Exodus 24:10

Summary

Exodus 24:10 describes what a group (unspecified subject, referring back to earlier verses) saw: 'elohei Yisra'el ("the God of Israel", H0430G+H3478), and beneath his feet a surface compared to sapphire pavement and to the clarity of the sky itself.

Key words

• va-yir'u ("and they saw", H7200G) — qal narrative verb, third person masculine plural, continuing the story sequence with the narrative vav.
• 'elohei ("God of", H0430G) — construct form of 'elohim, linking directly to Yisra'el ("Israel", H3478) to form the phrase "the God of Israel."
• tachat raglav ("under his feet", H8478G + H7272) — tachat is a construct noun ("under of"), raglav is feminine dual ("his two feet"), together forming a spatial phrase.
• ma'aseh livnat ha-sapir ("the working of the pavement of the sapphire", H4639G + H3843 + H5601) — a chain of construct nouns describing a crafted or formed surface, not the substance itself but its "work" or appearance.
• ke-'etzem ha-shamayim la-tohar ("like the substance of the heavens for purity/clarity", H6106H + H8064 + H2892A) — 'etzem in construct suggests "essence" or "substance," and la-tohar uses the preposition le- ("to/for") plus tohar ("purity", H2892A) to specify the quality of comparison.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence opens with the narrative verb va-yir'u ("and they saw"), placing the subject's perception first, followed by the direct object marked with 'et (H0853, untranslated) and the object itself, 'elohei Yisra'el. The construct phrase 'elohei Yisra'el ties "God" grammatically to "Israel," producing a single compound expression rather than two separate ideas.

The second clause shifts to a description introduced by ve-tachat raglav ("and under his feet"), using the construct noun tachat to anchor the following description spatially. The comparison itself is built through two parallel prepositional phrases using ke- ("like", H9004): first ke-ma'aseh livnat ha-sapir ("like the working of the pavement of the sapphire"), a triple construct chain that layers "work" upon "pavement" upon "sapphire," and second u-khe-'etzem ha-shamayim la-tohar ("and like the substance of the heavens for purity"), where 'etzem suggests the essential material or body of the heavens, qualified by la-tohar ("for/regarding purity"). The construct chains do not state that the surface was literally sapphire or sky, but that its appearance resembled the work of such a pavement and the substance of the sky in terms of clarity.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the object of sight as "the place where God stood" (τὸν τόπον οὗ ἱστήκει ὁ θεὸς), differing from the Hebrew, which states directly that they saw 'elohei Yisra'el ("the God of Israel"). The Vulgate follows the Hebrew more closely with "viderunt Deum Israël" ("they saw the God of Israel"). For the sky-comparison, the Vulgate simplifies to "quasi cælum, cum serenum est" ("like the sky when it is clear"), omitting the layered "substance" ('etzem) construct present in the Hebrew and reflected more literally in the LXX's "εἶδος στερεώματος τοῦ οὐρανοῦ" ("the appearance of the firmament of heaven").