Exodus 36:30

Summary

Exodus 36:30 closes a description of the tabernacle's wooden frame structure, stating that there were eight qerashim ("frames", H7175) with sixteen silver adanim ("bases", H0134) total, two bases positioned under each individual frame.

Key words

• ha.Yu ("they were", H1961) — qal sequential perfect (vav-consecutive), continuing the narrative chain from the preceding verses' description of frame construction.
• qerashim ("frames", H7175) — masculine plural noun, the wooden structural panels of the tabernacle wall being counted.
• adnei-hem ("their bases", H0134 + suffix) — construct plural noun with 3rd person masculine plural suffix, "their," linking the bases directly to the frames just mentioned.
• kesef ("silver", H3701) — masculine singular noun stating the material of the bases, appearing without a copula (the verb "to be" is implied).
• shenei adanim ("two of bases", H8147 construct + H0134) — repeated twice, dual/construct form expressing a distributive pairing, "two bases [and] two bases," under each frame.

What the text says

The verse is built as a summary tally following a narrative vav-consecutive verb, ha.Yu ("they were," H1961), which ties this statement to the preceding construction account rather than presenting it as an isolated fact. The first clause gives the total frame count: shemonah qerashim ("eight frames," H8083 + H7175). The second clause, ve-adnei-hem kesef, states the material of the bases belonging to those frames — literally "and their-bases [is] silver" — using a construct noun plus suffix followed directly by the material noun, with no explicit verb "to be" (a common feature of Hebrew nominal clauses).

The total number of bases, shishah asar adanim ("sixteen bases," H8337 + H6240 + H0134), is then broken down by a distributive construction: shenei adanim shenei adanim ("two bases, two bases," H8147 + H0134 repeated), meaning two bases per frame. This repetition of the same phrase, rather than a single distributive marker, is how Biblical Hebrew expresses "two each" — the phrase is doubled to indicate that the pairing recurs frame by frame. The final phrase, tachat ha-qeresh ha-echad ("under the one frame," H8478 + H7175 + H0259), specifies the singular unit ("the frame, the one") to which each pair of bases corresponds.

Differences between versions

The Vulgate (ut octo essent simul tabulae... binas... bases sub singulis tabulis) and the Hebrew align closely in content, both giving eight frames, sixteen bases, and two bases per frame. The Septuagint text provided (Καὶ ἐποίησαν τὸν ὑποδύτην...) does not correspond to this content at all — it describes the making of a woven tunic under the ephod, reflecting the differing arrangement and content of the tabernacle construction material in the Greek text of Exodus at this point rather than a translation of the Hebrew frame-and-base count.