Exodus 33:6

Summary

The verse reports that the Israelites removed their ornaments, an action situated from Mount Horeb onward. The Hebrew verb form indicates the people acted upon themselves in this stripping, marking a change in their appearance following the events at that mountain.

Key words

• va-yitnatzelu ("and they stripped themselves", H5337) — hithpael (reflexive) narrative form: the subject performs the action on itself, not merely receiving it passively. This grammatical voice indicates the Israelites themselves removed the ornaments, rather than someone removing them from the Israelites.
• bene ("[the] people of", H1121G) — masculine plural construct, linking to Yisra'El, forming the phrase "sons/people of Israel" as the grammatical subject.
• 'edyam ("their ornament[s]", H5716) — masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix "their" (H9028). Despite the singular form, it functions as a collective noun referring to ornaments worn by the group.
• me-Har ("from [the] mountain of", H2022G) — construct noun with prefixed preposition me ("from", H9006), establishing the spatial/temporal reference point of the action.
• 'et (H0853) — the direct object marker, syntactically flagging 'edyam as the object being removed, though it carries no independent gloss in translation.

What the text says

The clause opens with the narrative va ("and", H9001) attached to the hithpael verb yitnatzelu, establishing sequential action within the story. The hithpael stem is reflexive/reciprocal in force, meaning the grammatical subject — bene Yisra'El ("the people of Israel") — acts upon itself: they stripped themselves, rather than being stripped by an external agent. This distinguishes the Hebrew from a simple passive construction.

The object of this self-directed action is 'et-'edyam, "their ornament," marked explicitly by the direct object particle 'et. The noun 'edyam is grammatically singular in construct with the suffix "their," yet functions collectively, referring to ornaments in general rather than one specific item.

The final phrase, me-Har Chorev ("from Mount Horeb"), uses the preposition me ("from") to anchor the action spatially or temporally to that location, without further verbs clarifying duration or manner beyond the single reflexive verb governing the whole clause.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the single Hebrew object 'edyam ("their ornament") as two paired terms, τὸν κόσμον αὐτῶν ("their adornment") καὶ τὴν περιστολὴν ("and the apparel"), where the Hebrew has one construct noun. The Vulgate uses deposuerunt ("they laid down/removed"), a non-reflexive verb form, where the Hebrew hithpael yitnatzelu grammatically marks the action as reflexive ("stripped themselves").