1And from the indigo and the purple and the crimson they made service garments to serve in the sanctuary, and they made the sacred garments that were Aaron’s as the LORD had charged Moses. 2And he made the ephod of gold, indigo and purple and crimson and twisted linen. 3And they pounded out the sheets of gold and cut strands to work into the indigo and into the purple and into the crimson and into the linen, designer’s work. 4Joining shoulder-pieces they made for it, at its two edges they were joined. 5And the ornamented band that was on it was of a piece with it, fashioned like it, gold, indigo and purple and crimson and twisted linen, as the LORD had charged Moses. 6And they made the carnelian stones ringed with frames of gold, engraved with seal engravings with the names of Israel’s sons. 7And he set them on the shoulder-pieces of the ephod, stones of remembrance for the sons of Israel, as the LORD had charged Moses. 8And he made the breastplate, designer’s work, like the work of the ephod, gold, indigo and purple and crimson and twisted linen. 9It was square, they made the breastplate doubled, a span its length and a span its width, doubled. 10And they set in it four rows of stones, a row of ruby, topaz, and malachite, the first row. 11And the second row, turquoise, sapphire, and amethyst. 12And the third row, jacinth, agate, and crystal. 13And the fourth row, beryl, carnelian, and jasper, framed in gold in their settings. 14And the stones were according to the names of Israel’s sons, twelve according to their names, seal engravings, each with its name for the twelve tribes. 15And they made on the breastplate intertwined cordwork, chains of pure gold. 16And they made two golden frames and two golden rings, and they set the two rings on the two edges of the breastplate. 17And they set the two golden cords on the two rings on the edges of the breastplate. 18And the two ends of the two cords they set in the two frames, and they set them on the shoulder-pieces of the ephod at the front. 19And they made two golden rings and set them on the two edges of the breastplate, at its border which faces the ephod on the inside. 20And they made two golden rings and set them on the two shoulder-pieces of the ephod below in the front opposite its seam above the band of the ephod. 21And they fastened the breastplate from its rings to the rings of the ephod with an indigo strand to be upon the band of the ephod, that the breastplate not slip from the ephod, as the LORD had charged Moses. 22And he made a robe for the ephod, weaver’s work, through-and-through indigo. 23And the opening of the robe in the middle of it like the opening of a coat of mail, a border for its opening all around, so it should not tear. 24And they made on the hem of the robe pomegranates of indigo and purple and crimson, twisted linen. 25And they made bells of pure gold and set the bells within the pomegranates on the hem of the robe all around, within the pomegranates. 26A bell and a pomegranate, a bell and a pomegranate on the hem of the robe all around, to serve, as the LORD had charged Moses. 27And they made tunics of twisted linen, weaver’s work, for Aaron and for his sons, 28and the turban, linen, and the ornaments of the headgear, linen, and the breeches of linen, twisted linen, 29and the sash, twisted linen and indigo and purple and crimson, embroiderer’s work, as the LORD had charged Moses. 30And they made a diadem, a sacred crown of pure gold, and wrote upon it in seal-engravings inscription: “Holy to the LORD.” 31And they put on it an indigo strand, to put on the turban above, as the LORD had charged Moses.
32And all the work of the Tabernacle of the Tent of Meeting was completed, and the Israelites did as all that the LORD had charged Moses, thus they did. 33And they brought the Tabernacle to Moses, the Tent and all its furnishings, its clasps, its boards, its crossbars, and its posts and its sockets, 34and the covering of reddened ram skins and the covering of ocher-dyed skins and the curtain of the screen; 35the Ark of the Covenant and its poles and the cover; 36the table and all its furnishings and the bread of the Presence; 37the pure lamp stand, its lamps, lamps of the array, and all its furnishings and oil for the light, 38and the golden altar and the anointing oil and the aromatic incense and the screen of the entrance of the tent; 39the bronze altar and the bronze grating that belongs to it, its poles and all its furnishings, the laver and its stand; 40the hangings of the court and its posts and its sockets and the screen for the gate of the court and its pegs and all the furnishings of the service of the Tabernacle for the Tent of Meeting; 41the service garments to serve in the sanctuary and the sacred garments for Aaron the priest and the garments of his sons to be priests. 42As all that the LORD had charged Moses, thus the Israelites did all the work. 43And Moses saw all the tasks, and, look, they had done it as the LORD had charged, thus they had done it, and Moses blessed them.
CHAPTER 39 NOTES
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1–31. These verses, which constitute the concluding section of the account of implementing the building instructions, correspond to 28:5–42; again, the material is repeated verbatim with only minor variations and, here, some limited abridgement.
1. as the LORD had charged Moses. This refrain, repeated, as Nahum Sarna notes, seven times, is not part of the instruction passage in chapter 28.
3. they pounded out the sheets of gold and cut strands. This technical detail, absent from chapter 28, is a faithful representation of how gold thread was manufactured. The Egyptians were especially adept in this process, and the word for “sheets,” paḥim, which has a more common biblical homonym that means “traps,” may actually be an Egyptian loanword.
21. The Samaritan version and an Exodus text found at Qumran insert here: “and they made the Urim and the Thummim as the LORD had charged Moses.”
32. the work . . . was completed. As Umberto Cassuto and others have noted, this passage that summarizes the completion of the Tabernacle echoes the report of God’s completion of creation, Genesis 2:1–3, with completion of the work at the beginning and blessing at the end (verse 43). One should recall that the Hebrew for “Tabernacle,” mishkan, means “dwelling”—God’s dwelling place or abode in the midst of the people of Israel. Human effort, adhering to divine direction, emulates the Creator by applying human crafts to build God a harmonious, beautiful, and intricately constructed dwelling place on earth.
33–41. The report of the construction of the Tabernacle and the fashioning of all its furnishings as well as of the priestly garments now concludes, after all the abundance of architectural and sartorial detail, in a rapid catalogue that recapitulates in summary form the principal elements of the whole project. Throughout the Tabernacle passages, both in the directions and in the implementation, language has an incantatory or quasimusical function in addition to the instructional aim, evoking in gorgeous syllables the sheer splendor and artisanal perfection of the sanctuary. This concluding catalogue is rather like the recapitulation of themes at the end of the last movement of a classical symphony, pulling all the previously stated elements together as the piece moves toward satisfying closure.