Exodus 36:25

Summary

The verse describes the construction of the second side wall of the tabernacle, identified as the north-facing side, for which twenty wooden frames were made. It is part of the technical account of the tabernacle's construction in Exodus 36.

Key words

• tze.la' ("side of", H6763) — feminine singular noun in construct state, linking it to "the tabernacle" that follows; denotes a structural side or flank of the building.
• mishKan ("tabernacle", H4908) — masculine singular noun, the dwelling structure whose sides are being described.
• sheNit ("second", H8145) — feminine singular ordinal number, agreeing grammatically with tze.la' ("side"), marking this as the second of the tabernacle's sides being enumerated.
• tzaFon ("north", H6828) — feminine singular noun following the construct phrase fe'At ("side of", H6285), specifying the geographic orientation of this "second side."
• 'aSah ("he made", H6213) — Qal perfect, third person masculine singular verb, indicating a completed action performed by an unnamed subject (contextually Bezalel, per the surrounding narrative).

What the text says

The sentence opens with a construct chain: u-le-tze.la' ha-mishKan ha-sheNit — "and for the side of the tabernacle, the second one." The ordinal sheNit ("second") modifies tze.la' ("side"), grammatically confirming that this is the second side being described in a sequence (the first side having been treated in the preceding verses). This second side is then further specified by a second construct phrase, li-fe'At tzaFon, "to the side of north," which anchors the structural term "side" to a compass direction.

The main clause verb, 'aSah ("he made"), is a Qal perfect, indicating a single completed action in the narrative past. The subject is not explicitly named in this verse but continues from the surrounding context. The object of the verb is 'esRim qeraShim, "twenty frames," a cardinal number followed by the plural noun qeraShim ("frames"), specifying the quantity and type of construction elements installed on this northern side.

The double use of construct phrases (tze.la' ha-mishkan and fe'At tzafon) creates a layered specification: first identifying which side of the tabernacle, then specifying its orientation, before stating what was built there.

Differences between versions

The Vulgate (Ad plagam quoque tabernaculi, quæ respicit ad aquilonem, fecit viginti tabulas) closely follows the Hebrew structure, rendering tze.la' as "plagam" ("side/flank") and qeraShim as "tabulas" ("boards"). The Septuagint text supplied here (concerning golden emplokia, "chains," on the breastpiece) corresponds to a different passage and content, reflecting the well-documented divergence in the ordering and content of the tabernacle-construction chapters between the Masoretic Hebrew and the Greek textual tradition of Exodus 35–39.