Exodus 38:15

Summary

The verse describes the second side of the entrance to the courtyard (chatzer, H2691A), specifying that hanging curtains (qela'im, H7050B) of fifteen cubits stood "on this side and that side" of the gate, supported by three pillars and three bases, mirroring the structure described for the first side in the preceding verse.

Key words

• ka.Tef ("side", H3802) — feminine singular noun with the definite article and the ordinal she.Nit ("second", H8145), marking this as the counterpart to a first side already described.
• Zeh ("this", H2088) — demonstrative particle repeated in the pair mi.Zeh...u.mi.Zeh ("from this...and from this"), an idiomatic construction meaning "on one side and on the other."
• sha.'ar ("gate of", H8179G) — construct form linking directly to he.cha.Tzer ("the courtyard", H2691A), forming the phrase "gate of the courtyard."
• 'a.mu.dei ("pillars of", H5982G) — construct plural noun followed by the suffix Hem ("their", H9028), yielding "their pillars," referring back to the curtains just mentioned.
• cha.Mesh 'es.Reh ("fifteen", H2568 + H6240) — a construct numeral pair, literally "five-teen," modifying 'a.Mah ("cubit", H0520A).

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence opens with a prepositional phrase, ve.la.ka.Tef ha.she.Nit ("and for the second side"), establishing that this verse continues a description begun elsewhere for the first side of the gate structure. The phrase mi.Zeh u.mi.Zeh ("from this and from this") is a fixed idiom indicating two flanking positions relative to le.sha.'ar he.cha.Tzer ("to the gate of the courtyard"), a construct chain tying the curtains' placement directly to the entrance structure.

The numerical measurement cha.Mesh 'es.Reh 'a.Mah ("fifteen cubit[s]") follows the noun qela'im ("curtains", H7050B) without an intervening verb, a common feature of Hebrew measurement clauses where the number stands appositionally to specify length. The two closing clauses — 'a.mu.dei Hem she.lo.Shah ("their pillars, three") and ve.'ad.nei Hem she.lo.Shah ("and their bases, three") — use the construct-plus-suffix pattern (noun-construct + Hem) to indicate possession, meaning "the pillars belonging to them" and "the bases belonging to them," referring back to the curtains and their supporting structure.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew text describes the courtyard gate's second side, its curtains, pillars, and bases. The LXX (Swete) text provided for this reference instead describes lampstand branches (kalamiskoi) with three shoots extending symmetrically — content unrelated to the courtyard gate, reflecting the LXX's differing arrangement of tabernacle material in Exodus. The Vulgate inserts an explanatory clause, "quia inter utraque introitum tabernaculi fecit" ("because between the two he made the entrance of the tabernacle"), which is not present as a separate clause in the Hebrew but reflects the same underlying spatial arrangement implied by mi.Zeh u.mi.Zeh.