Exodus 38:11
וְלִפְאַת צָפוֹן מֵאָה בָֽאַמָּה עַמּוּדֵיהֶם עֶשְׂרִים וְאַדְנֵיהֶם עֶשְׂרִים נְחֹשֶׁת וָוֵי הָֽעַמּוּדִים וַחֲשֻׁקֵיהֶם כָּֽסֶף׃
✦ Hebrew interlinear
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✦ The same verse in five languages
וְלִפְאַ֤ת צָפוֹן֙ מֵאָ֣ה בָֽאַמָּ֔ה עַמּוּדֵיהֶ֣ם עֶשְׂרִ֔ים וְאַדְנֵיהֶ֥ם עֶשְׂרִ֖ים נְחֹ֑שֶׁת וָוֵ֧י הָֽעַמּוּדִ֛ים וַחֲשֻׁקֵיהֶ֖ם כָּֽסֶף׃
κα τοὺς διωστῆρας τῆς κιβωτοῦ καὶ τῆς τραπέζης ἐποίησεν, καὶ κατεχρύσωσεν αὐτοὺς χρυσίῳ.
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
Æque ad septentrionalem plagam tentoria columnæ, basesque et capita columnarum ejusdem mensuræ, et operis ac metalli, erant.
El lado norte también medía cuarenta y cinco metros de largo, con veinte postes sobre veinte bases de bronce. Los ganchos y las uniones de los postes eran de plata.
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
Y á la parte del aquilón cortinas de cien codos: sus columnas veinte, con sus veinte basas de metal; los capiteles de las columnas y sus molduras, de plata.
The north side was also a hundred cubits long, with twenty posts and twenty bronze bases. The hooks and bands of the posts were silver.
✦ What the text says
Summary
The verse describes the north side of the courtyard enclosure, specifying its length in cubits, the number of pillars and their bronze bases, and the silver fittings (hooks and bands) attached to the pillars.
Key words
- f.'At ("side of", H6285) — feminine singular construct noun, indicating this is the "side belonging to" the north, syntactically bound to the following word.
- tza.fOn ("north", H6828G) — feminine singular noun completing the construct phrase "side of the north."
- 'a.mu.dei.Hem ("pillars, their", H5982G + H9028) — masculine plural construct noun with 3rd person masculine plural suffix, meaning "their pillars," referring back to the courtyard structure.
- 'ad.nei.Hem ("bases, their", H0134 + H9028) — masculine plural construct with suffix, "their bases," paired with the number twenty and the material ne.Cho.shet ("bronze", H5178A).
- cha.shu.kei.Hem ("bands, their", H2838 + H9028) — masculine plural construct with suffix, "their bands," paired with Ka.sef ("silver", H3701G).
What the text says
The Hebrew sentence is built as a series of construct chains, each pairing a structural element with a possessive suffix meaning "their" (referring to the pillars): 'a.mu.dei.Hem ("their pillars"), 'ad.nei.Hem ("their bases"), va.Vei ha.'a.mu.Dim ("hooks of the pillars"), and cha.shu.kei.Hem ("their bands"). This repetitive construct pattern lets the text list components (pillars, bases, hooks, bands) tightly bound to the pillars they belong to, without needing separate possessive pronouns spelled out as full words.
The measurement me.'Ah va.'a.Mah ("one hundred by the cubit," H3967 + H0520A) states the length of this side as a hundred cubits, using the noun 'a.Mah ("cubit") with the definite article attached via the preposition va. ("in the"). The numbers 'es.Rim ("twenty", H6242) appear twice, first for the pillars, then for the bronze bases, showing a one-to-one correspondence between pillars and bases. The materials are stated as bare nouns functioning predicatively: ne.Cho.shet ("bronze") for the bases and Ka.sef ("silver") for the bands, without a copula verb, which is typical of Hebrew nominal clauses describing material composition.
Differences between versions
The LXX text supplied here (from Swete's edition) describes carrying poles (diōstēras) for the ark and table overlaid with gold — this corresponds to a different verse, reflecting the LXX's divergent internal ordering of the tabernacle construction chapters rather than a translation of this specific Hebrew verse. The Vulgate (Clementine) renders the passage more generally, stating that the north-side curtains, columns, bases, and column-heads matched the same measurement, work, and metal as previously described, without repeating the specific numbers "hundred," "twenty," or naming bronze and silver individually as the Hebrew does.
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.