Exodus 37:10

Summary

This verse describes the construction of the table by Bezalel's workshop, specifying its material — shittim acacia wood — and its three dimensions: length, width, and height, each given in cubits. The verb form marks this as one action in a sequence of construction reports.

Key words

• va.Ya'as ("he made", H6213H) — qal narrative form (vav + imperfect), continuing the chain of "and he made X, and he made Y" that structures the whole construction account.
• shulchan ("table", H7979) — masculine singular noun, definite by the preceding article ha (H9009), marking it as a specific, already-known object (the table of the tabernacle).
• 'atzei shittim ("wood of acacia", H6086G + H7848) — construct chain literally "woods of acacia," specifying material rather than a separate clause.
• 'amatayim ("two cubits", H0520A) — dual form of 'ammah ("cubit"), inherently expressing "two" without needing a separate numeral word.
• 'orko / rachbo / qomato ("its length" / "its breadth" / "its height", H0753 / H7341 / H6967) — each a construct noun + 3ms suffix ("its"), grammatically binding each measurement directly to the table.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence is built as a single main clause introduced by the narrative verb va.Ya'as ("and he made"), with 'et-ha.shulchan ("the table") as its direct object, marked by the object marker 'et (H0853). The material, 'atzei shittim ("wood[s] of acacia"), functions almost adjectivally through the construct relationship, describing what the table is made of without a separate verb like "was."

The three measurements that follow are not full clauses either; each consists of a measurement noun ('amatayim, "two cubits"; 'ammah, "a cubit"; 'ammah va-chetzi, "a cubit and a half") followed by a construct noun with a possessive suffix — 'orko ("its length"), rachbo ("its width"), qomato ("its height"). This creates a compact structure literally rendered "two cubits [was] its length, and a cubit its width, and a cubit and a half its height," where the verb "to be" is implied rather than stated, a common feature in Hebrew nominal clauses. The dual form 'amatayim itself encodes "two cubits" as a single word, without requiring a separate number.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew text (TAHOT) matches the Vulgate (VULCLEM) and the English/Spanish translations (BSB, RV1909) closely in content, all giving the three dimensions in cubits (VULCLEM: cubitorum, cubiti, cubitum ac semissem). The SBLIBRE converts the cubit measurements into metric approximations ("casi un metro," "cuarenta y cinco centímetros," "casi setenta centímetros") rather than translating the unit 'ammah directly. The LXXSWETE text supplied here does not correspond to this verse's content; it describes court hangings and pillars (κλίτος, αὐλαῖαι, στῦλοι), reflecting the well-known differences in verse ordering and content between the Hebrew and Greek versions of the tabernacle construction account in Exodus 36–38.