Exodus 25:11

Summary

Exodus 25:11 instructs the overlay of an object (the ark, referred to only by pronoun) with pure gold, both on the inside and outside, and the addition of a gold molding running around its upper edge.

Key words

• tzi.pi.Ta ("you will overlay", H6823) — piel sequential perfect, continuing the instructional chain begun in the prior verse; the piel stem gives an intensive/completive nuance to the covering action.
• za.Hav ("gold", H2091) — appears twice (once with ta.Hor, "pure," H2889, and once with zer, "molding," H2213), specifying the material for both the overlay and the decorative rim.
• mi.Ba.yit / mi.Chutz ("from inside" / "from outside", H1004O / H2351) — paired prepositional phrases marking the two surfaces (interior and exterior) that receive the same treatment.
• te.tzap.Pe.nu ("you will overlay it", H6823) — same verbal root as word 2, but in the imperfect, describing the ongoing/repeated application of gold to each surface.
• zer ("a molding", H2213) — construct-state noun, syntactically bound to the following za.Hav ("gold") to form the phrase "a molding of gold."

What the text says

The verse is built as two parallel commands joined by narrative vav (H9001), a structure typical of the instructional sequence in this chapter. The first command uses tzi.pi.Ta (sequential perfect) to introduce the overlay action, then the text splits the surface into "from inside" (mi.Ba.yit) and "from outside" (mi.Chutz), closing the clause with te.tzap.Pe.nu, an imperfect form of the same verb tzi.pi.Ta/H6823. This repetition of the root in two different conjugations (perfect then imperfect) is a common Biblical Hebrew pattern for emphasizing totality of action — the object is to be covered completely, with the imperfect trailing verb reinforcing that both surfaces receive identical treatment.

The second command, 'a.Si.ta ("you will make", H6213H, qal sequential perfect), introduces a new action: producing a zer ("molding," H2213) of gold. The construct relationship between zer and za.Hav ("gold") indicates the molding's material, and sa.Viv ("all around," H5439G) specifies that it encircles the object rather than sitting on one side only.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew text specifies overlaying "inside and outside" (mi.Ba.yit / mi.Chutz) and making a surrounding gold molding (zer za.Hav sa.Viv). The Vulgate ("deaurabis eam auro mundissimo intus et foris... coronam auream per circuitum") and the Spanish versions (RV1909, SBLIBRE) closely track this content. The LXX text supplied here, however, speaks instead of casting four gold rings and attaching them to the four sides — content that does not correspond to the overlay-and-molding instructions found in the Hebrew, Vulgate, or Spanish translations for this verse.