Exodus 37:19

שְׁלֹשָׁה גְבִעִים מְֽשֻׁקָּדִים בַּקָּנֶה הָאֶחָד כַּפְתֹּר וָפֶרַח וּשְׁלֹשָׁה גְבִעִים מְשֻׁקָּדִים בְּקָנֶה אֶחָד כַּפְתֹּר וָפָרַח כֵּן לְשֵׁשֶׁת הַקָּנִים הַיֹּצְאִים מִן־הַמְּנֹרָֽה׃

Hebrew interlinear

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The same verse in five languages

Hebrew

שְׁלֹשָׁ֣ה גְ֠בִעִים מְֽשֻׁקָּדִ֞ים בַּקָּנֶ֣ה הָאֶחָד֮ כַּפְתֹּ֣ר וָפֶרַח֒ וּשְׁלֹשָׁ֣ה גְבִעִ֗ים מְשֻׁקָּדִ֛ים בְּקָנֶ֥ה אֶחָ֖ד כַּפְתֹּ֣ר וָפָ֑רַח כֵּ֚ן לְשֵׁ֣שֶׁת הַקָּנִ֔ים הַיֹּצְאִ֖ים מִן־הַמְּנֹרָֽה׃

Greek (Septuagint)

αὕτη ἡ σύνταξις τῆς σκηνῆς τοῦ μαρτυρίου, καθὰ συνετάγη Μωσῇ, τὴν λειτουργίαν εἶναι τῶν Λευειτῶν διὰ ’Ιθαμὰρ τοῦ υἱοῦ Ἀαρὼν τοῦ ἱερέως.

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

Latin (Vulgate)

tres scyphi in nucis modum per calamos singulos, sphærulæque simul et lilia: et tres scyphi instar nucis in calamo altero, sphærulæque simul et lilia. Æquum erat opus sex calamorum, qui procedebant de stipite candelabri.

Spanish

Cada uno de los seis brazos tenía tres copas en forma de flor de almendro, con su botón y su flor.

Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)

En el un brazo, tres copas figura de almendras, una manzana y una flor; y en el otro brazo tres copas figura de almendras, una manzana y una flor: y así en los seis brazos que salían del candelero.

English

There were three cups shaped like almond blossoms on the first branch, each with buds and petals, three on the next branch, and the same for all six branches that extended from the lampstand.

What the text says

Summary

The verse describes the decorative pattern on the branches of the lampstand (menorah): each of the two side branches carries three almond-blossom-shaped cups, each cup unit including a bulb and a flower, and the text confirms that this same pattern applies to all six branches extending from the central shaft.

Key words

  • ge.vi.'im / ge.vi.'Im ("cups", H1375) — masculine plural noun, repeated twice to describe the decorative vessels on each branch, three per branch.
  • me.shu.ka.Dim ("shaped like almond blossoms", H8246) — pual participle, masculine plural; the passive intensive form indicates the cups were manufactured/worked into this almond-blossom shape, not that they naturally grew that way.
  • kaf.Tor ("a bulb", H3730) and fe.Rach / Fa.rach ("a blossom", H6525) — paired masculine singular nouns joined by va ("and", H9002), naming the two ornamental sub-elements (bulb, flower) that accompany each cluster of cups.
  • she.shet ("six", H8337) — construct form ("six of"), grammatically binding the number to ha.ka.Nim ("the branches", H7070G) that follows.
  • yo.tze.'Im ("came out", H3318G) — qal participle, masculine plural, describing the branches as those "going out" or extending from ha.me.no.Rah ("the lampstand", H4501).

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence is built as two parallel clauses describing one branch each: "three cups, almond-blossom-shaped, on the one branch, a bulb and a blossom" (words 1–10), followed by an almost identical clause for the second branch (words 11–20), with only minor spelling/vocalization differences between the two occurrences of ge.vi.'im and me.shu.ka.Dim. This repetition mirrors the physical symmetry of the two branches being described.

The final clause, introduced by ken ("thus", H3651C) plus the preposition le ("for", H9005), functions as a summarizing generalization: it states that this same three-cup/bulb/blossom pattern applies "to the six branches" (le.she.shet ha.ka.nim), using the construct number she.shet to link directly to ha.ka.Nim ("the branches"). The branches are further specified by the participle yo.tze.'Im ("the ones going out"), describing them relationally as extending min ("from", H4480A) ha.me.no.Rah ("the lampstand"), rather than as a static list — the participle frames the branches by their spatial relation to the central stem.

Differences between versions

The Vulgate (VULCLEM) closely follows the Hebrew structure, rendering kaf.Tor as "sphærulæque" (little spheres) and fe.Rach as "lilia" (lilies), and preserves the "six branches" summary as "opus sex calamorum." The LXX text supplied here (LXXSWETE) does not correspond lexically to this Hebrew verse; it speaks instead of the "arrangement of the tabernacle of testimony" and the service of the Levites through Ithamar, reflecting the differing verse and chapter ordering found in the Septuagint's version of the tabernacle-construction section rather than a direct translation of this specific clause about the lampstand's branches.

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