Exodus 28:25
וְאֵת שְׁתֵּי קְצוֹת שְׁתֵּי הָעֲבֹתֹת תִּתֵּן עַל־שְׁתֵּי הַֽמִּשְׁבְּצוֹת וְנָתַתָּה עַל־כִּתְפוֹת הָאֵפֹד אֶל־מוּל פָּנָֽיו׃
✦ Hebrew interlinear
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✦ The same verse in five languages
וְאֵ֨ת שְׁתֵּ֤י קְצוֹת֙ שְׁתֵּ֣י הָעֲבֹתֹ֔ת תִּתֵּ֖ן עַל־שְׁתֵּ֣י הַֽמִּשְׁבְּצ֑וֹת וְנָתַתָּ֛ה עַל־כִּתְפ֥וֹת הָאֵפֹ֖ד אֶל־מ֥וּל פָּנָֽיו׃
καὶ τὰς δύο ἀσπιδίσκας ἐπιθήσεις ἐπ’ ἀμφοτέρους τοὺς ὤμους τῆς ἐπωμίδος κατὰ πρόσωπον.
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
et ipsarum catenarum extrema duobus copulabis uncinis in utroque latere superhumeralis quod rationale respicit.
Los otros dos extremos de las cadenas los sujetarás a los dos engastes, y los fijarás a la parte delantera de los tirantes del efod.
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
Y los dos cabos de las dos trenzas sobre los dos engastes, y las pondrás á los lados del ephod en la parte delantera.
and fasten the other ends of the two chains to the two filigree settings, attaching them to the shoulder pieces of the ephod at the front.
✦ What the text says
Summary
The verse instructs that the two remaining ends of the twisted cords be fastened to the two filigree settings, and that these be attached to the shoulder pieces of the ephod, at its front side.
Key words
- qetzot ("ends of", H7098) — plural construct noun, marking the endpoint of the cords being attached, paired again as "two of the two cords."
- avotot ("cords", H5688) — plural noun with definite article, referring back to the twisted chains already described in the surrounding verses.
- mishbetzot ("filigree settings", H4865) — plural noun, the metal mountings that receive the cord-ends.
- titen ("you will put", H5414H) — qal imperfect, expresses the first action in a future/instructional sense: placing the cord-ends on the settings.
- natatah ("you will put", H5414H) — qal sequential perfect, joined by the narrative ve ("and", H9001); this form continues the same instructional sequence as titen, shifting to the next step: attaching the settings to the shoulder pieces.
What the text says
The sentence is built from two parallel construct chains: shtei qetzot shtei ha'avotot ("the two ends of the two cords") and shtei ha-mishbetzot ("the two filigree settings"). This doubling of shtei ("two", H8147) in construct form ties the cords and the settings together numerically before the verb even appears, so the grammar itself establishes the one-to-one correspondence between each cord-end and each setting.
The verb sequence titen (imperfect) followed by ve-natatah (sequential perfect) forms a continuous instructional chain typical of procedural Hebrew: the imperfect opens the sequence and the vav-perfect carries it forward, both understood as addressed to "you" (masculine singular), the craftsman. The final phrase el-mul panav ("to the front of its face", H0413+H4136+H6440G with suffix H9023) locates the whole assembly at the front of the ephod, using panav ("its face") with a masculine singular suffix referring back to ha'efod ("the ephod", H0646).
Differences between versions
The LXX (Swete) compresses the two Hebrew clauses into one: it renders mishbetzot as τὰς ἀσπιδίσκας ("the small shields/settings") as the direct object of ἐπιθήσεις ("you will place"), without separately naming the cords' ends (qetzot) in this verse, and adds ἀμφοτέρους τοὺς ὤμους ("both shoulders") where the Hebrew has kitfot ha'efod ("shoulder pieces of the ephod").
The Vulgate introduces "duobus uncinis" ("with two hooks"), an item not present in the Hebrew wording of this verse, and glosses mul panav ("to the front of its face") as "quod rationale respicit" ("which faces the breastplate"), making explicit a spatial relationship to the breastplate that the Hebrew phrase itself leaves only implicit through "its face."
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.