Exodus 38:9-20

The Construction of the Courtyard

38:9 He made the courtyard. For the south side ¹  the hangings of the courtyard were of fine twisted linen, one hundred fifty feet long, 38:10 with ²  their twenty posts and their twenty bronze bases, with the hooks of the posts and their bands of silver. 38:11 For the north side the hangings were ³  one hundred fifty feet, with their twenty posts and their twenty bronze bases, with the hooks of the posts and their bands of silver. 38:12 For the west side there were ⁴  hangings seventy-five feet long, with ⁵  their ten posts and their ten bases, with the hooks of the posts and their bands of silver. 38:13 For the east side, toward the sunrise, it was seventy-five feet wide, ⁶  38:14 with hangings on one side ⁷  of the gate that were twenty-two and a half feet long, with their three posts and their three bases, 38:15 and for the second side of the gate of the courtyard, just like the other, ⁸  the hangings were twenty-two and a half feet long, with their three posts and their three bases. 38:16 All the hangings around the courtyard were of fine twisted linen. 38:17 The bases for the posts were bronze. The hooks of the posts and their bands were silver, their tops were overlaid with silver, and all the posts of the courtyard had silver bands. ⁹  38:18 The curtain ¹⁰  for the gate of the courtyard was of blue, purple, and scarlet yarn and fine twisted linen, the work of an embroiderer. It was thirty feet long, and like the hangings in the courtyard, it was seven and a half feet high, 38:19 with four posts and their four bronze bases. Their hooks and their bands were silver, and their tops were overlaid with silver. 38:20 All the tent pegs of the tabernacle and of the courtyard all around were bronze.

Exodus 40:8

40:8 You are to set up the courtyard around it and put the curtain at the gate of the courtyard.

Exodus 40:1

Setting Up the Sanctuary

40:1 ¹¹ Then the Lord spoke to Moses: ¹² 

Exodus 6:1

6:1 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh, ¹³  for compelled by my strong hand ¹⁴  he will release them, and by my strong hand he will drive them out of his land.” ¹⁵ 

Exodus 8:1-2

8:1 (7:26) ¹⁶  Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and tell him, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Release my people in order that they may serve me! 8:2 But if you refuse to release them, then I am going to plague ¹⁷  all your territory with frogs. ¹⁸ 

Exodus 33:5

33:5 For ¹⁹  the Lord had said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites, ‘You are a stiff-necked people. If I went up among you for a moment, ²⁰  I might destroy you. Now take off your ornaments, ²¹  that I may know ²²  what I should do to you.’” ²³ 

Psalms 84:10

84:10 Certainly ²⁴  spending just one day in your temple courts is better

than spending a thousand elsewhere. ²⁵ 

I would rather stand at the entrance ²⁶  to the temple of my God

than live ²⁷  in the tents of the wicked.

Psalms 92:13

92:13 Planted in the Lord’s house,

they grow in the courts of our God.

Psalms 100:4

100:4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving,

and his courts with praise!

Give him thanks!

Praise his name!

Psalms 116:19

116:19 in the courts of the Lord’s temple,

in your midst, O Jerusalem.

Praise the Lord!

Ezekiel 40:14

40:14 He measured ²⁸  the porch ²⁹  at 105 feet ³⁰  high; ³¹  the gateway went all around to the jamb of the courtyard.

Ezekiel 40:20

40:20 He measured the length and width of the gate of the outer court which faces north.

Ezekiel 40:23

40:23 Opposite the gate on the north and the east was a gate of the inner court; he measured the distance from gate to gate at 175 feet. ³² 

Ezekiel 40:28

40:28 Then he brought me to the inner court by the south gate. He measured the south gate; it had the same dimensions as the others.

Ezekiel 40:32

40:32 Then he brought me to the inner court on the east side. He measured the gate; it had the same dimensions as the others.

Ezekiel 40:44

40:44 On the outside of the inner gate were chambers for the singers of the inner court, one ³³  at the side of the north gate facing south, and the other at the side of the south ³⁴  gate facing north.

