Exodus 37:25

Summary

The verse describes the construction of the incense altar by Bezalel (implied subject), made of acacia wood, with its dimensions given as one cubit long, one cubit wide (square), and two cubits high, and it states that the horns of the altar were made from the same material as the altar itself.

Key words

• va.Ya'as ("and he made", H6213H) — qal narrative verb continuing the sequence of construction reports in the chapter; the subject is unstated but understood from context as the craftsman.
• miz.Bach ("altar of", H4196) — construct form linking directly to ha.qetoret ("the incense", H7004), forming the fixed phrase "altar of the incense."
• 'a.Tzei ("woods of", H6086G) — construct plural noun governing shi.Tim ("acacia", H7848), the standard material designation used throughout the tabernacle construction texts.
• ra.Vu.a' ("square", H7251) — qal passive participle, describing the altar as a completed state of being squared, rather than an action performed on it.
• mi.Me.nu ("from it", H4480A + H9033) — preposition with pronominal suffix, introducing the clause about the horns' material origin.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence opens with the narrative verb va.Ya'as ("and he made"), governing the direct object marked by 'et, which introduces the construct chain miz.Bach ha.qetoret ("altar of the incense"). The material is specified through a second construct chain, 'atzei shitim ("woods of acacia"), a phrase used elsewhere in the tabernacle instructions for wooden furnishings.

The dimensions follow as a series of construct nouns with pronominal suffixes: 'orko ("its length"), rachbo ("its breadth"), and qomato ("its height"), each preceded by a cubit measurement ('ammah, 'ammah, 'ammatayim). The word ravu'a' ("square"), a passive participle, does not describe an action of squaring but a resultant state — the altar simply is square, without indicating who squared it or when.

The final clause, mimennu hayu qarnotav ("from it were its horns"), uses the preposition min ("from") with the perfect verb hayu ("they were") to indicate that the horns did not exist as separate attached pieces but originated from the same block of material as the altar body. This construction — preposition plus perfect verb — expresses material continuity rather than a manufacturing process.

Differences between versions

The Vulgate (VULCLEM) renders the dimensional clauses with "per quadrum singulos habens cubitos" ("having single cubits throughout the square"), which condenses the Hebrew's separate length/width clauses into one phrase, while the Hebrew keeps 'orko and rachbo as two distinct construct nouns. The SBLIBRE translation converts the cubit measurements into metric equivalents (forty-five and ninety centimeters), a interpretive addition not present in the Hebrew, LXX-style, or Vulgate wording, which retain the unit 'ammah ("cubit") without conversion.