Exodus 26:6

Summary

This verse instructs the making of fifty gold hooks/clasps that join two sets of curtains together, so that the tabernacle forms a single structure. The Hebrew emphasizes both the material (gold) and the resulting unity of the mishkan ("tabernacle", H4908).

Key words

• 'a.Si.ta ("you will make", H6213H) — qal sequential perfect, second person masculine singular, continuing a chain of instructions addressed to one person (Moses in context).
• kar.Sei ("hooks of", H7165) — masculine plural construct, linking directly to za.Hav ("gold", H2091) to specify the material of the hooks.
• chi.bar.Ta ("you will join", H2266) — piel sequential perfect, an intensive stem indicating a deliberate, forceful joining action, distinct from a simple qal "to touch/connect."
• 'i.Shah ("each", H0802I) ... 'a.cho.Ta ("sister", H0269) with suffix -hah ("her") — an idiomatic pairing meaning "one to another," literally "a woman to her sister," used to describe reciprocal joining of the curtains.
• 'e.Chad ("one", H0259) — cardinal number, feminine singular, agreeing with mish.Kan ("tabernacle", H4908) despite that noun being masculine, describing the resulting singular unity of the structure.

What the text says

The verse continues a sequence of instructions using sequential perfect verb forms ('a.Si.ta, chi.bar.Ta, ha.Yah), a common Biblical Hebrew construction for chained commands following an initial imperative or instruction elsewhere in the passage. The first clause specifies the object to be made: cha.mi.Shim kar.Sei za.Hav ("fifty hooks of gold", H2572 + H7165 + H2091), using a construct chain to indicate hooks made of or belonging to gold.

The second clause describes the action of joining, using the piel stem chi.bar.Ta, which carries an intensive nuance compared to a basic qal form — suggesting a firm or deliberate joining rather than a light touch. The object of this joining is ha.y.ri.'Ot ("the curtains", H3407), marked by the direct object marker 'et (H0853). The manner of joining is expressed through the idiom 'i.Shah 'el- 'a.cho.Ta-h ("each to its sister"), a reciprocal construction common in Biblical Hebrew for describing paired or mutual relationships between similar objects, here rendered contextually as "one to another." The instrument of joining is specified with ba-qqe.ra.Sim ("with the hooks", H7165), repeating the same noun used earlier for the gold hooks.

The final clause, introduced by ve.ha.Yah ("and it will be", H1961), states the result: ha.mish.Kan 'e.Chad ("the tabernacle one", H4908 + H0259). Here the numeral 'e.Chad is grammatically feminine, while mish.Kan is masculine — a known irregularity in Biblical Hebrew number agreement that does not affect the meaning of unity being expressed.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders kar.Sei ("hooks of", H7165) as κρίκους ("rings"), a somewhat different object type than the Hebrew "hooks," while the Vulgate uses circulos ("rings/circles"), aligning with the LXX's reading rather than the Hebrew's hook-shaped fastener. The Hebrew idiom 'i.Shah 'el- 'a.cho.Ta-h ("each to its sister") is rendered plainly in the LXX as ἑτέραν τῇ ἑτέρα ("one to the other") and in the Vulgate through the phrase cortinarum vela jungenda sunt ("the curtains' veils are to be joined"), both losing the personified "sister" imagery present in the Hebrew.