Exodus 31:3

Summary

Exodus 31:3 continues God's speech naming Bezalel, stating that God has filled him with the "spirit of God" and with three specific qualities — skill, understanding, and knowledge — applicable to every kind of craftsmanship. The verse describes the endowment given for skilled work, listing both the source (divine spirit) and its practical manifestations.

Key words

• 'a.ma.Le' ("I have filled", H4390) — piel verb, first person, giving an intensive nuance to "fill," suggesting a thorough or complete filling rather than a partial one.
• Ru.ach ("spirit of", H7307G) — feminine singular noun in construct state, meaning it must be linked to the following word 'E.lo.Him, forming the phrase "spirit of God."
• 'E.lo.Him ("God", H0430G) — masculine plural noun, here functioning with singular meaning as is standard for this term referring to the deity.
• cha.khe.Mah ("skill", H2451) — feminine singular noun, the first of three qualities listed, each introduced by the preposition be. ("with", H9003).
• khol- ("all", H3605) — masculine singular noun in construct state, linking to me.la.Khah ("workmanship", H4399) to form "all workmanship" or "every kind of work."

What the text says

The verse opens with the narrative vav on va.'a.ma.Le', marking continuation of the divine speech begun earlier in the passage. The verb is in the piel stem, first person, which carries an intensive sense — "I have filled" rather than a simple causative "I gave." The object marker 'o.T plus suffix o ("him") identifies the recipient without naming him again in this verse, since the referent was established earlier in the passage.

The phrase Ru.ach 'E.lo.Him is a construct chain: Ru.ach ("spirit of") requires a following noun to complete its meaning, and 'E.lo.Him supplies that noun. This construct relationship is grammatically necessary in Hebrew and cannot be separated, unlike in English where "spirit" and "God" could stand independently.

Following this, three qualities are introduced, each with the preposition be. ("with"): cha.khe.Mah ("skill"), t.vu.Nah ("understanding"), and Da.'at ("knowledge"). The repeated preposition-plus-conjunction pattern (u.vi., u.ve.) creates a rhythmic list structure in the Hebrew, tying each quality to the verb "filled" as the means or content of the filling. The final phrase khol-me.la.Khah ("all workmanship") is itself a construct chain, extending the scope of application for these qualities to every type of craft work, without specifying particular crafts in this verse.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders Ru.ach 'E.lo.Him as pneuma theion ("divine spirit"), using an adjective (θεῖον) rather than the construct-noun structure of the Hebrew "spirit of God." The Vulgate follows the Hebrew construct pattern with spiritu Dei ("spirit of God"). The LXX text as given also shows sophias ("of wisdom") in genitive case rather than a parallel accusative list as in the Hebrew's three prepositional phrases, altering the syntactic relationship between "spirit" and the following qualities compared to the Hebrew structure.