Exodus 25:33

שְׁלֹשָׁה גְבִעִים מְֽשֻׁקָּדִים בַּקָּנֶה הָאֶחָד כַּפְתֹּר וָפֶרַח וּשְׁלֹשָׁה גְבִעִים מְשֻׁקָּדִים בַּקָּנֶה הָאֶחָד כַּפְתֹּר וָפָרַח כֵּן לְשֵׁשֶׁת הַקָּנִים הַיֹּצְאִים מִן־הַמְּנֹרָֽה׃

✦ Hebrew interlinear

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✦ The same verse in five languages

Hebrew

שְׁלֹשָׁ֣ה גְ֠בִעִים מְֽשֻׁקָּדִ֞ים בַּקָּנֶ֣ה הָאֶחָד֮ כַּפְתֹּ֣ר וָפֶרַח֒ וּשְׁלֹשָׁ֣ה גְבִעִ֗ים מְשֻׁקָּדִ֛ים בַּקָּנֶ֥ה הָאֶחָ֖ד כַּפְתֹּ֣ר וָפָ֑רַח כֵּ֚ן לְשֵׁ֣שֶׁת הַקָּנִ֔ים הַיֹּצְאִ֖ים מִן־הַמְּנֹרָֽה׃

Greek (Septuagint)

καὶ ἐν τῇ λυχνίᾳ τέσσαρες κρατῆρες ἐκτετυπωμένοι καρυίσκους· ἐν τῷ ἑνὶ καλαμίσκῳ σφαιρωτῆρες καὶ τὰ κρίνα αὐτῆς.

Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0

Latin (Vulgate)

Tres scyphi quasi in nucis modum per calamos singulos, sphærulaque simul, et lilium: et tres similiter scyphi instar nucis in calamo altero, sphærulaque simul et lilium. Hoc erit opus sex calamorum, qui producendi sunt de hastili:

Spanish

Cada uno de los seis brazos que salen del candelabro tendrá tres copas en forma de flor de almendro, con su botón y su flor.

Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)

Tres copas en forma de almendras en el un brazo, una manzana y una flor; y tres copas, figura de almendras, en el otro brazo, una manzana y una flor: así pues, en los seis brazos que salen del candelero:

English

There are to be three cups shaped like almond blossoms on the first branch, each with buds and petals, three on the next branch, and the same for all six branches that extend from the lampstand.

✦ What the text says

Summary

The verse describes the decoration of two of the lampstand's side branches: each branch carries three cups shaped like almond blossoms, each cup accompanied by a bulb and a flower. The verse closes with a summarizing clause stating that this same pattern applies to all six branches extending from the lampstand.

Key words

she.lo.Shah ("three", H7969) — repeated twice, marking the identical count of cups on each of the two branches described individually before the general summary.
me.shu.ka.Dim ("shaped like almond blossoms", H8246) — pual participle, masculine plural; the passive-intensive form indicates the cups are made or worked into this shape, not that they naturally are almond blossoms.
ken ("thus", H3651C) — adverb that pivots the text from describing two specific branches to a general rule covering all remaining branches.
She.shet ("six", H8337) — construct form ("six of..."), grammatically binding the number to ha.Qanim ("the branches"), the noun it governs.
yo.tze.'Im ("come out", H3318L) — qal participle, masculine plural, describing the branches as those "going out" or extending from the lampstand, a durative/descriptive sense rather than a completed action.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence is built as two parallel descriptive clauses, each naming she.lo.Shah gevi'im meshuqqadim ("three cups shaped like almond blossoms") located ba-qaneh ha-'echad ("on the one branch"), followed by kaftor va-ferach ("a bulb and a blossom"). This exact phrase is repeated verbatim for the second branch, differing only in vocalization notes (ge.vi.'Im vs Ge.vi.'im) with no change in meaning. The repetition itself is a grammatical device: rather than using a plural or collective noun to cover both branches at once, the text states the pattern twice to establish it as a unit, then uses the adverb ken ("thus") to project that same unit onto all six branches via the phrase le-sheshet ha-qanim ("for the six of the branches"). The qal participle yo.tze.'Im ("the ones going out") functions adjectivally, modifying ha-qanim ("the branches") and anchoring them spatially "from the lampstand" (min-ha-menorah).

Differences between versions

The LXX (Swete) reads differently in both number and terminology: it gives τέσσαρες κρατῆρες ("four bowls") rather than the Hebrew she.lo.Shah ("three"), and uses καρυίσκους ("little nuts") and σφαιρωτῆρες/κρίνα ("spheres"/"lilies") instead of the Hebrew's almond-blossom cups with bulb and flower. The LXX also does not repeat the pattern for two branches before generalizing to six; it presents a single continuous description tied to "the lampstand" itself. The Vulgate follows the Hebrew's repeated two-branch structure closely, but renders meshuqqadim as "quasi in nucis modum" ("as in the fashion of a nut") rather than "almond blossom," a lexical divergence from the Hebrew root shaqad.

This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.