Exodus 28:13

Summary

The verse instructs the maker to fashion mishbetzot ("settings", H4865) of zahav ("gold", H2091). It is a short technical clause continuing a construction sequence, specifying the material and type of metalwork to be produced.

Key words

• ve'asita ("and you will make", H6213) — qal verb in the sequential perfect (weqatal) form; this construction continues a chain of previous instructions, marking the verse as one step in an ongoing list of construction directives rather than an isolated command.
• mishbetzot ("filigree settings of", H4865) — feminine plural noun in the construct state, meaning it is grammatically bound to the following noun; construct state signals "settings of [something]," requiring the next word to complete its meaning.
• zahav ("gold", H2091) — masculine singular noun, functioning as the genitive complement of the construct chain; it identifies the material of the settings without any additional qualifier (no adjective like "pure" or "fine" appears in the Hebrew).

What the text says

The Hebrew clause is minimal: a sequential verb followed by a two-word construct chain. The verb ve'asita uses the second-person masculine singular sequential perfect, a form typical of instructional or legal Hebrew that links this action to a preceding sequence of commands — the addressee is told to continue the work already underway. The construct phrase mishbetzot zahav is compact: mishbetzot is plural and in construct state, meaning it cannot stand alone grammatically; it depends on zahav to specify what the settings are made of. The Hebrew does not qualify the gold with any adjective — it is simply "gold," not "pure gold" or "fine gold."

Differences between versions

The Septuagint renders mishbetzot as aspidiskas ("little shields" or "bosses"), a different image from the "settings" or "filigree work" implied by the Hebrew construct noun. The LXX also adds the qualifier katharou ("pure"), giving "gold of pure [quality]," where the Hebrew text has only zahav ("gold") without any such modifier. The Vulgate uses uncinos ("hooks" or "clasps"), which diverges further from both the Hebrew and the Greek, suggesting a fastening device rather than a decorative setting. Modern translations such as the BSB and Spanish versions ("engastes de oro" / "filigree settings") follow the Hebrew construct sense of settings or mountings, closer to the source text's mishbetzot than either the LXX's "shields" or the Vulgate's "hooks."