Exodus 25:40

Summary

Exodus 25:40 closes the instructions for the tabernacle furnishings with a double command: to see and to make according to a pattern (tavnitam) that was shown on the mountain. The verse uses two forms of the same verbal root for "see," framing the entire instruction as an act of visual transmission rendered into physical construction.

Key words

• re'eh ("see", H7200G) — qal imperative, masculine singular; the first of two commands opening the verse.
• 'aseh ("make", H6213H) — qal imperative, masculine singular, joined to re'eh by the conjunction va-, forming a paired command "see and make."
• tavnitam ("their pattern", H8403) — feminine singular noun in construct state with a 3rd person masculine plural suffix ("their"), meaning "the pattern of them," referring back to the objects previously described.
• 'asher ("which/that", H0834A) — relative particle introducing the clause that qualifies tavnitam.
• mar'eh ("[you] are being shown", H7200G) — hophal (causative-passive) participle, masculine singular, from the same root as re'eh; describes Moses as the recipient of a shown vision rather than an agent who sees on his own initiative.

What the text says

The verse opens with two imperatives in sequence, re'eh ("see") and 'aseh ("make"), joined by the conjunction va-. This pairing links perception and construction as a single directive: what is seen is what must be produced. The object of construction is expressed through the prepositional phrase be-tavnitam ("in/according to their pattern"), where tavnitam is a construct noun carrying a pronominal suffix that ties the pattern back to the items previously specified in the chapter.

The relative clause 'asher 'attah mar'eh ba-har ("which you are being shown on the mountain") modifies tavnitam. Grammatically, mar'eh is a hophal participle — a causative-passive form — built on the same root as the opening imperative re'eh. This means the text distinguishes between the active seeing commanded in the first verb and the passive reception implied in the second: Moses is not merely told to look, but is described as one to whom something is being caused to be seen. The repetition of the root H7200 in two different verbal stems (qal imperative vs. hophal participle) creates a structural link between command and revelation within the same sentence, a feature not preserved by translations that use two unrelated verbs ("make" / "shown").

Differences between versions

The Vulgate renders mar'eh with the passive perfect monstratum est ("has been shown"), which matches the passive sense of the Hebrew hophal participle. The BSB compresses the double imperative re'eh...'aseh into a single directive, "See to it that you make," losing the visible repetition of the root H7200. The SBLIBRE removes the imperative "see" altogether, replacing it with "Asegúrate de hacerlo todo" ("make sure to do it all"), which shifts the emphasis from an act of seeing/receiving a vision to a general assurance of compliance.