Exodus 25:5

Summary

Exodus 25:5 continues a list of materials requested for the sanctuary offering, specifying three items: ram hides dyed red, hides of techashim, and acacia wood. The verse is a chain of construct noun phrases joined by the conjunction ve ("and"), each naming a raw material.

Key words

• 'orot ("hides of", H5785) — feminine plural construct noun; appears twice, each time governing the following noun to form a phrase meaning "hides of X."
• 'eilim ("rams", H352A) — masculine plural noun; the animal whose hides are specified in the first phrase.
• me'adammim ("dyed red", H119) — pual (passive intensive) participle, masculine plural; describes the hides as having undergone a reddening process, agreeing in number with 'orot + 'eilim.
• techashim ("dolphins", H8476) — masculine plural noun; the animal or material source of the second type of hide, position uncertain in identification.
• atzei ("wood(s) of", H6086G) — masculine plural construct noun; introduces the final material, acacia wood, closing the list.

What the text says

The verse is built as three coordinated noun phrases, each introduced by ve ("and"), listing materials without any verb of its own — the verb governing the whole list appears earlier in the passage (v. 3, "take"). The first phrase, 'orot 'eilim me'adammim, uses the construct chain 'orot + 'eilim ("hides of rams") followed by the participle me'adammim ("dyed red"), which functions adjectivally and agrees in gender and number with the noun it modifies. This participle form, from the pual stem, indicates that the reddening is a completed process affecting the hides, not an ongoing action.

The second phrase, ve'orot techashim, repeats the same construct pattern 'orot + a following noun, this time techashim, glossed here as "dolphins." The construct structure again signals possession/material: "hides belonging to/from techashim." The identity of techashim as an animal is what the Hebrew noun itself conveys, though its precise referent is not further specified in the text. The final phrase, va'atzei shittim, shifts from hides to wood, using the construct atzei ("wood of") plus shittim ("acacia"), the third and last conjunction in the series marking the closing item of the list.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew techashim (H8476) is rendered in the LXX as ὑακίνθινα ("hyacinth/violet-colored [material]"), and in the Vulgate as ianthinas ("violet-colored"), both shifting from an animal-based noun to a color-based adjective describing the hides. The RV1909 gives "tejones" ("badgers"), while the BSB and SBLIBRE render it as "fine leather" and "cueros finos" respectively, showing that translators diverge on whether techashim names an animal species or describes a quality/color of the leather.