Exodus 26:22

Summary

The verse instructs that six qerashim ("frames", H7175) be made for the rear side of the tabernacle, the side facing west. It specifies both the location (the back, western end of the structure) and the exact quantity of frames required there.

Key words

yarketei ("innermost parts of", H3411) — feminine dual construct form; denotes the "hindmost" or "back" section of the structure, grammatically bound to the following noun ha-mishkan.

ha-mishkan ("the tabernacle", H4908) — masculine singular noun with definite article, the object to which the "innermost parts" belong, i.e., the structure being described.

yamma ("west", H3220) with the directional he (H9011) — the he suffix turns "sea" (the common Hebrew idiom for west, since the Mediterranean lies west of Israel) into a directional adverb, "toward the west/seaward."

ta'aseh ("you will make", H6213) — Qal imperfect, second person masculine singular; expresses an ongoing or future instruction directed at a single addressee, continuing the imperative-like pattern used throughout the surrounding instructions.

shishah qerashim ("six frames", H8337 + H7175) — cardinal number followed by masculine plural noun, giving the precise count of frames for this side of the structure.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence opens with a compound prepositional phrase, u-le-yarketei ha-mishkan ("and for the innermost parts of the tabernacle"), which sets the location before the verb appears. This front-loading of the locative phrase is common in these construction instructions, where the spatial reference precedes the action. The word yamma, built from the noun for "sea" plus the directional he, functions here in apposition to yarketei ha-mishkan, clarifying that the "rear" or "innermost part" specifically means the western side — reflecting the Hebrew practice of orienting directions relative to the Mediterranean Sea to the west.

The verb ta'aseh ("you will make") appears only after the location has been established, followed by the object shishah qerashim ("six frames"). This word order — location, then verb, then object with quantity — mirrors a pattern seen in the parallel instructions for the other three sides of the tabernacle in this chapter, where the number of frames is specified for north, south, and now west.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders qerashim ("frames", H7175) as στύλους ("pillars/posts"), a different architectural term than the Hebrew "frames." The Vulgate uses tabulas ("boards" or "planks"), also differing from the Hebrew concept of qerashim. The Hebrew yamma ("west," literally "seaward") is rendered in the LXX as πρὸς θάλασσαν ("toward the sea"), preserving the sea-based idiom, while the Vulgate simplifies this to occidentalem plagam ("western region"), losing the sea-imagery reflected in the Hebrew form.