Exodus 26:5

Summary

The verse gives instructions for making fifty lula'ot ("loops", H3924) on one curtain and fifty more on the edge of the curtain forming the second joined set, positioned so that the loops correspond to each other.

Key words

• lula'ot ("loops", H3924) — feminine plural noun, repeated twice, referring to the fastening loops sewn onto the edges of the tabernacle curtains.
• ta'aseh ("you will make", H6213H) — qal imperfect, second person masculine singular, addressed to a single implied maker (Moses or the craftsman), repeated identically for both clauses.
• ketzeh ("end of", H7097A) — masculine singular construct noun, specifying the precise location ("the end of the curtain") rather than the curtain generally.
• machberet ("joined set", H4225) — feminine singular noun referring to the assembled unit of curtains sewn together, here qualified as ha-shenit ("the second", H8145).
• maqbilot ("[are] opposite", H6901) — hiphil participle, feminine plural, describing the loops as being in a state of "causing to face" or aligning with one another.

What the text says

The verse is built on two parallel clauses, each following the pattern: number + noun + verb + prepositional phrase. The first clause states chamishim lula'ot ta'aseh ba-yeri'ah ha-'echat — "fifty loops you will make on the curtain, the one [curtain]" — using ha-'echat ("the one", H0259) to specify a single curtain among the set. The second clause mirrors this exactly in structure but shifts the location to bi-ktzeh ha-yeri'ah ("at the end of the curtain", H7097A), followed by a relative clause asher ba-machberet ha-shenit ("which is in the second joined set", H4225 + H8145), clarifying which curtain-end is meant among the assembled panels.

The final clause introduces the participle maqbilot ("[are] opposite", H6901), a hiphil form that carries a causative nuance — literally "causing to be in front of" rather than simply "being near." This is followed by the idiomatic construction ishah el-achotah ("each to its sister", H0802I + H0269 + H9024), a common Biblical Hebrew way of expressing reciprocal correspondence between feminine-gender objects (here, the loops), rendered in English as "one to another" or "opposite one another."

Differences between versions

The LXX renders maqbilot... ishah el-achotah as ἀντιπρόσωποι ἀντιπίπτουσαι ἀλλήλαις εἰς ἑκάστην ("face-to-face, falling against each other, to each one"), using two Greek participles where the Hebrew has one participle plus an idiomatic phrase. The Vulgate expands the verse with explanatory clauses ("ita insertas ut ansa contra ansam veniat, et altera alteri possit aptari") not present as separate clauses in the Hebrew, making explicit the mechanical function (fitting one loop to another) that the Hebrew states more concisely through maqbilot.