Exodus 36:11

Summary

The verse describes the fabrication of loops made of blue-violet material, attached to the edge of the last curtain in each of two sets of curtains, so that these sets could later be joined together. The action is reported twice: first for one set, then confirmed as done identically (ken, "thus") for the second set.

Key words

• va.Ya'as — "and he made" (H6213H): verb qal, narrative form (vav + prefix conjugation), marking the next step in the sequence of construction actions.
• lul'ot ("loops of", H3924): feminine plural construct noun, grammatically bound to the following word, indicating loops of a specific material.
• tekhelet ("violet stuff", H8504): feminine singular noun specifying the material of the loops.
• machbaret / machberet ("joined set", H4225): feminine singular noun appearing twice (lines 14 and 24), naming the assembled group of curtains to which the edge curtain belongs.
• ha.Qitzonah ("outermost", H7020): feminine singular adjective modifying "curtain," specifying which curtain within the second set receives the loops.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence is built in two parallel halves connected by the adverb ken ("thus", H3651C). The first half states that loops (lul'ot, H3924) of violet material (tekhelet, H8504) were made "on the edge" (sefat, H8193I, construct form) "of the curtain" (ha.yeri'ah, H3407), specified as "the one" (ha.'echat, H0259) curtain located "from an end" (mi.qatzah, H7098) "in the joined set" (ba.machbaret, H4225). The second half repeats the structure using the perfect verb 'asah ("he did", H6213H) rather than repeating the narrative form, and specifies the curtain as "the outermost" (ha.qitzonah, H7020) "in the second joined set" (ba.machberet ha.shenit, H4225 + H8145).

The construct chains (sefat ha.yeri'ah, "edge of the curtain") show how Biblical Hebrew links nouns without a separate word for "of," relying instead on the construct state. The repetition of machbaret/machberet in both halves anchors the loops to the concept of a "joined set" of curtains, a term used elsewhere in this chapter for the two groups of five curtains that make up the tabernacle covering.

Differences between versions

The Vulgate (ansas hyacinthinas in ora cortinae unius... et in ora cortinae alterius similiter) closely follows the Hebrew structure, rendering lul'ot as ansas ("loops") and tekhelet as hyacinthinas. The LXX text supplied here, however, speaks of epomidas ("shoulder-pieces") "joined from both sides, woven work, interlaced with each other" — vocabulary and content that do not correspond to loops or curtain edges as described in the Hebrew of this verse, reflecting the well-known reordering of material in the Greek text of Exodus 35–39 relative to the Hebrew sequence.