Exodus 35:23-35

35:23 Everyone who had ¹  blue, purple, or ²  scarlet yarn, fine linen, goats’ hair, ram skins dyed red, or fine leather ³  brought them. ⁴  35:24 Everyone making an offering of silver or bronze brought it as ⁵  an offering to the Lord, and everyone who had acacia wood ⁶  for any work of the service brought it. ⁷  35:25 Every woman who was skilled ⁸  spun with her hands and brought what she had spun, blue, purple, or scarlet yarn, or fine linen, 35:26 and all the women whose heart stirred them to action and who were skilled ⁹  spun goats’ hair.

35:27 The leaders brought onyx stones and other gems to be mounted ¹⁰  for the ephod and the breastpiece, 35:28 and spices and olive oil for the light, for the anointing oil, and for the fragrant incense.

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 ¹¹  Moses had commanded them ¹²  to do.

35:30 Moses said to the Israelites, “See, the Lord has chosen ¹³  Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. 35:31 He has filled him with the Spirit of God – with skill, with understanding, with knowledge, and in all kinds of work, 35:32 to design artistic designs, to work in gold, in silver, and in bronze, 35:33 and in cutting stones for their setting, ¹⁴  and in cutting wood, to do work in every artistic craft. ¹⁵  35:34 And he has put it in his heart ¹⁶  to teach, he and Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan. 35:35 He has filled them with skill ¹⁷  to do all kinds of work ¹⁸  as craftsmen, as designers, as embroiderers in blue, purple, and scarlet yarn and in fine linen, and as weavers. They are ¹⁹  craftsmen in all the work ²⁰  and artistic designers. ²¹ 

[35:23]  ¹ tn The text uses a relative clause with a resumptive pronoun for this: “who was found with him,” meaning “with whom was found.”

[35:23]  ² tn The conjunction in this verse is translated “or” because the sentence does not intend to say that each person had all these things. They brought what they had.

[35:23]  ³ tn See the note on this phrase in Exod 25:5.

[35:23]  ⁴ tn Here “them” has been supplied.

[35:24]  ⁵ tn This translation takes “offering” as an adverbial accusative explaining the form or purpose of their bringing things. It could also be rendered as the direct object, but that would seem to repeat without much difference what had just been said.

[35:24]  ⁶ sn U. Cassuto notes that the expression “with whom was found” does not rule out the idea that these folks went out and cut down acacia trees (Exodus, 458). It is unlikely that they had much wood in their tents.

[35:24]  ⁷ tn Here “it” has been supplied.

[35:25]  ⁸ tn Heb “wisdom of heart,” which means that they were skilled and could make all the right choices about the work.

[35:26]  ⁹ tn The text simply uses a prepositional phrase, “with/in wisdom.” It seems to be qualifying “the women” as the relative clause is.

[35:27]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and stones of the filling.”

[35:29]  ¹¹ tn Heb “by the hand of.”

[35:29]  ¹² tn Here “them” has been supplied.

[35:30]  ¹³ tn Heb “called by name” (so KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV). This expression means that the person was specifically chosen for some important task (S. R. Driver, Exodus, 342). See the expression with Cyrus in Isa 45:3-4.

[35:33]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “to set.”

[35:33]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “in every work of thought,” meaning, every work that required the implementation of design or plan.

[35:34]  ¹⁶ sn The expression means that God has given them the ability and the desire to teach others how to do the work. The infinitive construct “to teach” is related to the word Torah, “instruction, guide, law.” They will be able to direct others in the work.

[35:35]  ¹⁷ tn The expression “wisdom of heart,” or “wisdom in heart,” means artistic skill. The decisions and plans they make are skilled. The expression forms a second accusative after the verb of filling.

[35:35]  ¹⁸ tn The expression “all the work” means “all kinds of work.”

[35:35]  ¹⁹ tn Here “They are” has been supplied.

[35:35]  ²⁰ tn Heb “doers of all work.”

[35:35]  ²¹ tn Heb “designers of designs.”