Exodus 25:8

Summary

The verse records a divine command: the people are to construct a mikDash ("sanctuary", H4720) for God, with the stated purpose that God will then dwell (shakhanTi, H7931) among them. The Hebrew uses two sequential verb forms that link this instruction to the surrounding legislative context.

Key words

• 'A.su ("they will make", H6213) — qal perfect with vav-consecutive; third person plural, referring back to the addressed people (Israel) as the subject of the construction.
• mikDash ("a sanctuary", H4720) — masculine singular noun, the direct object of the building; lacks a definite article in the Hebrew, though it functions as a determined object via context.
• li ("for me", H9005+H9030) — preposition plus first-person suffix, marking God as the beneficiary of the sanctuary's construction.
• shakhanTi ("I will dwell", H7931) — qal perfect with vav-consecutive, first person singular; grammatically parallel to 'A.su, continuing the same sequential chain.
• toKham ("midst of them", H8432+H9028) — construct noun with third masculine plural suffix, specifying the location of the promised divine dwelling as being among the people themselves, not merely in the structure.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence is built on two verbs in the sequential perfect (vav-consecutive) form: 'Asu ("they will make") and shakhanTi ("I will dwell"). This grammatical construction chains both actions together as a continuous narrative sequence — the making of the sanctuary and the divine dwelling are presented as directly connected steps rather than as separate, unrelated statements. The verb shakhanTi is built on the root shakhan (H7931), the same root that underlies the noun mishkan ("tabernacle") used elsewhere in the account, linking the verb of dwelling to the terminology for the structure itself.

The phrase betoKham ("in the midst of them") locates the dwelling not simply in the sanctuary as a building, but "among them" — grammatically among the people (third masculine plural suffix), rather than restricting it to the sanctuary structure alone.

Differences between versions

The Vulgate ("Facientque mihi sanctuarium, et habitabo in medio eorum") closely mirrors the Hebrew structure, using facientque for 'Asu and habitabo for shakhanTi, preserving both the plural subject and the "in their midst" phrase.

The LXX text provided for this reference diverges substantially in content: it reads "you shall make for me according to all that I show you on the mountain, the pattern of the tabernacle..." — using second person singular ("ποιήσεις", "you will make") rather than the third person plural ("'Asu") found in the Hebrew, and introducing material about the "pattern" (paradeigma) shown on the mountain that does not appear in the Hebrew wording of this verse.