Exodus 37:5

Summary

Exodus 37:5 describes the insertion of carrying poles (baddim, H0905G) into rings (taba'ot, H2885) attached to the sides of the ark, explicitly stating the purpose of this action: enabling the ark to be carried.

Key words

• vayyave ("he put/brought", H0935P) — hiphil (causative) wayyiqtol form; the causative stem indicates the subject caused the poles to enter the rings, not merely that they moved on their own; the narrative vav links this action to the preceding verses in sequence.
• baddim ("poles", H0905G) — masculine plural noun, functioning as the direct object marked by 'et (H0853).
• taba'ot ("rings", H2885) — feminine plural noun, governed by the preposition ba ("in the", H9003), indicating the location into which the poles were inserted.
• tzal'ot ("[the] sides of", H6763) — feminine plural construct form; being in construct state, it must be followed by a noun (here ha'aron, "the ark") to complete the phrase "sides of the ark."
• laset ("to carry", H5375H) — qal infinitive construct with prefixed lamed (H9005), forming a purpose clause: "in order to carry."

What the text says

The verse's grammatical backbone is a single wayyiqtol clause: vayyave ("and he put") governs the direct object et-habaddim ("the poles"), followed by two prepositional phrases specifying location — bataba'ot ("into the rings") and 'al tzal'ot ha'aron ("on the sides of the ark"). The construct chain tzal'ot ha'aron binds "sides" tightly to "the ark," so the rings' location is anchored specifically to the ark's structure rather than described independently.

The final element, lase't et-ha'aron ("to carry the ark"), is an infinitive construct clause expressing purpose or result. The Hebrew does not use a finite verb here but an infinitive, which grammatically subordinates the action of carrying to the main verb vayyave: the poles were inserted specifically so that the carrying could occur, without specifying who would perform it or when.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew text (TAHOT) and the Vulgate correspond closely: the Vulgate's "et quos misit in annulos, qui erant in lateribus arcae ad portandum eam" mirrors the sequence of poles, rings, sides of the ark, and purpose of carrying.

The LXX text provided (Swete edition) for this reference does not parallel the Hebrew content at all; it describes the curtain (katapetasma) of the tabernacle's entrance and its materials, rather than the ark's poles and rings. This reflects a difference in the ordering or numbering of material within the tabernacle-construction chapters between the LXX and the Hebrew textual tradition at this specific verse location.