Exodus 36:15

Summary

Exodus 36:15 gives the standard dimensions of each individual curtain used in constructing the tabernacle covering: thirty cubits in length and four cubits in width. The verse closes by stating that this single measurement applied uniformly to all eleven curtains.

Key words

• 'Orekh ("length of", H0753) — masculine singular construct, opening a construct chain "length of the curtain."
• ha'aChat ("the one", H0259) — feminine singular numeral with article, used adjectivally to mean "the single/individual [curtain]," repeated later in the verse (word 16) with a different vocalic form but identical grammatical function.
• Ro.chav ("breadth of", H7341) — masculine singular construct, parallel to 'orekh, introducing the width measurement.
• miDah 'aChat ("one size", H4060A + H0259) — noun plus numeral in apposition, stating that a single standard applied.
• 'ashTei 'esReh ("eleven", H6249 construct + H6240) — a construct numeral compound meaning "one-of-ten," i.e., eleven, governing yeri'ot ("curtains").

What the text says

The verse is built from two parallel construct clauses. The first, 'orekh hayri'ah ha'achat ("the length of the one curtain"), uses the construct noun 'orekh followed by the definite noun hayri'ah ("the curtain") and the article+numeral phrase ha'achat ("the one"), which functions here not as a counting numeral but as a qualifier meaning "each single" curtain — a distributive sense that a plain gloss like "one" does not capture. This phrase is followed by the numeral sheloshim ("thirty") plus the prepositional phrase ba'ammah ("by the cubit"), giving the measurement unit. The second clause mirrors this exactly with rochav ("breadth of") replacing 'orekh, followed again by hayri'ah ha'echat, and the numeral arba' ammot ("four cubits").

The final clause, middah 'achat le'ashtei 'esreh yeri'ot, uses middah ("size/measure") with the numeral 'achat ("one") in apposition — "one measure" — governed by the preposition le- ("belonging to" or "for") attached to the construct numeral 'ashtei 'esreh ("eleven"), which itself governs yeri'ot ("curtains"). This construction states that the single measurement just given applies collectively to all eleven curtains, rather than listing each one separately.

Differences between versions

The Vulgate renders the closing clause as unius mensurae erant omnia saga ("all the curtains were of one measure"), using the general term omnia ("all") rather than reproducing the specific numeral "eleven" found in the Hebrew 'ashtei 'esreh. The LXX text supplied for this reference does not correspond to the Hebrew content at all — it describes woven work for a breastplate (logion) and ephod (epōmis), reflecting the well-known reorganization of the tabernacle-construction chapters in the Greek Exodus relative to the Masoretic order. The Spanish SBLIBRE version converts the cubit measurements into metric units (fourteen meters, nearly two meters), a translational adaptation not present as such in the Hebrew, which specifies only ba'ammah ("by the cubit").