30]  ²³ tn “Seven days” is an adverbial accusative of time. The ritual of ordination is to be repeated for seven days, and so they are to remain there in the court in full dress.

[29:33]  ²⁵ tn The clause is a relative clause modifying “those things,” the direct object of the verb “eat.” The relative clause has a resumptive pronoun: “which atonement was made by them” becomes “by which atonement was made.” The verb is a Pual perfect of כִּפֵּר (kipper, “to expiate, atone, pacify”).

[29:33]  ²⁶ tn The Hebrew word is “stranger, alien” (זָר, zar). But in this context it means anyone who is not a priest (see S. R. Driver, Exodus, 324).

[29:34]  ²⁹ tn Or “ordination offerings” (Heb “fillings”).

[29:34]  ³⁰ tn The verb in the conditional clause is a Niphal imperfect of יָתַר (yatar); this verb is repeated in the next clause (as a Niphal participle) as the direct object of the verb “you will burn” (a Qal perfect with a vav [ו] consecutive to form the instruction).

[29:34]  ³¹ tn Heb “burn with fire.”

[29:34]  ³² tn The verb is a Niphal imperfect negated. It expresses the prohibition against eating this, but in the passive voice: “it will not be eaten,” or stronger, “it must not be eaten.”

[30:13]  ³³ sn Each man was to pass in front of the counting officer and join those already counted on the other side.

[30:13]  ³⁴ sn The half shekel weight of silver would be about one-fifth of an ounce (6 grams).

[30:13]  ³⁵ sn It appears that some standard is in view for the amount of a shekel weight. The sanctuary shekel is sometimes considered to be twice the value of the ordinary shekel. The “gerah,” also of uncertain meaning, was mentioned as a reference point for the ancient reader to understand the value of the required payment. It may also be that the expression meant “a sacred shekel” and looked at the purpose more – a shekel for sanctuary dues. This would mean that the standard of the shekel weight was set because it was the traditional amount of sacred dues (S. R. Driver, Exodus, 333). “Though there is no certainty, the shekel is said to weigh about 11,5 grams…Whether an official standard is meant [by ‘sanctuary shekel’] or whether the sanctuary shekel had a different weight than the ‘ordinary’ shekel is not known” (C. Houtman, Exodus, 3:181).

[30:13]  ³⁶ tn Or “contribution” (תְּרוּמָה, tÿrumah).

[31:15]  ³⁷ tn This is an adverbial accusative of time, indicating that work may be done for six days out of the week.

[31:15]  ³⁸ tn The form is a Niphal imperfect; it has the nuance of permission in this sentence, for the sentence is simply saying that the six days are work days – that is when work may be done.

[31:15]  ³⁹ tn The expression is שַׁבַּת שַׁבָּתוֹן (shabbat shabbaton), “a Sabbath of entire rest,” or better, “a sabbath of complete desisting” (U. Cassuto, Exodus, 404). The second noun, the modifying genitive, is an abstract noun. The repetition provides the superlative idea that complete rest is the order of the day.

[35:2]  ⁴¹ tn This is an adverbial accusative of time.

[35:2]  ⁴² tn The word is קֹדֶשׁ (qodesh, “holiness”). S. R. Driver suggests that the word was transposed, and the line should read: “a sabbath of entire rest, holy to Jehovah” (Exodus, 379). But the word may simply be taken as a substitution for “holy day.”

[35:2]  ⁴³ sn See on this H. Routtenberg, “The Laws of the Sabbath: Biblical Sources,” Dor le Dor 6 (1977): 41-43, 99-101, 153-55, 204-6; G. Robinson, “The Idea of Rest in the Old Testament and the Search for the Basic Character of Sabbath,” ZAW 92 (1980): 32-43.

[36:4]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “a man, a man from his work”; or “each one from his work.”

[36:6]  ⁴⁹ 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]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “voice.”

[36:6]  ⁵¹ tn The verse ends with the infinitive serving as the object of the preposition: “from bringing.”

[38:25]  ⁵³ sn This would be a total of 301,775 shekels (about 140,828 oz), being a half shekel exacted per person from 605,550 male Israelites 20 years old or more (Num 1:46). The amount is estimated to be around 3.75 tons.

[40:9]  ⁵⁷ tn Heb “you will take” (perfect with vav, ו).

[40:9]  ⁵⁸ tn Heb “and you will anoint” (perfect with vav, ו).

[40:9]  ⁵⁹ tn Heb “and you will sanctify” (perfect with vav, ו).