Exodus 25:10

Summary

Exodus 25:10 instructs that an ark be made of acacia wood, specifying its exact dimensions: two and a half cubits in length, a cubit and a half in width, and a cubit and a half in height. The verse is written as a direct continuation of prior instructions, using sequential verb forms typical of legal/technical instruction in Biblical Hebrew.

Key words

• 'aSu ("they will make", H6213H) — qal sequential perfect, continuing a chain of commands; the subject "they" is embedded in the verb form itself, without a separate pronoun.
• 'aRon ("ark of", H0727) — construct form, meaning it cannot stand alone grammatically; it requires the following noun to complete its meaning ("ark of X").
• 'aTzei ("woods of", H6086G) — masculine plural construct, linking to shiTim ("acacia", H7848) to form the material designation "acacia wood(s)."
• 'areK ("length", H0753) — construct noun with pronominal suffix o ("its"), producing "its length," anchoring the measurement to the ark just named.
• koma T ("height", H6967) — feminine singular construct, again suffixed with o ("its"), closing the three-part measurement sequence (length, width, height).

What the text says

The verse opens with the narrative ve- ("and", H9001) attached to 'aSu ("they will make", H6213H), a qal sequential perfect that carries forward the instructional sequence begun in earlier verses. This verb form does not require a separate pronoun for "they," since person and number are encoded in the verbal morphology itself.

The object of the command, 'aRon ("ark of", H0727), is in construct state, meaning it is grammatically bound to what follows — 'aTzei shiTim ("woods of acacia", H6086G + H7848), also plural construct plus absolute noun, together yielding "ark of acacia wood(s)."

The three dimensions are each expressed through a noun pair joined by va- ("and", H9002): a whole-number term ('amaTayim, "two cubits," H0520A dual; or 'aMah, "a cubit," H0520A singular) followed by cheTzi ("a half", H2677). Each dimensional noun — 'areK ("length", H0753), racheB ("breadth", H7341), komaT ("height", H6967) — is a construct form carrying the third-person suffix -o ("its", H9023), tying each measurement back to the ark. The Hebrew thus reads literally as "two cubits and a half its-length, and a cubit and a half its-breadth, and a cubit and a half its-height," a repetitive construct-suffix pattern that Hebrew uses for precise technical specification.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew text of this verse gives the ark's material and dimensions. The Vulgate (VULCLEM) renders this content closely, using "duos et semis cubitos" for length and "cubitum et dimidium" for width and height, matching the Hebrew's three measurements. The LXX text supplied here (LXXSWETE), however, corresponds to different content — describing gilding the ark with pure gold and adding twisted golden molding — which matches material found in the following verse (Exodus 25:11) rather than the dimensional specification of 25:10. This reflects a divergence in how the passage is segmented or numbered between the Hebrew source and the LXX text as provided, rather than a translation variance within the same verse content.