Exodus 38:10

Summary

The verse describes construction details of the courtyard structure: twenty pillars ('amudei, H5982G) with twenty bronze bases ('adnei, H0134; nechoshet, H5178A), and hooks (vavei, H2053) and bands (chashuqei, H2838) made of silver (kasef, H3701G) belonging to those pillars.

Key words

• 'amudeihem ("pillars-their", H5982G + H9028) — construct plural noun with 3mp pronominal suffix, indicating the pillars belong to the structure being described (likely the court hangings from context).
• 'adneihem ("bases-their", H0134 + H9028) — construct plural noun with suffix, paired grammatically with 'amudeihem, showing bases correspond one-to-one with pillars.
• nechoshet ("bronze", H5178A) — feminine singular noun functioning predicatively, stating the material of the bases just named.
• vavei ha-'amudim ("hooks of the pillars", H2053 + H9009 + H5982G) — construct chain with definite article on the second noun, specifying which pillars the hooks belong to.
• kasef ("silver", H3701G) — masculine singular noun, predicative, naming the material for both the hooks and the bands mentioned just before it.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence is built almost entirely through construct chains and appended pronominal suffixes rather than full verbal clauses. 'Amudei-hem ("pillars-of-them") and 'adnei-hem ("bases-of-them") each carry the 3masculine plural suffix -hem (H9028), which ties the pillars and bases back to an antecedent structure mentioned earlier in the chapter (the court hangings). The numeral 'esrim ("twenty", H6242) is repeated after both nouns, giving a parallel count: twenty pillars, twenty bases, each stated separately even though the number is identical, which is a common feature of Biblical Hebrew list-style inventory texts.

The material terms nechoshet ("bronze") and kasef ("silver") appear without a copula, functioning as predicate nouns directly following the items they describe — a standard Hebrew construction where "X material" attaches to the preceding subject without needing "is/are." The final clause shifts from 'amudeihem (with a suffix) to ha-'amudim ("the pillars", with the definite article H9009 instead of a suffix), referring back to the same pillars but naming their hooks (vavei) and bands (chashuqeihem, again with the -hem suffix) as silver. This structure lets one sentence list four distinct components (pillars, bases, hooks, bands) with their respective counts and materials in a compressed, list-like syntax typical of the tabernacle construction inventories.

Differences between versions

The Vulgate (columnæ æneæ viginti... capita columnarum, et tota operis cælatura, argentea) and the Spanish/English translations follow the Hebrew inventory structure closely, matching pillars, bases, hooks, and bands with their respective materials. The LXX text supplied here (Swete) describes rings (δακτυλίους) and carrying poles (διωστῆρσιν) on a different object, not pillars, bases, hooks, or bands — indicating the LXX content for this position does not correspond to the Hebrew verse's subject matter, reflecting a broader difference in the sequencing/content of the LXX's tabernacle-construction section relative to the Masoretic Text.