Exodus 25:6

Summary

Exodus 25:6 lists three items required from the community's offerings for the sanctuary: oil for a light source, spices for a specially prepared anointing oil, and spices for a fragrant incense. The verse is a continuation of a list, with each item connected by conjunctions and construct phrases.

Key words

• shemen ("oil", H8081) — appears twice, absolute in "oil for the light," construct in "oil of the anointing"; the same noun functions differently depending on its syntactic position.
• ma'or ("light", H3974) — masculine singular noun preceded by preposition + article (la-), indicating the oil's purpose ("for the light").
• besamim ("spices", H1314) — masculine plural, the general term for aromatic substances used for both preparations that follow.
• mishchah ("anointing", H4888A) — feminine singular noun in construct relation with shemen, forming "oil of the anointing" rather than a separate word for "anointing oil."
• qetoret ("incense of", H7004) — feminine singular construct, joined to ha-sammim ("the perfumes/spices") to form "incense of the perfumes."

What the text says

The verse has no verb; it continues a list begun earlier in the chapter, naming items by juxtaposition. Two construct chains structure the second half: le-shemen ha-mishchah ("for the oil of the anointing") and li-qtoret ha-sammim ("for the incense of the perfumes"). In Hebrew construct syntax, the first noun (shemen, qetoret) is grammatically bound to the second (mishchah, sammim), producing a genitive-like relationship — "oil of anointing" rather than a compound adjective "anointing oil," though translations render it that way for fluency. The repetition of besamim ("spices") as a general category before specifying its two uses (anointing oil, incense) shows the same raw material serving two distinct purposes, a distinction the construct chains make explicit but which is less visible in translation.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew, Vulgate, and Spanish/English translations align closely, all listing oil for light, spices for anointing oil, and spices for incense. The Septuagint text provided (Swete edition) does not correspond to this content at all — it describes onyx/sardius stones for the ephod and breastpiece, material found elsewhere in the Exodus 25 list. This reflects a difference in verse numbering or ordering between the Hebrew (MT) sequence and the Greek textual tradition at this point in the chapter, rather than a translation choice for the same content.