Exodus 36:8

וַיַּעֲשׂוּ כָל־חֲכַם־לֵב בְּעֹשֵׂי הַמְּלָאכָה אֶת־הַמִּשְׁכָּן עֶשֶׂר יְרִיעֹת שֵׁשׁ מָשְׁזָר וּתְכֵלֶת וְאַרְגָּמָן וְתוֹלַעַת שָׁנִי כְּרֻבִים מַעֲשֵׂה חֹשֵׁב עָשָׂה אֹתָֽם׃

✦ Hebrew interlinear

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✦ The same verse in five languages

Hebrew

וַיַּעֲשׂ֨וּ כָל־חֲכַם־לֵ֜ב בְּעֹשֵׂ֧י הַמְּלָאכָ֛ה אֶת־הַמִּשְׁכָּ֖ן עֶ֣שֶׂר יְרִיעֹ֑ת שֵׁ֣שׁ מָשְׁזָ֗ר וּתְכֵ֤לֶת וְאַרְגָּמָן֙ וְתוֹלַ֣עַת שָׁנִ֔י כְּרֻבִ֛ים מַעֲשֵׂ֥ה חֹשֵׁ֖ב עָשָׂ֥ה אֹתָֽם׃

Greek (Septuagint)

Καὶ πᾶς σοφὸς ἐν τοῖς ἐργαζομένοις τὰς στολὰς τῶν αἵ εἰσιν Ἀαρὼν τῷ ἱερεῖ, καθὰ συνέταξεν κύριος τῷ

Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0

Latin (Vulgate)

Feceruntque omnes corde sapientes ad explendum opus tabernaculi, cortinas decem de bysso retorta, et hyacintho, et purpura, coccoque bis tincto, opere vario, et arte polymita:

Spanish

Todos los artesanos expertos hicieron el santuario con diez cortinas de lino fino torcido, de color azul, púrpura y escarlata. Un artista experto les bordó figuras de querubines.

Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)

Y todos los sabios de corazón entre los que hacían la obra, hicieron el tabernáculo de diez cortinas, de lino torcido, y de jacinto, y de púrpura y carmesí; las cuales hicieron de obra prima, con querubines.

English

All the skilled craftsmen among the workmen made the ten curtains for the tabernacle. They were made of finely spun linen, as well as blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, with cherubim skillfully worked into them.

✦ What the text says

Summary

Exodus 36:8 describes how the skilled workers among the craftsmen constructed the tabernacle itself, beginning with ten curtains made of twisted fine linen, violet, purple, and scarlet material, into which a skilled artisan wove figures of cherubim.

Key words

chakham-lev ("skillful of heart", H2450 + H3820A) — a construct chain describing the craftsmen by an inner quality, "heart" here denoting skill/understanding rather than emotion.
mishzar ("twisted", H7806) — hophal passive participle, indicating the linen was in a state of having been twisted, describing the material's processed condition rather than an action being performed.
choshev ("skillful worker", H2803G) — qal participle, "the one who devises/plans," used substantively for a craftsman who designs intricate work.
ma'aseh ("work of", H4639G) — construct noun linking to choshev, forming the phrase "work of a designer," a technical term for skilled artistic labor.
'otam ("them", H0853 + H9038) — object marker with pronominal suffix, referring back to the cherubim just named, closing the sentence on the object produced.

What the text says

The sentence opens with the narrative verb vaya'asu ("and they made", H6213H), followed by the subject kol chakham-lev ("every skillful-hearted [one]"), itself qualified by a second construct phrase, be-'osei ha-melakhah ("among those doing the work", H6213J + H4399). This double construct structure emphasizes that the subject is not craftsmen in general but specifically those distinguished by skill within the larger workforce.

The direct object is et ha-mishkan ("the tabernacle", H4908), marked by the untranslated object marker 'et. The text then specifies materials: eser yeriot ("ten curtains", H6235 + H3407) made of shesh mashzar ("twisted fine linen", H8336B + H7806), joined by three colored materials — tekhelet ("violet stuff", H8504), argaman ("purple", H0713), and tola'at shani ("scarlet stuff of scarlet", H8438B + H8144), the last being itself a construct pair naming the dye source and its color. The verse closes with kerubim ("cherubim", H3742) as the design motif, described as ma'aseh choshev ("work of a skillful worker", H4639G + H2803G), and a second finite verb asah ("he made", H6213A, perfect) with the object suffix 'otam ("them"), shifting from the plural subject of the opening verb to a singular verb form referring to the individual artisan who executed the cherubim design.

Differences between versions

The Vulgate (VULCLEM) follows the Hebrew closely, listing the same materials and the phrase opere vario ("varied/skillful work") corresponding to ma'aseh choshev. The LXXSWETE text supplied here, however, refers to "all the skillful ones among the workers making the robes of Aaron the priest, as the Lord commanded," a content unrelated to curtains or cherubim, indicating that the LXX passage provided corresponds to a different portion of text than Exodus 36:8 in the Hebrew and Vulgate.

This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.