Ezekiel 42:3

42:3 Opposite the 35 feet ³⁵  that belonged to the inner court, and opposite the pavement which belonged to the outer court, gallery faced gallery in the three stories.

Ezekiel 42:19-20

42:19 He turned to the west side and measured 875 feet by the measuring stick. 42:20 He measured it on all four sides. It had a wall around it, 875 feet long and 875 feet wide, to separate the holy and common places.

Ezekiel 46:20-24

46:20 He said to me, “This is the place where the priests will boil the guilt offering and the sin offering, and where they will bake the grain offering, so that they do not bring them out to the outer court to transmit holiness to the people.”

46:21 Then he brought me out to the outer court and led me past the four corners of the court, and I noticed ³⁶  that in every corner of the court there was a court. 46:22 In the four corners of the court were small ³⁷  courts, 70 feet ³⁸  in length and 52½ feet ³⁹  in width; the four were all the same size. 46:23 There was a row of masonry around each of the four courts, and places for boiling offerings were made under the rows all around. 46:24 Then he said to me, “These are the houses for boiling, where the ministers of the temple boil the sacrifices of the people.”

[38:9]  ¹ tn Heb “south side southward.”

[38:10]  ² tn While this verse could be translated as an independent sentence, it is probably to be subordinated as a circumstantial clause in line with Exod 27:10-12, as well as v. 12 of this passage.

[38:11]  ³ tn Here the phrase “the hangings were” has been supplied.

[38:12]  ⁴ tn The phrase “there were” has been supplied.

[38:12]  ⁵ tn The text simply has “their posts ten and their bases ten”; this may be added here as a circumstantial clause with the main sentence in order to make sense out of the construction.

[38:13]  ⁶ tn The text simply says “seventy-five feet.”

[38:14]  ⁷ tn The word literally means “shoulder.” The next words, “of the gate,” have been supplied here. The east end contained the courtyard’s entry with a wall of curtains on each side of the entry (see v. 15).

[38:15]  ⁸ tn Heb “from this and from this” (cf, 17:12; 25:19; 26:13; 32:15; Josh 8:22, 33; 1 Kgs 10:19-20; Ezek 45:7).

[38:17]  ⁹ tn Heb “they were banded with silver.”

[38:18]  ¹⁰ tn This word is different from the word for hangings; it has more of the idea of a screen, shielding or securing the area.

[40:1]  ¹¹ sn All of Exod 39:32-40:38 could be taken as a unit. The first section (39:32-43) shows that the Israelites had carefully and accurately completed the preparation and brought everything they had made to Moses: The work of the Lord builds on the faithful obedience of the people. In the second section are the instruction and the implementation (40:1-33): The work of the Lord progresses through the unifying of the work. The last part (40:34-38) may take the most attention: When the work was completed, the glory filled the tabernacle: By his glorious presence, the Lord blesses and directs his people in their worship.

[40:1]  ¹² tn Heb “and Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying.”

[6:1]  ¹³ sn The expression “I will do to Pharaoh” always refers to the plagues. God would first show his sovereignty over Pharaoh before defeating him.

[6:1]  ¹⁴ tn The expression “with a strong hand” (וּבְיָד חֲזָקָה, uvÿyad khazaqah) could refer (1) to God’s powerful intervention (“compelled by my strong hand”) or (2) to Pharaoh’s forceful pursuit (“he will forcefully drive them out”). In Exod 3:20 God has summarized what his hand would do in Egypt, and that is probably what is intended here, as he promises that Moses will see what God will do. All Egypt ultimately desired that Israel be released (12:33), and when they were released Pharaoh pursued them to the sea, and so in a sense drove them out – whether that was his intention or not. But ultimately it was God’s power that was the real force behind it all. U. Cassuto (Exodus, 74) considers that it is unlikely that the phrase would be used in the same verse twice with the same meaning. So he thinks that the first “strong hand” is God’s, and the second “strong hand” is Pharaoh’s. It is true that if Pharaoh acted forcefully in any way that contributed to Israel leaving Egypt it was because God was acting forcefully in his life. So in an understated way, God is saying that when forced by God’s strong hand, Pharaoh will indeed release God’s people.”

