Discovery BoxExodus 35:4-29
Context35:4 1 Moses spoke to the whole community of the Israelites, “This is the word that the Lord has commanded: 35:5 ‘Take 2 an offering for the Lord. Let everyone who has a willing heart 3 bring 4 an offering to the Lord: 5 gold, silver, bronze, 35:6 blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, fine linen, goat’s hair, 35:7 ram skins dyed red, fine leather, 6 acacia wood, 35:8 olive oil for the light, spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense, 35:9 onyx stones, and other gems 7 for mounting 8 on the ephod and the breastpiece. 35:10 Every skilled person 9 among you is to come and make all that the Lord has commanded: 35:11 the tabernacle with 10 its tent, its covering, its clasps, its frames, its crossbars, its posts, and its bases; 35:12 the ark, with its poles, the atonement lid, and the special curtain that conceals it; 35:13 the table with its poles and all its vessels, and the Bread of the Presence; 35:14 the lampstand for 11 the light and its accessories, its lamps, and oil for the light; 35:15 and the altar of incense with its poles, the anointing oil, and the fragrant incense; the hanging for the door at the entrance of the tabernacle; 35:16 the altar for the burnt offering with its bronze grating that is on it, its poles, and all its utensils; the large basin and its pedestal; 35:17 the hangings of the courtyard, its posts and its bases, and the curtain for the gateway to the courtyard; 35:18 tent pegs for the tabernacle and tent pegs for the courtyard and their ropes; 35:19 the woven garments for serving in the holy place, the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments for his sons to minister as priests.”
35:20 So the whole community of the Israelites went out from the presence of Moses. 35:21 Everyone 12 whose heart stirred him to action 13 and everyone whose spirit was willing 14 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. 15 35:22 They came, men and women alike, 16 all who had willing hearts. They brought brooches, earrings, rings and ornaments, all kinds of gold jewelry, 17 and everyone came who waved 18 a wave offering of gold to the Lord.
35:23 Everyone who had 19 blue, purple, or 20 scarlet yarn, fine linen, goats’ hair, ram skins dyed red, or fine leather 21 brought them. 22 35:24 Everyone making an offering of silver or bronze brought it as 23 an offering to the Lord, and everyone who had acacia wood 24 for any work of the service brought it. 25 35:25 Every woman who was skilled 26 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 27 spun goats’ hair.
35:27 The leaders brought onyx stones and other gems to be mounted 28 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 29 Moses had commanded them 30 to do.
[35:4] 1 sn The book now turns to record how all the work of the sanctuary was done. This next unit picks up on the ideas in Exod 31:1-11. But it adds several features. The first part is the instruction of God for all people to give willingly (35:4-19); the next section tells how the faithful brought an offering for the service of the tabernacle (35:20-29); the next section tells how God set some apart with special gifts (35:30-35), and finally, the narrative reports how the faithful people of God enthusiastically began the work (36:1-7).
[35:5] 2 tn Heb “from with you.”
[35:5] 3 tn “Heart” is a genitive of specification, clarifying in what way they might be “willing.” The heart refers to their will, their choices.
[35:5] 4 tn The verb has a suffix that is the direct object, but the suffixed object is qualified by the second accusative: “let him bring it, an offering.”
[35:5] 5 tn The phrase is literally “the offering of Yahweh”; it could be a simple possessive, “Yahweh’s offering,” but a genitive that indicates the indirect object is more appropriate.
[35:7] 6 tn See the note on this phrase in Exod 25:5.
[35:10] 9 tn Heb “wise of heart”; here also “heart” would be a genitive of specification, showing that there were those who could make skillful decisions.
[35:11] 10 tn In Hebrew style all these items are typically connected with a vav (ו) conjunction, but English typically uses commas except between the last two items in a series or between items in a series that are somehow related to one another. The present translation follows contemporary English style in lists such as this.
[35:14] 11 tn “for” has been supplied.
[35:21] 13 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] 14 tn Heb “his spirit made him willing.” The verb is used in Scripture for the freewill offering that people brought (Lev 7).
[35:21] 15 tn Literally “the garments of holiness,” the genitive is the attributive genitive, marking out what type of garments these were.
[35:22] 16 tn The expression in Hebrew is “men on/after the women,” meaning men with women, to ensure that it was clear that the preceding verse did not mean only men. B. Jacob takes it further, saying that the men came after the women because the latter had taken the initiative (Exodus, 1017).
[35:22] 17 tn Heb “all gold utensils.”
[35:22] 18 tn The verb could be translated “offered,” but it is cognate with the following noun that is the wave offering. This sentence underscores the freewill nature of the offerings people made. The word “came” is supplied from v. 21 and v. 22.
[35:23] 19 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] 20 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] 21 tn See the note on this phrase in Exod 25:5.
[35:23] 22 tn Here “them” has been supplied.
[35:24] 23 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] 24 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] 25 tn Here “it” has been supplied.
[35:25] 26 tn Heb “wisdom of heart,” which means that they were skilled and could make all the right choices about the work.
[35:26] 27 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] 28 tn Heb “and stones of the filling.”
