Exodus 37:20

Summary

The verse describes the decorative elements on the shaft of the lampstand (menorah): four cup-shaped ornaments styled like almond blossoms, each bearing bulbs and flower-like petals. The syntax is a simple nominal list attached to the location "on the lampstand."

Key words

• menorah ("lampstand", H4501) — feminine singular noun, the object on which the ornaments are located, marked by the preposition va ("in/on the").
• arba'ah ("four", H0702) — cardinal number modifying gevi'im, specifying the quantity of cup-shaped elements.
• gevi'im ("cups", H1375) — masculine plural noun, the base term for the decorative units being described.
• meshuqqadim ("shaped like almond blossoms", H8246) — Pual participle, masculine plural; the passive-intensive stem indicates these cups are "made almond-like," describing a manufactured resemblance rather than natural growth.
• kaftorei ("bulbs of", H3730) and ferachei ("blossoms of", H6525) — both masculine plural construct nouns, each governing the suffix -ha ("its", H9024) referring back to the lampstand, forming possessive chains: "its bulbs" and "its blossoms."

What the text says

The verse opens with the conjunction u ("and", H9002) attached to the prepositional phrase va-menorah ("on the lampstand"), establishing the location before the subject is introduced — a common Hebrew word order placing locative information first. The core clause states that arba'ah gevi'im ("four cups") exist in this location, described by the participle meshuqqadim. This Pual participle form indicates that the cups were fashioned to resemble almond blossoms; the passive-intensive binyan suggests the shaping was done to the object rather than being an inherent quality, though the text does not specify by whom or with what tool.

The final two nouns, kaftorei and ferachei, are both construct forms bound to the same pronominal suffix -ha ("its"), referring to the lampstand. This construct chain structure — "bulbs of it" and "blossoms of it" — ties these decorative sub-elements directly back to the lampstand as their possessor, without repeating the noun menorah itself. The parallel construct forms with a shared suffix creates a compact grammatical unit describing components layered within the almond-blossom design: the cups, then within them or alongside them, bulbs and blossoms.

Differences between versions

The Vulgate renders meshuqqadim as "in nucis modum" ("in the shape of a nut"), differing from the almond-blossom imagery, and translates kaftorei / ferachei as "sphaerulae" ("little spheres") and "lilia" ("lilies") rather than "bulbs" and "blossoms." The LXX text provided for this reference does not correspond to the Hebrew content of Exodus 37:20 as given; the Greek text supplied describes Bezalel's work assignment rather than the lampstand's ornamentation, indicating a structural divergence in verse numbering or content arrangement between the Hebrew and this Greek witness at this point.