Exodus 36:21

Summary

Exodus 36:21 specifies the dimensions of a single tabernacle frame: its length was ten cubits, and its width was one and a half cubits. The verse uses construct phrases to link measurement nouns directly to the object being measured.

Key words

• 'eser ("ten", H6235) — construct-state numeral opening the measurement, tied to 'amot ("cubits").
• 'orekh ("length of", H0753) — masculine singular construct noun, grammatically binding "length" to ha-qaresh ("the frame").
• qaresh ("frame", H7175) — appears twice (with definite article ha-, H9009), naming the object measured in each half of the verse.
• chatzi ("half of", H2677) — construct noun modifying ha-'amah ("the cubit"), producing "half of the cubit."
• ha-'echad ("the one", H0259) — feminine singular cardinal with article, specifying "the one frame" as distinct from others in the series.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence divides into two parallel construct chains. The first, 'eser 'amot 'orekh ha-qaresh ("ten cubits, length of the frame"), places the numeral and unit of measure ('amot, H0520A) before the construct noun 'orekh ("length of"), which is bound to ha-qaresh ("the frame"). This construct arrangement literally reads "ten cubits [is] the length of the frame," a common Biblical Hebrew pattern for stating dimensions where the measured quantity precedes the noun it qualifies.

The second half, ve-'amah va-chatzi ha-'amah rochav ha-qeresh ha-'echad ("and a cubit and half the cubit, breadth of the frame, the one"), repeats the same construction for width (rochav, H7341). Here chatzi ha-'amah ("half of the cubit") uses a construct phrase rather than a simple fraction word, showing that Biblical Hebrew expresses "one and a half" by joining a whole unit ('amah) with the construct "half of the cubit" rather than a single adjective. The final phrase ha-qeresh ha-'echad ("the frame, the one") uses the numeral 'echad (H0259) with the article to mark this frame as one member of a set already introduced in context, a detail that plain translations render simply as "each frame" or "a frame."

Differences between versions

The Vulgate (Decem cubitorum erat longitudo tabulæ unius: et unum ac semis cubitum latitudo retinebat) and the Hebrew agree closely in content, both stating length and width in cubit measurements. The LXX text supplied here does not correspond to this Hebrew verse; it describes stones inscribed with the names of the tribes of Israel, indicating a differing verse alignment or numbering between the Greek and Hebrew textual traditions at this point rather than a translational divergence within the same verse.