Exodus 37:4

Summary

The verse describes the construction of carrying poles made of acacia wood, which were then covered with gold. The action is attributed to a single unnamed maker (grammatically "he"), continuing the narrative of the Tabernacle furnishings' construction.

Key words

• va-yya'as ("and he made", H6213) — qal narrative verb, simple past action, marking a new step in the construction sequence.
• badei ("poles of", H0905) — masculine plural construct, meaning it must be followed by another noun to specify "poles of X."
• 'atzei ("wood of", H6086) — masculine plural construct, likewise grammatically bound to the following word.
• shittim ("acacia", H7848) — masculine plural noun, the type of wood specified.
• va-ytzaf ("and he overlaid", H6823) — piel narrative verb, an intensive stem indicating a thorough or applied action (covering/plating), not merely a light touch.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence chains two verbal clauses with the narrative vav (H9001), a construction typical of Biblical Hebrew storytelling that marks sequential actions: first va-yya'as ("and he made"), then va-ytzaf ("and he overlaid"). The subject "he" is not named explicitly in this verse but is carried over from the surrounding narrative context, embedded in the verb form itself.

The phrase badei 'atzei shittim stacks two construct nouns in sequence: "poles of" (badei) governs "wood of" ('atzei), which in turn governs "acacia" (shittim). This chain of construct relationships is a common Hebrew way of building specific compound descriptions without needing separate prepositions — literally "poles-of wood-of acacia," rendered in English as "poles of acacia wood."

The second clause uses the direct object marker 'et (H0853, appearing here as 'otam, "them") to mark the poles as the object receiving the gold overlay. The verb ytzaf is in the piel stem, which in Biblical Hebrew often intensifies or applies the verbal action concretely — here, the act of plating with zahav ("gold", H2091), a singular noun used as the material substance covering the object.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew and Vulgate closely align: both describe poles (badei / vectes) made of acacia wood (shittim / lignis setim) covered in gold. The LXX (Swete) text given here, however, describes a different scene — pillars (στύλους) overlaid with gold, with golden capitals and silver bases — which does not correspond to the poles-and-acacia-wood content of the Hebrew verse in this citation.