Exodus 35:26

Summary

The verse describes a group of women whose hearts moved them ("lifted them," in the Hebrew idiom) to spin goat hair with skill, contributing this material for use in the construction described in the surrounding context of Exodus 35.

Key words

• na.Sa' ("it lifted", H5375S) — qal perfect, third person, referring back to lev ("heart"); the verb describes the heart as the subject that "lifts" or moves the women to act.
• li.Ba ("heart", H3820A) — masculine singular construct with the pronominal suffix -n ("their," feminine plural), forming the idiom "their heart lifted them."
• cha.khe.Mah ("skill", H2451) — feminine singular noun, introduced by the preposition be- ("with"), specifying the manner in which the spinning was done.
• ta.Vu ("they spun", H2901) — qal perfect, third person plural, the main action verb of the clause.
• 'i.Zim ("goat hairs", H5795) — masculine plural noun with definite article, the direct object of the spinning, marked by the untranslated object particle 'et.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence is built around two verbs in the qal perfect: na.Sa' ("it lifted") and ta.Vu ("they spun"). The first verb belongs to a relative clause introduced by 'a.Sher ("whom/that"), which modifies na.Shim ("women"): "all the women whom their heart lifted them." This is the same idiom used elsewhere in Exodus 35 (e.g., verse 21, "whose spirit lifted him"), where the heart or spirit is grammatically the subject that moves the person, rather than the person acting on their own initiative. The phrase be-cha.khe.Mah ("with skill") describes the manner of the main action, spinning, rather than the manner of the heart's lifting — it attaches to ta.Vu ("they spun"), not to na.Sa'.

The object of the spinning is marked twice by the untranslated direct object particle 'et (H0853): once for 'o.Tanah ("them," referring back to the women themselves as objects of the heart's lifting) and once for ha-'i.Zim ("the goat hairs"). The construct chain khol ha-na.Shim ("all of the women") sets up the subject before the relative clause narrows it to those specifically moved to act.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders na.Sa' li.Ban ("their heart lifted them") as hais edoxen tē dianoia autōn ("to whom it seemed good in their mind"), shifting the idiom from "lifting" to "seeming good," a different verb of mental disposition. The Vulgate condenses the clause differently, using sponte propria ("of their own accord") to convey voluntary action, without a direct equivalent to the "heart lifting" construction found in the Hebrew. The SBLIBRE Spanish translation splits the sense into two components — "felt the desire" and "had the skill" — where the Hebrew presents the skill (cha.khe.Mah) as modifying the verb "spun" rather than as a separate coordinated quality of the women.