Exodus 30:37

Summary

The verse forbids the Israelites from replicating, for private use, the specific incense formula previously described for the sanctuary. It also declares that this incense is set apart as holy, belonging to Yehovah.

Key words

ketoret ("incense", H7004) — feminine singular noun; the definite article on it (ha, H9009) marks it as the specific incense formula already discussed in the preceding verses, not incense in general.

ta'aseh ("you will make", H6213H) — qal imperfect, second person masculine singular. This form addresses one individual (grammatically singular), distinct from the plural form later in the verse.

ta'asu ("you must make", H6213H) — qal imperfect, second person masculine plural, negated by lo' ("not", H3808). This shifts the addressee from the singular "you" of clause one to a plural "you all," who are prohibited from making the incense for themselves.

mat'kunta ("its proportion", H4971) — feminine singular noun in construct form, carrying the third-person feminine suffix -ah ("its"), referring back to the incense's specific composition.

qodesh ("a holy thing", H6944G) — masculine singular noun functioning as predicate; combined with the verb tihyeh ("it will be", H1961), it states a resulting status rather than commanding an action.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence pivots on a grammatical number shift: the incense "which you (singular, ta'aseh) will make according to its proportion" is contrasted with "you all (plural, ta'asu) shall not make for yourselves." The singular verb addresses one figure tasked with producing the incense according to its exact proportion (mat'kunta), while the plural verb prohibits the wider group from making the same formula for personal use. This singular/plural alternation is a nuance the English and Spanish translations given do not preserve, since both render the verbs simply as "you" without marking number.

The final clause stacks two prepositional phrases: qodesh tihyeh lekha la-YHWH — "a holy thing it will be to you, to Yehovah." The double phrase lekha ("to you") and la-YHWH ("to Yehovah") both attach to the same predicate qodesh, indicating the incense's holy status is oriented toward the addressee and toward Yehovah simultaneously.

Differences between versions

The Vulgate condenses the verse, dropping the lekha ("to you") phrase and restructuring the final clause as a causal statement: "quia sanctum est Domino" ("because it is holy to the Lord"), where the Hebrew presents two independent statements — prohibition, then declaration of holiness with two dative-like phrases (lekha, la-YHWH).

The LXX renders lekhem ("for yourselves," plural) as ὑμῖν αὐτοῖς, doubling the reflexive sense, and translates the closing holiness formula as ἁγίασμα ἱστᾶι ὑμῖν κυρίῳ, keeping both the "to you" (ὑμῖν) and "to the Lord" (κυρίῳ) elements found in the Hebrew, unlike the Vulgate.