Exodus 36:23

Summary

The verse states that the craftsman made the qerashim ("frames", H7175) for the mishkan ("tabernacle", H4908), specifying twenty of these frames for the southern side of the structure.

Key words

• va-ya'as ("and he made", H6213H) — narrative vav plus qal verb, third-person masculine singular, continuing the sequence of construction actions in the narrative.
• ha-qerashim ("the frames", H7175) — masculine plural noun with definite article, marking these frames as the object already introduced in the preceding construction account.
• la-mishkan ("for the tabernacle", H4908) — preposition with article attached to a masculine singular noun, indicating the structure for which the frames are intended.
• pe'at ("side of", H6285) — feminine singular noun in construct state, linking to the following term to specify "the side of the south."
• teimanah ("southward", H8486 + H9011) — feminine singular noun with directional he suffix, reinforcing the orientation already given by negev ("south", H5045H).

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence opens with the narrative verb va-ya'as ("and he made"), followed by the direct object marker 'et (H0853, untranslated) attached to ha-qerashim ("the frames"). The phrase la-mishkan ("for the tabernacle") identifies the structure being built. The number 'esrim ("twenty", H6242) then specifies the quantity of qerashim ("frames") assigned to this section.

The directional information is doubled: pe'at negev ("side of the south") uses the construct noun pe'at ("side of") linked to negev ("south"), and this is followed by teimanah ("southward"), a separate word for "south" carrying the directional he suffix (H9011). This stacking of two terms for "south" — negev and teimanah — is a feature of the Hebrew that produces a doubled or emphatic spatial marker, something not always visible when translations render it simply as "the south side" or "toward the south."

Differences between versions

The Latin Vulgate text given ("E quibus viginti ad plagam meridianam erant contra austrum") corresponds to the Hebrew content, rendering the twenty frames and the southern orientation, though it uses two Latin terms (meridianam, austrum) to represent the double Hebrew directional phrase (negev / teimanah), similar to how the Hebrew itself uses two terms for "south."

The Greek Septuagint text provided ("καὶ δύο ἀσπιδίσκας χρυσᾶς καὶ δύο δακτυλίους χρυσοῦς" — "and two gold clasps and two gold rings") does not correspond in content to the Hebrew verse; it describes gold rings and clasps rather than frames for the tabernacle's south side. This reflects a difference in verse arrangement or content at this point between the Hebrew tradition represented here and the Greek text cited, rather than a translation variant of the same sentence.