Exodus 38:21

The Materials of the Construction

38:21 This is the inventory ¹  of the tabernacle, the tabernacle of the testimony, which was counted ²  by the order ³  of Moses, being the work ⁴  of the Levites under the direction ⁵  of Ithamar, son of Aaron the priest.

Exodus 39:32

Moses Inspects the Sanctuary

39:32 ⁶ So all the work of the tabernacle, the tent of meeting, was completed, and the Israelites did according to all that the Lord had commanded Moses – they did it exactly so.

Exodus 30:16

30:16 You are to receive the atonement money ⁷  from the Israelites and give it for the service ⁸  of the tent of meeting. It will be a memorial ⁹  for the Israelites before the Lord, to make atonement ¹⁰  for your lives.”

Exodus 36:1

36:1 So Bezalel and Oholiab and every skilled person ¹¹  in whom the Lord has put skill ¹²  and ability ¹³  to know how ¹⁴  to do all the work for the service ¹⁵  of the sanctuary are to do the work ¹⁶  according to all that the Lord has commanded.”

Exodus 36:3

36:3 and they received from Moses all the offerings the Israelites had brought to do ¹⁷  the work for the service of the sanctuary, and they still continued to bring him a freewill offering each morning. ¹⁸ 

Exodus 39:40

39:40 the hangings of the courtyard, its posts and its bases, and the curtain for the gateway of the courtyard, its ropes and its tent pegs, and all the furnishings ¹⁹  for the service of the tabernacle, for the tent of meeting;

[38:21]  ¹ tn The Hebrew word is פְּקוּדֵי (pÿqude), which in a slavishly literal way would be “visitations of” the tabernacle. But the word often has the idea of “numbering” or “appointing” as well. Here it is an accounting or enumeration of the materials that people brought, so the contemporary term “inventory” is a close approximation. By using this Hebrew word there is also the indication that whatever was given, i.e., appointed for the tabernacle, was changed forever in its use. This is consistent with this Hebrew root, which does have a sense of changing the destiny of someone (“God will surely visit you”). The list in this section will also be tied to the numbering of the people.

[38:21]  ² tn The same verb is used here, but now in the Pual perfect tense, third masculine singular. A translation “was numbered” or “was counted” works. The verb is singular because it refers to the tabernacle as a unit. This section will list what made up the tabernacle.

[38:21]  ³ tn Heb “at/by the mouth of.”

[38:21]  ⁴ tn The noun is “work” or “service.” S. R. Driver explains that the reckonings were not made for the Levites, but that they were the work of the Levites, done by them under the direction of Ithamar (Exodus, 393).

[38:21]  ⁵ tn Heb “by the hand of.”

[39:32]  ⁶ sn The last sections of the book bring several themes together to a full conclusion. Not only is it the completion of the tabernacle, it is the fulfillment of God’s plan revealed at the beginning of the book, i.e., to reside with his people.

[30:16]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the silver of the atonements.” The genitive here is the result (as in “sheep of slaughter”) telling what the money will be used for (see R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 11, §44).

[30:16]  ¹² sn The idea of “service” is maintenance and care of the sanctuary and its service, meaning the morning and evening sacrifices and the other elements to be used.

[30:16]  ¹³ sn S. R. Driver says this is “to keep Jehovah in continual remembrance of the ransom which had been paid for their lives” (Exodus, 334).

[30:16]  ¹⁴ tn The infinitive could be taken in a couple of ways here. It could be an epexegetical infinitive: “making atonement.” Or it could be the infinitive expressing result: “so that atonement will be made for your lives.”

[36:1]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “wise of [in] heart.”

[36:1]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “wisdom.”

[36:1]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “understanding, discernment.”

[36:1]  ¹⁹ 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]  ²⁰ 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]  ²¹ 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.

[36:3]  ²¹ 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.”

[36:3]  ²² tn Heb “in the morning, in the morning.”

[39:40]  ²⁶ tn Heb “utensils, vessels.”