¹tn Heb “wise of [in] heart.”
²tn Heb “wisdom.”
³tn Heb “understanding, discernment.”
⁴tn 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.
⁵tn This noun is usually given an interpretive translation. B. Jacob renders the bound relationship as “the holy task” or “the sacred task” (p. 1019). The NIV makes it “constructing,” so read “the work of constructing the sanctuary.”
⁶tn The first word of the verse is the perfect tense with the vav 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.
⁷tn The verb arq (qara’) plus the preposition “to”— “to call to” someone, means “to summon” that person.
⁸tn Here there is a slight change: “in whose heart Yahweh had put skill.”
⁹tn Or “was willing.”
¹⁰sn The verb means more than “approach” or “draw near”; brq (qarab) is the word used for drawing near the altar as in bringing an offering. Here they offer themselves, their talents and their time.
¹¹tn In the Hebrew text the infinitive “to do it” comes after “sanctuary”; it makes a smoother rendering to place it here in place of reading “brought for the work.”
¹²tn Heb “in the morning, in the morning.”
¹³tn Heb “a man, a man from his work”; or “each one from his work.”
¹⁴tn The construction uses the verbal hendiadys: ayb!h*l= <yB!r+m^ (marbim l^ehabi’) 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.
¹⁵tn The last clause is merely the infinitive with an object— “to do it.” It clearly means the skilled workers are to do it.
¹⁶tn Heb “and Moses.”
¹⁷tn The verse simply reads, “and Moses commanded and they caused [a voice] to cross over in the camp.” The second preterite with the vav may be subordinated to the first clause, giving the intent (purpose or result).
¹⁸tn Heb “voice.”
¹⁹tn The verse ends with the infinitive serving as the object of the preposition: “from bringing.”
²⁰tn This part of the sentence comes from the final verb, the Hiphil infinitive—leave over, meaning, have more than enough (see BDB 451).
²¹tn Heb “for all the work, to do it.”
sn This lengthy section (35:1-36:7) forms one of the most remarkable sections in the book. Here there is a mixture of God’s preparation of people to do the work and their willingness to give and to serve. It not only provides an inside into this renewed community of believers, but it also provides a timeless message for the church. The point is clear enough: In response to God’s commission, and inspired by God’s Spirit, the faithful and willing people rally to support and participate in the Lord’s work.
²²tn The verse ends with “he made them” or “one made them.” Since there is no formal subject here, the verb may be taken as a passive. And although it means “he made,” it is referring to the weaving in of cherubim by design.
²³tn Heb “one measure for every curtain.”
²⁴tn The verb is singular since it probably is referring to Bezalel; but since he would not do all the work himself, it may be that the verbs could be given a plural subject: “they joined.”
²⁵tn The words “the other” have been supplied.
²⁶tn The word “unit” has been supplied.
²⁷tn Heb “and he made.”
²⁸tn Heb “eleven curtains he made them.”
²⁹tn Heb “one measure for the eleven curtains.”
³⁰tn The construction uses the infinitive construct from the verb “to be” to express this purpose clause: “to be one,” or, “so that it might be a unit.”
³¹tn See the note on this phrase in Exod 25:5.
³²tn There is debate whether the word <yv!r*Q=h^ (haqq^erasim) means “boards” or “frames” or better, “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.
³³tn “Wood” is an adverbial accusative.
³⁴tn The plural participle “standing” refers to how these items will be situated; they will be horizontal rather than vertical (U. Cassuto, Exodus, 354).
³⁵tn “the frame.”
³⁶tn “the one.”
³⁷tn “two projections to the one frame.”
³⁸tn Heb “one to one.”
³⁹tn Heb “under the one frame” again.
⁴⁰tn Heb “for the two corners.” This is the last phrase of the verse, moved forward for clarity.
⁴¹tn This difficult verse uses the perfect tense at the beginning, and the second clause parallels it with Wyh=y] (yihyu), which has to be taken here as a preterite without the consecutive vav. The predicate “finished” or “completed” is the word <yM!T* (tammim), s.v. <mT (tamam) in BDB; it normally means “complete, sound, whole,” and related words describe the sacrifices as without blemish.
⁴²tn Heb “two of them”; the referent (corners) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
⁴³tn The distributive sense is supplied by the repetition: “two bases, two bases under the one frame” means that each frame had two bases.
⁴⁴tn Literally “houses”; i.e., places to hold the bars.
⁴⁵tn 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.
⁴⁶tn Heb “their hooks were gold.”
⁴⁷tn Heb “and their hooks.”
⁴⁸tn The word is “their heads”; technically it would be their capitals. 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 (Driver, 387, citing Dillmann without reference).
⁴⁹sn 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, 1022-23.