Exodus 25:2
דַּבֵּר אֶל־בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וְיִקְחוּ־לִי תְּרוּמָה מֵאֵת כָּל־אִישׁ אֲשֶׁר יִדְּבֶנּוּ לִבּוֹ תִּקְחוּ אֶת־תְּרוּמָתִֽי׃
✦ Hebrew interlinear
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✦ The same verse in five languages
דַּבֵּר֙ אֶל־בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל וְיִקְחוּ־לִ֖י תְּרוּמָ֑ה מֵאֵ֤ת כָּל־אִישׁ֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר יִדְּבֶ֣נּוּ לִבּ֔וֹ תִּקְח֖וּ אֶת־תְּרוּמָתִֽי׃
Εἰπὸν τοῖς υἱοῖς Ισραήλ, καὶ λάβετε ἀπαρχὰς παρὰ πάντων οἷς ἆν δόξῃ τῇ καρδία· καὶ λήμψεσθε τὰς ἀπαρχάς μου.
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
Loquere filiis Israël, ut tollant mihi primitias: ab omni homine qui offeret ultroneus, accipietis eas.
“Diles a los israelitas que me traigan una ofrenda. Recibirán mi ofrenda de cualquier persona que la dé de todo corazón.
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
Di á los hijos de Israel que tomen para mí ofrenda: de todo varón que la diere de su voluntad, de corazón, tomaréis mi ofrenda.
“ Tell the Israelites to bring Me an offering. You are to receive My offering from every man whose heart compels him.
✦ What the text says
Summary
The verse opens Moses' instructions concerning the collection of materials for the sanctuary. God commands Moses to speak to the Israelites so that they bring a contribution, specifying that it is to be taken from every person whose heart moves him to give it.
Key words
- da.Ber ("speak", H1696G) — piel imperative, an intensive command form directed at Moses.
- yik.chu ("they may take", H3947G) — qal imperfect with vav, expressing purpose or result following the command: "so that they take."
- te.ru.Mah ("a contribution", H8641) — feminine singular noun designating a set-apart offering; appears twice in the verse, first without suffix, then with the first-person suffix te.ru.ma.T-i ("my contribution").
- yi.de.Ve.nu ("it will impel him", H5068) — qal imperfect with third-masculine-singular suffix, describing an internal, ongoing impulse rather than a completed act.
- li.B-o ("his heart", H3820A) — masculine singular construct with possessive suffix, the grammatical subject of the impelling verb.
What the text says
The verse divides into two grammatical movements. The first is the command itself: da.Ber ("speak") directed 'el- be.Nei Yis.ra.'El ("to the people of Israel"), followed by ve.yik.chu-li te.ru.Mah ("and let them take for me a contribution"), where the vav-prefixed imperfect yik.chu marks the intended outcome of the speech act rather than a separate independent command.
The second movement specifies the source of this contribution: me.'Et kol-'ish 'a.Sher yi.de.Ve.nu li.B-o ("from every man whom his heart impels him"). Here the verb yi.de.Ve.nu has li.B-o ("his heart") as its grammatical subject and the man as its object (marked by the suffix -nu, "him"), so the Hebrew construction literally has the heart acting upon the person, rather than the person acting from the heart. The clause closes with tik.Chu 'et-te.ru.ma.T-i ("you all shall take my contribution"), a plural imperfect addressed to the community collecting the gift, distinct from the singular impulse described for the individual giver.
Differences between versions
The LXX renders yi.de.Ve.nu li.B-o as οἷς ἂν δόξῃ τῇ καρδίᾳ ("to whomever it seems good in the heart"), shifting the Hebrew's image of the heart actively impelling the person toward a more general expression of personal inclination. The Vulgate's offeret ultroneus ("offers voluntarily") likewise abstracts the verb into a description of voluntary action, without preserving the Hebrew's subject-heart/object-person structure found in yi.de.Ve.nu...li.B-o.
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.