Exodus 36:2
וַיִּקְרָא מֹשֶׁה אֶל־בְּצַלְאֵל וְאֶל־אָֽהֳלִיאָב וְאֶל כָּל־אִישׁ חֲכַם־לֵב אֲשֶׁר נָתַן יְהוָה חָכְמָה בְּלִבּוֹ כֹּל אֲשֶׁר נְשָׂאוֹ לִבּוֹ לְקָרְבָה אֶל־הַמְּלָאכָה לַעֲשֹׂת אֹתָֽהּ׃
✦ Hebrew interlinear
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✦ The same verse in five languages
וַיִּקְרָ֣א מֹשֶׁ֗ה אֶל־בְּצַלְאֵ֘ל וְאֶל־אָֽהֳלִיאָב֒ וְאֶל֙ כָּל־אִ֣ישׁ חֲכַם־לֵ֔ב אֲשֶׁ֨ר נָתַ֧ן יְהוָ֛ה חָכְמָ֖ה בְּלִבּ֑וֹ כֹּ֚ל אֲשֶׁ֣ר נְשָׂא֣וֹ לִבּ֔וֹ לְקָרְבָ֥ה אֶל־הַמְּלָאכָ֖ה לַעֲשֹׂ֥ת אֹתָֽהּ׃
Kai ἐκάλεσεν Μωσῆς Βεσελὴλ καὶ ’Eλιὰβ καὶ πάντας τοὺς ἔχοντας τὴν σοφίαν, ᾧ ὁ θεὸς ἐπιστήμην ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ, καὶ πάντας τοὺς ἑκουσίως β νοῦς προσπορεύεσθαι πρὸς τὰ ἔργα ὥστε συντελεῖν αὐτά·
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
Cumque vocasset eos Moyses et omnem eruditum virum, cui dederat Dominus sapientiam, et qui sponte sua obtulerant se ad faciendum opus,
Moisés mandó llamar a Bezalel, a Aholiab y a todos los artesanos a los que Yehová les había dado talento, y a todos los que estaban dispuestos a ayudar en la obra.
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
Y Moisés llamó á Bezaleel y á Aholiab, y á todo varón sabio de corazón, en cuyo corazón había dado Jehová sabiduría, y á todo hombre á quien su corazón le movió á llegarse á la obra, para trabajar en ella;
Then Moses summoned Bezalel, Oholiab, and every skilled person whom the LORD had gifted— everyone whose heart stirred him to come and do the work.
✦ What the text says
Summary
Moses summons Bezalel, Oholiab, and every skilled worker whose heart Yehovah had filled with wisdom, specifically those whose own heart moved them to approach the work in order to carry it out. The verse links the divine gift of skill with a personal, internal motivation to act on it.
Key words
- chakham-lev ("skillful of heart", H2450/H3820A) — construct phrase, literally "wise/skilled of heart," describing a person whose competence is located in the lev ("heart"), the seat of both intellect and will in Biblical Hebrew.
- natan ("he had put/given", H5414H) — qal perfect, marking a completed prior action: Yehovah's gift of chokhmah ("skill", H2451) precedes the calling narrated in this verse.
- nesa'o libbo ("his heart lifted him", H5375S + H3820A) — qal perfect verb with pronominal suffix "him," idiomatically expressing internal impulse or willingness; the lev ("heart") is grammatically the subject that "lifts" the person toward action.
- qorvah ("to draw near", H7126G) — qal infinitive expressing purpose, "in order to draw near/approach," describing the movement toward ha-melakhah ("the work", H4399).
- la'asot otah ("to do it", H6213A + H0853 + H9034) — a second infinitive of purpose with the feminine object suffix "it," referring back to ha-melakhah ("the work"), a feminine noun, and marked explicitly by the direct object particle H0853.
What the text says
The verse opens with the narrative verb va-yiqra ("and he called", H7121G), introducing Moses as the one summoning named individuals — Bezalel and Oholiab — followed by the broader category kol ish chakham-lev ("every person skillful of heart"). This construct chain ties skill to the lev ("heart"), the Hebrew organ associated with cognition and volition rather than emotion alone.
The relative clause asher natan Yehovah chokhmah be-libbo ("whom Yehovah had put skill in his heart") uses the qal perfect natan to mark this gifting as prior to and separate from the summoning act itself — the skill already existed before Moses called anyone. A second relative clause, kol asher nesa'o libbo, repeats lev ("heart") as grammatical subject of nesa'o ("it lifted him"), an idiom where the heart itself performs the lifting/moving, with the person as object suffix. This creates a structural parallel: the same word lev ("heart") is first the receptacle of divine chokhmah ("skill") and then the agent of human willingness.
The final clause chains two infinitives of purpose, le-qorvah ("to draw near") and la'asot otah ("to do it"), describing the sequence of approaching the work and then performing it, with otah referring back grammatically to the feminine noun melakhah ("work").
Differences between versions
The LXX renders the second relative clause more generally as "all those willingly [inclined] in mind to come to the works," using νοῦς ("mind") rather than reproducing the Hebrew's double use of lev ("heart") as both recipient of skill and agent of will — the parallel structure built on repeating the same Hebrew word is not preserved. The Vulgate's sponte sua obtulerant se ("had offered themselves of their own accord") likewise conveys volition but does not carry over the Hebrew idiom of the "heart" as the acting subject that "lifts" the person.
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.