Exodus 32:2

Summary

Aaron responds to the people's request by commanding them to remove the gold earrings worn by their wives, sons, and daughters, and to bring these items to him. This sets up the material used to construct the golden calf in the following verses.

Key words

• pareku ("tear off/strip off", H6561) — piel imperative plural, an intensive command form directing multiple people to actively remove something.
• nizmei ("rings of", H5141) — masculine plural construct, linking the rings grammatically to the gold that follows.
• ha-zahav ("the gold", H2091) — definite noun specifying the material of the rings.
• azenei ("ears of", H0241G) — feminine dual construct, marking the natural pair (two ears) from which the rings are removed.
• havi'u ("bring", H0935P) — hiphil imperative plural, a causative command form: "cause [them] to come" to Aaron.

What the text says

The verse opens with the narrative verb va-yomer ("and he said", H0559), introducing Aaron's direct speech to the people ('aleihem, "to them", H0413+H9038). Aaron's command consists of two imperative verbs: pareku ("tear off/strip off", H6561), a piel form conveying forceful or intensive action, and later havi'u ("bring", H0935P), a hiphil (causative) form meaning literally "make [them] come." Both imperatives are plural, addressed to the whole community.

The object of the first command is nizmei ha-zahav ("the rings of the gold", H5141 + H2091), a construct chain identifying gold rings as the item to be removed. A relative clause introduced by asher ("which", H0834A) specifies their location: be-azenei ("on the ears of", H9003+H0241G), using the dual form of "ear" since ears naturally come in pairs. The chain of construct nouns continues through neshei-khem ("your wives", H0802H+H9026), benei-khem ("your sons", H1121A+H9026), and u-venotei-khem ("and your daughters", H1323G+H9026), each carrying the second-person plural possessive suffix -khem ("your", H9026), addressing the men being commanded. The verse closes with ve-havi'u elai ("and bring [them] to me", H0935P+H0413+H9030), directing the collected gold specifically to Aaron.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew text names three groups whose ears bear the rings: neshei-khem ("your wives"), benei-khem ("your sons"), and u-venotei-khem ("and your daughters"). The Vulgate follows this structure closely: "uxorum, filiorumque et filiarum vestrarum" ("of wives, and of sons and of daughters"). The LXX (Swete), however, renders this portion more compactly as "τὰ ἐν τοῖς ὠσὶν ὑμῶν καὶ θυγατέρων" ("that are in your ears and of daughters"), where the Greek pronoun ὑμῶν ("your") appears to stand for the wives and sons together, with only "daughters" (θυγατέρων) named explicitly as a separate group.