Exodus 35:15

Summary

Exodus 35:15 lists five cultic items associated with the sanctuary: the incense altar, its poles, the anointing oil, the aromatic incense, and the screen for the entrance of the tabernacle. The verse is structured as a chain of direct objects, each introduced by the object marker 'et (H0853), continuing a longer inventory of items brought or assigned for the tabernacle's construction.

Key words

• miz.Bach ("altar of", H4196) — masculine singular noun in construct state, binding to ha.qqetoret ("the incense") to form "altar of incense," a fixed cultic term rather than two independent nouns.
• ba.Dav ("its poles", H0905G + H9023) — masculine plural noun with a 3rd person masculine singular pronominal suffix, indicating the poles belong to the previously named altar.
• mish.Chah ("anointing", H4888A) — feminine singular noun in the phrase shemen ha-mishchah, where shemen ("oil of") stands in construct, producing "oil of anointing."
• sa.Mim ("perfumes", H5561) — masculine plural noun, itself governed by the construct noun ketoret ("incense of"), yielding "incense of spices/perfumes," a technical designation distinct from the incense altar mentioned earlier in the verse.
• mish.Kan ("tabernacle", H4908) — masculine singular noun, final term of the chain masakh ha-petach le-fetach ha-mishkan, "the screen of the entrance for the entrance of the tabernacle," using the preposition le (H9005) to mark purpose or destination.

What the text says

The verse is built entirely from construct chains, each pair of nouns joined without an explicit "of" in Hebrew but implied by the grammatical construct form. This creates compact technical phrases: "altar of incense" (mizbach haqqetoret), "oil of anointing" (shemen hamishchah), and "incense of the perfumes" (qetoret hassammim). The repeated use of the direct object marker 'et before each item marks a list of accusatives governed by a verb earlier in the passage (not included in this segment), meaning all these nouns are objects being presented, brought, or specified for use, not subjects performing an action.

The final clause, masakh happetach lefetach hammishkan, doubles the noun petach ("entrance," H6607) — once in construct with the definite article referring to a general "entrance," and once again in construct with "the tabernacle." The preposition le here expresses the function of the screen: it belongs to a general "entrance" and specifically to "the entrance of the tabernacle," giving a purpose-designation rather than a spatial motion sense.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew text lists the incense altar, its poles, anointing oil, aromatic incense, and the entrance screen. The Vulgate closely mirrors this same list and order (altare thymiamatis, et vectes, et oleum unctionis...). The LXX text supplied here, however, renders "the table and all its vessels," which does not correspond lexically to any item in the Hebrew list for this verse; this reflects a difference in content between the Greek text cited and the Hebrew inventory at this specific position.