Exodus 27:2
וְעָשִׂיתָ קַרְנֹתָיו עַל אַרְבַּע פִּנֹּתָיו מִמֶּנּוּ תִּהְיֶיןָ קַרְנֹתָיו וְצִפִּיתָ אֹתוֹ נְחֹֽשֶׁת׃
✦ Hebrew interlinear
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✦ The same verse in five languages
וְעָשִׂ֣יתָ קַרְנֹתָ֗יו עַ֚ל אַרְבַּ֣ע פִּנֹּתָ֔יו מִמֶּ֖נּוּ תִּהְיֶ֣יןָ קַרְנֹתָ֑יו וְצִפִּיתָ֥ אֹת֖וֹ נְחֹֽשֶׁת׃
καὶ ποιήσεις τὰ κέρατα ἐπὶ τῶν τεσσάρων γωνιῶν· ἐξ αὐτοῦ ἔσται τὰ κέρατα, καὶ καλύψεις αὐτὰ χαλκῷ.
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
Cornua autem per quatuor angulos ex ipso erunt: et operies illud ære.
Le harás un cuerno en cada una de sus cuatro esquinas, de manera que los cuernos formen una sola pieza con el altar, y lo recubrirás todo de bronce.
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
Y harás sus cuernos á sus cuatro esquinas; los cuernos serán de lo mismo; y lo cubrirás de metal.
Make a horn on each of its four corners, so that the horns are of one piece, and overlay it with bronze.
✦ What the text says
Summary
The verse instructs that horns be made on the four corners of the altar, specifying that these horns must be of one piece with the altar itself, and that the whole structure be overlaid with bronze.
Key words
- kar.no.Ta ("horns", H7161A) — feminine plural construct noun, appearing twice in the verse; the construct form links the horns to "its" (the altar's) corners and later to the altar's own material continuity.
- mi.Me.nu ("from it", H4480A + H9033) — preposition with pronominal suffix, indicating source: the horns originate "from it," meaning they are not attached separately but formed from the same structure.
- tih.Yei.na ("they will be", H1961) — qal imperfect, feminine plural, describing an ongoing or resultant state — the horns "will be" from the altar, expressing continuity rather than a single completed act.
- tzi.pi.Ta ("you will overlay", H6823) — piel (intensive) sequential perfect; the piel stem intensifies the action of covering, distinct from a simple qal "cover."
- ne.Cho.shet ("bronze", H5178A) — feminine singular noun, naming the overlay material without article, functioning adverbially as the substance applied.
What the text says
The verse uses two sequential perfect verbs — 'a.Si.ta ("you will make", H6213H) and tzi.pi.Ta ("you will overlay", H6823) — both continuing a chain of instructions begun earlier in the passage, each attached to a narrative ve ("and", H9001) that links the actions in sequence rather than presenting them as isolated commands. Between these two perfects sits a clause built on the imperfect tih.Yei.na ("they will be", H1961), which shifts the aspect from completed sequential action to a described state: the horns "will be" mi.Me.nu ("from it", H4480A+H9033), meaning they arise from the same body as the altar rather than being distinct attachments.
The repetition of kar.no.Ta ("horns", H7161A) in construct form — first governed by "its four corners" ('ar.Ba' pi.no.Ta) and then repeated after mi.Me.nu — creates a chiastic-like emphasis: the horns are named, their material continuity is asserted, and then the noun is restated. This repetition is a feature the Hebrew grammar allows through construct chains and pronominal suffixes referring back to the altar (all marked by the recurring suffix -o, H9033, "its/his").
Differences between versions
The LXX renders tih.Yei.na ("they will be", H1961) with the future ἔσται ("will be"), matching the Hebrew's stative continuation, but does not carry over the construct repetition of "horns" as explicitly — it states the horns are "from it" without repeating the noun kέρατα a second time in that clause. The Vulgate compresses the clause similarly, stating "ex ipso erunt" ("they will be from itself") without restating "horns," and translates tzi.pi.Ta ("you will overlay", H6823) as "operies" ("you will cover"), a general covering verb rather than reflecting the piel's intensive nuance found in the Hebrew.
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.