Exodus 6:9

6:9 ¹ Moses told this ²  to the Israelites, but they did not listen to him ³  because of their discouragement ⁴  and hard labor.

Exodus 12:25

12:25 When you enter the land that the Lord will give to you, just as he said, you must observe ⁵  this ceremony.

Exodus 36:5

36:5 and told Moses, “The people are bringing much more than ⁶  is needed for the completion ⁷  of the work which the Lord commanded us to do!” ⁸ 

Exodus 38:21

The Materials of the Construction

38:21 This is the inventory ⁹  of the tabernacle, the tabernacle of the testimony, which was counted ¹⁰  by the order ¹¹  of Moses, being the work ¹²  of the Levites under the direction ¹³  of Ithamar, son of Aaron the priest.

Exodus 39:32

Moses Inspects the Sanctuary

39:32 ¹⁴ 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 39:42

39:42 The Israelites did all the work according to all that the Lord had commanded Moses.

[6:9]  ¹ sn The final part of this section focuses on instructions for Moses. The commission from God is the same – he is to speak to Pharaoh and he is to lead Israel out. It should have been clear to him that God would do this, for he had just been reminded how God was going to lead out, deliver, redeem, take the people as his people, and give them land. It was God’s work of love from beginning to end. Moses simply had his task to perform.

[6:9]  ² tn Heb “and Moses spoke thus.”

[6:9]  ³ tn Heb “to Moses.” The proper name has been replaced by the pronoun (“him”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[6:9]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew מִקֹּצֶּר רוּחַ (miqqotser ruakh) means “because of the shortness of spirit.” This means that they were discouraged, dispirited, and weary – although some have also suggested it might mean impatient. The Israelites were now just not in the frame of mind to listen to Moses.

[12:25]  ⁵ tn The verb used here and at the beginning of v. 24 is שָׁמַר (shamar); it can be translated “watch, keep, protect,” but in this context the point is to “observe” the religious customs and practices set forth in these instructions.

[36:5]  ⁹ tn The construction uses the verbal hendiadys: מַרְבִּים לְהָבִיא (marbim lÿhavi’) is the Hiphil participle followed (after the subject) by the Hiphil infinitive construct. It would read, “they multiply…to bring,” meaning, “they bring more” than is needed.

[36:5]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “for the service” (so KJV, ASV).

[36:5]  ¹¹ tn The last clause is merely the infinitive with an object – “to do it.” It clearly means the skilled workers are to do it.

[38:21]  ¹³ 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]  ¹⁴ 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]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “at/by the mouth of.”

[38:21]  ¹⁶ 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]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “by the hand of.”

[39:32]  ¹⁷ 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.