[6:1]  ¹⁵ tn Or “and he will forcefully drive them out of his land,” if the second occurrence of “strong hand” refers to Pharaoh’s rather than God’s (see the previous note).

[8:1]  ¹⁶ sn Beginning with 8:1, the verse numbers through 8:32 in English Bibles differ from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 8:1 ET = 7:26 HT, 8:2 ET = 7:27 HT, 8:3 ET = 7:28 HT, 8:4 ET = 7:29 HT, 8:5 ET = 8:1 HT, etc., through 8:32 ET = 8:28 HT. Thus in English Bibles chapter 8 has 32 verses, while in the Hebrew Bible it has 28 verses, with the four extra verses attached to chapter 7.

[8:2]  ¹⁷ tn The construction here uses the deictic particle and the participle to convey the imminent future: “I am going to plague/about to plague.” The verb נָגַף (nagaf) means “to strike, to smite,” and its related noun means “a blow, a plague, pestilence” or the like. For Yahweh to say “I am about to plague you” could just as easily mean “I am about to strike you.” That is why these “plagues” can be described as “blows” received from God.

[8:2]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “plague all your border with frogs.” The expression “all your border” is figurative for all the territory of Egypt and the people and things that are within the borders (also used in Exod 10:4, 14, 19; 13:7).

[33:5]  ¹⁹ tn The verse simply begins “And Yahweh said.” But it is clearly meant to be explanatory for the preceding action of the people.

[33:5]  ²⁰ tn The construction is formed with a simple imperfect in the first half and a perfect tense with vav (ו) in the second half. Heb “[in] one moment I will go up in your midst and I will destroy you.” The verse is certainly not intended to say that God was about to destroy them. That, plus the fact that he has announced he will not go in their midst, leads most commentators to take this as a conditional clause: “If I were to do such and such, then….”

[33:5]  ²¹ tn The Hebrew text also has “from on you.”

[33:5]  ²² tn The form is the cohortative with a vav (ו) following the imperative; it therefore expresses the purpose or result: “strip off…that I may know.” The call to remove the ornaments must have been perceived as a call to show true repentance for what had happened. If they repented, then God would know how to deal with them.

[33:5]  ²³ tn This last clause begins with the interrogative “what,” but it is used here as an indirect interrogative. It introduces a noun clause, the object of the verb “know.”

[84:10]  ²⁴ tn Or “for.”

[84:10]  ²⁵ tn Heb “better is a day in your courts than a thousand [spent elsewhere].”

[84:10]  ²⁶ tn Heb “I choose being at the entrance of the house of my God over living in the tents of the wicked.” The verb סָפַף (safaf) appears only here in the OT; it is derived from the noun סַף (saf, “threshold”). Traditionally some have interpreted this as a reference to being a doorkeeper at the temple, though some understand it to mean “lie as a beggar at the entrance to the temple” (see HALOT 765 s.v. ספף).

[84:10]  ²⁷ tn The verb דּוּר (dur, “to live”) occurs only here in the OT.

[40:14]  ²⁸ tn Heb “made.”

[40:14]  ²⁹ tc The MT reads “jambs” which does not make sense in context. Supposing a confusion of yod for vav, the text may be emended to read “porch.” See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 2:518.

[40:14]  ³⁰ tn Heb “sixty cubits” (i.e., 31.5 meters).

[40:14]  ³¹ tn The word “high” is not in the Hebrew text but is supplied for sense.

[40:23]  ³² tn Heb “one hundred cubits” (i.e., 52.5 meters).

[40:44]  ³³ tn “One” is not in the Hebrew text but is supplied for clarity in the translation.

[40:44]  ³⁴ tc This reading is supported by the LXX; the MT reads “east.”

[42:3]  ³⁵ tn Heb “twenty cubits” (i.e., 10.5 meters).

[46:21]  ³⁶ tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a verb.

[46:22]  ³⁷ tc The meaning of the Hebrew term is unclear. The LXX and Syriac render “small.”

[46:22]  ³⁸ tn Heb “forty cubits” (i.e., 21 meters).

[46:22]  ³⁹ tn Heb “thirty cubits” (i.e., 15.75 meters).