Exodus 36:20-38

36:20 He made the frames ¹  for the tabernacle of acacia wood ²  as uprights. ³  36:21 The length of each ⁴  frame was fifteen feet, the width of each ⁵  frame was two and a quarter feet, 36:22 with ⁶  two projections per frame parallel one to another. ⁷  He made all the frames of the tabernacle in this way. 36:23 So he made frames for the tabernacle: twenty frames for the south side. 36:24 He made forty silver bases under the twenty frames – two bases under the first frame for its two projections, and likewise ⁸  two bases under the next frame for its two projections, 36:25 and for the second side of the tabernacle, the north side, he made twenty frames 36:26 and their forty silver bases, two bases under the first frame and two bases under the next ⁹  frame. 36:27 And for the back of the tabernacle on the west he made six frames. 36:28 He made two frames for the corners of the tabernacle on the back. 36:29 At the two corners ¹⁰  they were doubled at the lower end and ¹¹  finished together at the top in one ring. So he did for both. 36:30 So there were eight frames and their silver bases, sixteen bases, two bases under each frame.

36:31 He made bars of acacia wood, five for the frames on one side of the tabernacle 36:32 and five bars for the frames on the second side of the tabernacle, and five bars for the frames of the tabernacle for the back side on the west. 36:33 He made the middle bar to reach from end to end in the center of the frames. 36:34 He overlaid the frames with gold and made their rings of gold to provide places ¹²  for the bars, and he overlaid the bars with gold.

36:35 He made the special curtain of blue, purple, and scarlet yarn and fine twisted linen; he made ¹³  it with cherubim, the work of an artistic designer. 36:36 He made for it four posts of acacia wood and overlaid them with gold, with gold hooks, ¹⁴  and he cast for them four silver bases.

36:37 He made a hanging for the entrance of the tent of blue, purple, and scarlet yarn and fine twisted linen, the work of an embroiderer, 36:38 and its five posts and their hooks. He overlaid their tops ¹⁵  and their bands with gold, but their five bases were bronze. ¹⁶ 

[36:20]  ¹ tn There is debate whether the word הַקְּרָשִׁים (haqqÿrashim) means “boards” or “frames” or “planks” (see Ezek 27:6) or “beams,” given the size of them. The literature on this includes M. Haran, “The Priestly Image of the Tabernacle,” HUCA 36 (1965): 192; B. A. Levine, “The Description of the Tabernacle Texts of the Pentateuch,” JAOS 85 (1965): 307-18; J. Morgenstern, “The Ark, the Ephod, and the Tent,” HUCA 17 (1942/43): 153-265; 18 (1943/44): 1-52.

[36:20]  ² tn “Wood” is an adverbial accusative.

[36:20]  ³ tn The plural participle “standing” refers to how these items will be situated; they will be vertical rather than horizontal (U. Cassuto, Exodus, 354).

[36:21]  ⁴ tn Heb “the frame.”

[36:21]  ⁵ tn Heb “the one.”

[36:22]  ⁶ tn Heb “two hands to the one frame.”

[36:22]  ⁷ tn Heb “joined one to one.”

[36:24]  ⁸ tn The clause is repeated to show the distributive sense; it literally says, “and two bases under the one frame for its two projections.”

[36:26]  ⁹ tn Heb “under the one frame” again.

[36:29]  ¹⁰ tn This is the last phrase of the verse, moved forward for clarity.

[36:29]  ¹¹ tn This difficult verse uses the perfect tense at the beginning, and the second clause parallels it with יִהְיוּ (yihyu), which has to be taken here as a preterite without the consecutive vav (ו). The predicate “finished” or “completed” is the word תָּמִּים (tammim); it normally means “complete, sound, whole,” and related words describe the sacrifices as without blemish.

[36:34]  ¹² tn Literally “houses”; i.e., places to hold the bars.

[36:35]  ¹³ tn The verb is simply “he made” but as in Exod 26:31 it probably means that the cherubim were worked into the curtain with the yarn, and so embroidered on the curtain.

[36:36]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and their hooks gold.”

[36:38]  ¹⁵ tn The word is “their heads”; technically it would be “their capitals” (so ASV, NAB, NRSV). The bands were bands of metal surrounding these capitals just beneath them. These are not mentioned in Exod 26:37, and it sounds like the posts are to be covered with gold. But the gradation of metals is what is intended: the posts at the entrance to the Most Holy Place are all of gold; the posts at the entrance to the tent are overlaid with gold at the top; and the posts at the entrance to the courtyard are overlaid with silver at the top (S. R. Driver, Exodus, 387, citing Dillmann without reference).

[36:38]  ¹⁶ sn For a good summary of the differences between the instruction section and the completion section, and the reasons for the changes and the omissions, see B. Jacob, Exodus, 1022-23.