Exodus 27:1
וְעָשִׂיתָ אֶת־הַמִּזְבֵּחַ עֲצֵי שִׁטִּים חָמֵשׁ אַמּוֹת אֹרֶךְ וְחָמֵשׁ אַמּוֹת רֹחַב רָבוּעַ יִהְיֶה הַמִּזְבֵּחַ וְשָׁלֹשׁ אַמּוֹת קֹמָתֽוֹ׃
✦ Hebrew interlinear
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✦ The same verse in five languages
וְעָשִׂ֥יתָ אֶת־הַמִּזְבֵּ֖חַ עֲצֵ֣י שִׁטִּ֑ים חָמֵשׁ֩ אַמּ֨וֹת אֹ֜רֶךְ וְחָמֵ֧שׁ אַמּ֣וֹת רֹ֗חַב רָב֤וּעַ יִהְיֶה֙ הַמִּזְבֵּ֔חַ וְשָׁלֹ֥שׁ אַמּ֖וֹת קֹמָתֽוֹ׃
Καὶ ποιήσεις θυσιαστήριον ἐκ ξύλων ἀσήπτων, πέντε πήχεων τὸ μῆκος, καὶ πέντε πήχεων τὸ εὖρος· τετράγωνον ἔσται τὸ θυσιαστήριον, καὶ τριῶν πήχεων τὸ ὕψος αὐτοῦ.
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
Facies et altare de lignis setim, quod habebit quinque cubitus in longitudine, et totidem in latitudine, id est, quadrum, et tres cubitos in altitudine.
“Harás un altar de madera de acacia, que sea cuadrado. Medirá dos metros y medio de largo por dos metros y medio de ancho, y tendrá un metro y medio de alto.
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
HARÁS también altar de madera de Sittim de cinco codos de longitud, y de cinco codos de anchura: será cuadrado el altar, y su altura de tres codos.
“ You are to build an altar of acacia wood. The altar must be square, five cubits long, five cubits wide, and three cubits high.
✦ What the text says
Summary
The verse instructs the construction of an altar made of acacia wood, specifying its dimensions: five cubits in length, five cubits in width (forming a square), and three cubits in height.
Key words
- 'a.Si.ta ("you will make", H6213H) — qal sequential perfect, second person masculine singular; continues a chain of instructions begun earlier, functioning like a future/imperative in this legal-instructional context.
- miz.Be.ach ("altar", H4196) — masculine singular noun, definite (with ha, H9009), marking this as a specific object already introduced in the discourse ("the altar").
- 'a.Tzei ("wood(s) of", H6086G) — masculine plural construct form, linking directly to shi.Tim ("acacia", H7848) to specify the material.
- ra.Vu.a' ("square", H7251) — qal passive participle, masculine singular, describing a resulting state ("having been made square") predicated of the altar.
- yih.Yeh ("it will be", H1961) — qal imperfect, third person masculine singular, expressing the future/durative state of the altar's shape.
What the text says
The sentence opens with the narrative vav construction ve'a.Si.ta ("and you will make"), a sequential perfect that in instructional (legal) Hebrew prose carries the force of a continuing command, tying this verse to the preceding chain of directions about the tabernacle. The direct object is ha.miz.Be.ach ("the altar"), marked as definite and preceded by the object marker 'et (H0853, untranslated), indicating a specific, already-referenced altar rather than "an altar" in general.
The material is given through a construct chain: 'a.Tzei shi.Tim ("wood(s) of acacia"), where the plural construct noun 'a.Tzei is bound to shi.Tim, a common construction for specifying material composition in Hebrew.
The dimensions follow as a series of noun phrases without a verb: cha.Mesh 'a.Mot 'O.rekh ("five cubits, length") and ve.cha.Mesh 'a.Mot Ro.chav ("and five cubits, breadth"). Only after these measurements does the verb yih.Yeh ("it will be") appear, governing the participle ra.Vu.a' ("square") — literally "squared it will be, the altar." The height is then given the same way as length and breadth: sha.Losh 'a.Mot ko.ma.T-o ("three cubits, its height"), where ko.ma.T is a construct noun taking the pronominal suffix -o ("its").
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.