Exodus 37:17

Summary

The verse states that the lampstand (menorah, H4501) was made of pure gold, worked as a single piece of hammered metal. It then lists the lampstand's structural parts — base, shaft, cups, bulbs, and blossoms — and specifies that all of them came from the same block of material.

Key words

• va-yaas ("and he made", H6213H) — narrative form of the verb; opens the unit as part of the ongoing construction account.
• miqshah ("hammered work", H4749) — technical noun describing the metalworking technique, placed before the second occurrence of "he made" for emphasis.
• asah ("he made", H6213H) — perfect form here, marking the completed act of shaping the menorah as hammered work, distinct from the narrative verb opening the verse.
• yerekhah ("its base", H3409) — construct noun with 3fs suffix, first item in the chain of parts belonging to the lampstand.
• mimmennah hayu ("from it they were", H4480A + H1961) — prepositional phrase plus perfect verb, closing the list by stating that all parts originated from the same piece.

What the text says

The verse contains two clauses built on the same verbal root asah ("to make", H6213H). The first, va-yaas ("and he made"), is a narrative form that continues the account of the Tabernacle's construction. The second, asah ("he made"), is a perfect form placed after the noun phrase zahav tahor miqshah ("pure gold, hammered work"), which restates and specifies how the menorah was made — not simply "of gold" but through a particular technique, miqshah (H4749), meaning hammered or beaten work rather than cast or assembled construction.

The remainder of the verse lists the parts of the lampstand — yerekhah ("its base", H3409), qanah ("its shaft", H7070H), geviʿeiha ("its cups", H1375), kaftoreiha ("its bulbs", H3730), and feracheiha ("its blossoms", H6525) — each noun in construct form with a 3fs pronominal suffix (-ha, H9024) referring back to the menorah. This grammatical chain ties every component directly to the lampstand as a whole. The closing phrase mimmennah hayu ("from it they were", H4480A + H1961) uses a perfect verb to state that these parts were not separate attachments but derived "from it" — i.e., from the same single mass of gold.

Differences between versions

The Vulgate renders miqshah as ductile ("drawn out, malleable metal"), a term describing worked metal, close in sense to the Hebrew "hammered work." The Vulgate also renders the listed parts with Latin equivalents: calami ("reeds/shafts"), scyphi ("cups"), sphaerulae ("small globes," for kaftoreiha), and lilia ("lilies," for feracheiha), using the verb procedebant ("were proceeding forth") to express the Hebrew mimmennah hayu. The Greek text supplied here (LXXSWETE) does not correspond to this Hebrew content — it describes pillars, bronze and silver bases, and silver-covered capitals, indicating a mismatch in verse alignment between the Hebrew and the Greek text as provided, not a translational divergence of the same content.