Discovery BoxExodus 36:1-3
Context36:1 So Bezalel and Oholiab and every skilled person 1 in whom the Lord has put skill 2 and ability 3 to know how 4 to do all the work for the service 5 of the sanctuary are to do the work 6 according to all that the Lord has commanded.”
36:2 Moses summoned 7 Bezalel and Oholiab and every skilled person in whom 8 the Lord had put skill – everyone whose heart stirred him 9 to volunteer 10 to do the work, 36:3 and they received from Moses all the offerings the Israelites had brought to do 11 the work for the service of the sanctuary, and they still continued to bring him a freewill offering each morning. 12
[36:1] 1 tn Heb “wise of [in] heart.”
[36:1] 3 tn Heb “understanding, discernment.”
[36:1] 4 tn The relative clause includes this infinitive clause that expresses either the purpose or the result of God’s giving wisdom and understanding to these folk.
[36:1] 5 tn This noun is usually given an interpretive translation. B. Jacob renders the bound relationship as “the holy task” or “the sacred task” (Exodus, 1019). The NIV makes it “constructing,” so read “the work of constructing the sanctuary.”
[36:1] 6 tn The first word of the verse is a perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive; it is singular because it agrees with the first of the compound subject. The sentence is a little cumbersome because of the extended relative clause in the middle.
[36:2] 7 tn The verb קָרָא (qara’) plus the preposition “to” – “to call to” someone means “to summon” that person.
[36:2] 8 tn Here there is a slight change: “in whose heart Yahweh had put skill.”
[36:2] 9 tn Or “whose heart was willing.”
[36:2] 10 sn The verb means more than “approach” or “draw near”; קָרַב (qarav) is the word used for drawing near the altar as in bringing an offering. Here they offer themselves, their talents and their time.
[36:3] 11 tn In the Hebrew text the infinitive “to do it” comes after “sanctuary”; it makes a smoother rendering in English to move it forward, rather than reading “brought for the work.”
