Exodus 37:23

Summary

This verse continues the description of the golden lampstand's accessories, stating that the craftsman made its seven lamps, its tongs, and its fire-pans, all of pure gold. The verb and all objects are grammatically tied to a feminine antecedent (the lampstand) mentioned earlier in the passage.

Key words

• va-i.Ya.'as ("he made", H6213H) — qal narrative form continuing the sequence of actions describing the construction of the tabernacle furnishings.
• ne.ro.Tei.ha ("its lamps", H5216A) — feminine plural noun in construct form with the pronominal suffix ha ("her/its"), linking the lamps possessively to the lampstand.
• shiv.'Ah ("seven", H7651) — cardinal number specifying the quantity of lamps, placed after the noun it modifies, a common Hebrew word order.
• mal.ka.Chei.ha ("its tongs", H4457) — masculine dual noun in construct, indicating a paired instrument, also suffixed with ha.
• za.Hav ta.Hor ("pure gold", H2091 + H2889) — noun-adjective pair placed at the end of the verse, describing the material of all three items listed.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence has a single verb, va-i.Ya.'as ("and he made", H6213H), governing three coordinated direct objects: nerotei-ha ("its lamps", H5216A), malqachei-ha ("its tongs", H4457), and machtotei-ha ("its fire-pans", H4289). Each object noun carries the same pronominal suffix ha ("her/its", H9024), a feminine singular suffix referring back to the lampstand (a feminine noun) described in the surrounding verses, not repeated within this verse itself. This suffix structure shows that all listed items belong to, or are attached to, that single object.

The phrase zahav tahor ("pure gold", H2091 + H2889) stands at the very end of the verse, after all three objects have been listed. In Hebrew syntax, this final phrase functions as a material description applying retroactively to all three nouns — the lamps, the tongs, and the fire-pans are each made of the same zahav tahor. This placement differs from English or Spanish word order, where the material is often stated once at the start or end but the connection to each item is made explicit through translation choices rather than through Hebrew's economy of a single trailing modifier.

Differences between versions

The Vulgate (VULCLEM) expands the description of the fire-pans with an explanatory clause not present in the Hebrew: "vasa ubi ea, quæ emuncta sunt, extinguantur" ("vessels where the trimmed material is extinguished"), interpreting the function of machtotei-ha ("its fire-pans", H4289) rather than simply naming the object as the Hebrew does. The English (BSB) and Spanish (RV1909, SBLIBRE) translations render malqachei-ha (H4457) variably as "wick trimmers," "despabiladeras," or "tijeras para las mechas," reflecting different construals of the dual-form tool's exact function, though the Hebrew term itself does not specify the trimming action explicitly.