Exodus 35:18

Summary

Exodus 35:18 lists three items among the materials contributed for the tabernacle construction: the tent pegs of the tabernacle, the tent pegs of the courtyard, and their ropes. The verse is structured as a simple enumeration using the direct object marker before each item.

Key words

• yitDot ("tent pegs of / pegs of", H3489) — feminine plural construct noun, appearing twice, each time governing the following noun (tabernacle, then courtyard) to form "pegs of X."
• mishKan ("tabernacle", H4908) — masculine singular noun with the definite article ha (H9009), specifying which structure the first set of pegs belongs to.
• chaTzer ("courtyard", H2691A) — common gender singular noun, also marked definite by he (H9009), naming the second structure.
• meiterei ("ropes of", H4340) — masculine plural construct noun, linked to the closing pronominal suffix.
• hem ("their", H9028) — third person masculine plural suffix attached to meiterei, indicating the ropes belong to the previously mentioned pegs (or structures).

What the text says

The verse consists of three noun phrases joined by the conjunction ve ("and", H9002), each introduced by the untranslatable direct object marker 'et (H0853). The repetition of yitDot in construct form before both mishKan and chaTzer creates a parallel structure: "pegs of the tabernacle" and "pegs of the courtyard" are grammatically identical constructions, differing only in the noun that follows. This construct-chain repetition emphasizes that pegs were needed for two distinct architectural components.

The final phrase, meiterei-hem ("their ropes"), uses a construct plural noun with an attached pronominal suffix rather than a separate possessive phrase. The suffix hem is plural, so the "ropes" belong to something plural mentioned earlier — most immediately the pegs themselves, or collectively both structures (tabernacle and courtyard). The Hebrew syntax does not use verbs in this verse; it is a bare list of items, consistent with an inventory format found elsewhere in this chapter of Exodus.

Differences between versions

The Vulgate (paxillos tabernaculi et atrii cum funiculis suis, "pegs of the tabernacle and courtyard with their cords") closely mirrors the Hebrew structure, rendering both yitDot occurrences as "paxillos" and meiterei-hem as "funiculis suis." The Spanish versions (RV1909, SBLIBRE) similarly follow the Hebrew word order and content.

The LXX text provided (Swete edition) for this verse reference describes "the holy garments of Aaron the priest, and the garments in which they shall minister" — content entirely different from the Hebrew's tent pegs and ropes. This indicates the LXX verse numbering or content at this location diverges from the Masoretic Text's Exodus 35:18, though the provided data does not explain the source of this divergence.