Exodus 27:13

Summary

Exodus 27:13 specifies the width of the courtyard's eastern side, using two roughly synonymous terms for "east" in sequence, and sets the measurement at fifty cubits.

Key words

• Ro.chav ("[the] breadth of", H7341) — a construct-form noun, meaning it is grammatically bound to he.chatzer that follows, forming the phrase "breadth of the courtyard."
• cha.Tzer ("courtyard", H2691A) — common-gender singular noun naming the enclosed space whose dimension is being described.
• f.'At ("[the] side of", H6285) — construct-form noun, linking to the following term for direction; literally "the side/edge of."
• Ke.de.ma ("east", H6924B) with the directional he (H9011) — the ending -ah marks direction "toward," so the word functions as "eastward."
• miz.Ra.cha ("east", H4217H) with the same directional he (H9011) — a second, distinct root for "east," also marked "toward" by the suffix.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence structure is built on two chained construct phrases: Ro.chav he.chatzer ("breadth of the courtyard") and li-f.'At ("to the side of"), which together introduce the measurement being specified. What follows is notable: two different Hebrew words for "east" appear back to back — Ke.de.ma (from the root H6924B) and miz.Ra.cha (from H4217H) — each carrying the directional he suffix that turns a noun into an adverbial "toward X." This doubling is not redundancy in the sense of repetition of the same word, but the juxtaposition of two separate lexemes both denoting "east," reinforcing the direction before the numeral is given.

The measurement itself, cha.mi.Shim 'a.Mah ("fifty cubits"), follows the directional phrase, with the cardinal number preceding the noun 'a.Mah ("cubit," feminine singular) in a standard numeral-noun sequence for measurements in this text.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew specifies the kedmah mizrachah ("eastward, to the east") side, but the LXX (SWETE) reads τὸ πρὸς νότον ("toward the south"), naming a different cardinal direction. The LXX text also includes additional material not present in the Hebrew of this verse — ἱστία ν΄ πήχεων ("hangings of fifty cubits"), στύλοι αὐτῶν δέκα ("their ten pillars"), and αἱ βάσεις αὐτῶν δέκα ("their ten bases") — details concerning curtains, pillars, and sockets that the Hebrew of Exodus 27:13 does not mention. The Vulgate and modern translations (RV1909, BSB, SBLIBRE) follow the Hebrew in identifying the side as east/sunrise-facing and in giving fifty cubits (rendered as "veintidós metros y medio" in SBLIBRE, a metric conversion) as the measurement.