Exodus 28:3

Summary

Exodus 28:3 instructs Moses to speak to the artisans whom YHWH has filled with a "spirit of wisdom," so that they make Aaron's garments for the purpose of consecrating him and enabling him to serve as priest to YHWH.

Key words

• te.da.Ber ("you will speak", H1696G) — piel imperfect, giving the verb an intensive nuance beyond simple speech; marks Moses' action as forthcoming/ongoing.
• chakh.mei-lev ("[people] skillful of heart", H2450) — construct plural adjective governing lev ("heart", H3820A); the construct chain describes a category of people defined by an inner quality.
• mi.le.Ti ("I have filled", H4390) — piel perfect with 1st person suffix, denoting a completed act attributed to the speaker (YHWH) that precedes and grounds the craftsmen's competence.
• Ru.ach chokh.mah ("a spirit of wisdom", H7307G + H2451) — construct pair; ruach in construct state links directly to chokhmah, expressing the content or quality of that "spirit."
• le.kha.ha.no ("to serve him as priest", H3547 + infinitive + suffix) — piel infinitive with preposition le and 3ms suffix, expressing purpose/result of the preceding actions.

What the text says

The verse opens with the conjunction ve ("and", H9002) attached to the emphatic personal pronoun 'a.Tah ("you", H0859A), which is grammatically redundant with the verb's own person marking but adds emphasis on Moses as the addressee of the divine command. The verb te.da.Ber is piel imperfect, indicating an intensified or emphatic speaking act directed 'el ("to", H0413) a group defined by the construct phrase kol chakh.mei-lev ("all [those] skillful of heart"), literally "all the wise of heart" — a Hebrew idiom locating skill in the heart rather than the hands.

The relative clause introduced by 'a.Sher ("which/who", H0834A) modifies this group: they are the ones whom the speaker "has filled" (mi.le.Ti, piel perfect) with ru.ach chokh.mah ("a spirit of wisdom"), a construct pair where the "spirit" is specified by "wisdom." The narrative then shifts with ve.'a.Su ("and they will make", H6213H), a sequential (vav-consecutive) perfect that continues the action begun by the imperative-like imperfect, describing the craftsmen's resulting task: making big.dei 'a.ha.Ron ("the garments of Aaron", construct + proper name). Two piel infinitives with prepositions, le.ka.de.Sh ("to consecrate him") and le.kha.ha.no ("to serve as his priest"), express the twofold purpose of the garments, ending with the first-person suffix li ("to/for me"), marking the priesthood as service directed toward the speaker.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders ru.ach chokh.mah ("spirit of wisdom") as "πνεύματος αἰσθήσεως" ("spirit of perception/understanding"), a different semantic emphasis than the Hebrew "wisdom." The LXX also speaks of a single "στολὴν τὴν ἁγίαν" ("the holy robe/vestment," singular) where the Hebrew big.dei ("garments of," H0899B) is plural, a distinction the Vulgate's plural "vestes" preserves in line with the Hebrew.