Exodus 26:28

Summary

The verse describes the central crossbar (beriach) that sits in the middle of the tabernacle's frames, and specifies that this bar functions as the one running continuously from one end of the structure to the other. The sentence identifies the bar's position and its structural role using a play on related Hebrew roots.

Key words

• beriach ("bar", H1280) — masculine singular noun, the subject of the clause, referring to a physical crossbar or bolt.
• tikhon ("middle", H8484) — masculine singular adjective modifying beriach, marking it as "the middle bar" among presumably several bars.
• qerashim ("frames", H7175) — masculine plural noun with definite article, the structural boards through which the bar passes.
• mavriach ("passing through", H1272) — hiphil participle from the same consonantal root as beriach, describing the bar's ongoing causative action of "making a passage" from end to end.
• qatzeh ("end", H7097A) — masculine singular noun, repeated twice (min-haqqatzeh...el-haqqatzeh, "from the end to the end") to express the full span covered.

What the text says

The clause opens with the subject phrase ha-beriach ha-tikhon ("the bar, the middle [one]"), where the adjective tikhon follows the noun and agrees with it in gender, number, and definiteness — a standard Hebrew attributive construction. This subject is located spatially by the prepositional phrase be-tokh ha-qerashim ("in the middle of the frames"), using tokh (H8432) in construct form, meaning "the middle of X."

The predicate is not a finite verb but the hiphil participle mavriach (H1272), built on the same root as the noun beriach (H1280) itself. This root-play links the object (the bar) to its function (causing passage/binding through). As a participle, mavriach expresses a continuous or characteristic action rather than a single completed event — the bar is described as habitually or structurally "the one passing through" the frames. The final phrase min-ha-qatzeh el-ha-qatzeh ("from the end to the end") uses the same noun qatzeh (H7097A) twice with the prepositions min and el, a common Hebrew idiom for expressing total extent across a span.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders qerashim ("frames", H7175) with στύλων ("pillars/posts"), a different structural image than the Hebrew "frames." Where the Hebrew uses the participle mavriach to describe ongoing function, the LXX shifts to an imperative, διικνείσθω ("let it reach through"), changing the grammatical mood from descriptive to directive. The Vulgate's mittentur ("they shall be sent/placed") also moves away from the participial construction toward a future passive verb, and it renders qerashim as tabulas ("boards"), closer to the Hebrew sense than the LXX's "pillars." For qatzeh...qatzeh ("end to end"), the LXX uses κλίτους ("side/section"), which frames the span in terms of lateral sides rather than the Hebrew's linear "ends."