Exodus 38:21

Summary

The verse identifies the inventory (peqûdê, H6485B) of the tabernacle, called "the tabernacle of the testimony," as a record made at the command of Moses. It specifies that the work involving the Levites was carried out under the authority of Ithamar, son of Aaron the priest.

Key words

• peqûdê ("expenses/accountings of", H6485B) — qal passive participle, plural construct; opens the verse as the noun governing the whole construct chain "accountings of the tabernacle."
• puqqad ("it was recorded", H6485A) — pual perfect, same root as peqûdê but in the intensive passive stem, marking a completed action: the recording had been carried out.
• 'al-pi ("on the mouth of", H5921A + H6310I) — preposition + construct noun pi ("mouth of"), an idiomatic phrase indicating command or authorization, here attached to Mosheh ("Moses", H4872).
• 'avodat ("service of", H5656I) — feminine singular construct, linking to halviyyim ("the Levites", H3881) to form "the service of the Levites."
• beyad ("by the hand of", H9003 + H3027H) — preposition + construct noun yad ("hand of"), idiom of agency, attached to 'Itamar ("Ithamar", H0385).

What the text says

The sentence opens with the demonstrative 'Eleh ("these", H0428) followed by peqûdê hammishkan ("the accountings of the tabernacle"), then a second construct phrase mishkan ha'edut ("the tabernacle of the testimony") that restates and specifies "the tabernacle" named just before. This doubling of construct chains (mishkan appearing twice, H4908) is a feature of Hebrew apposition, where a term is repeated to attach a further qualifier.

The relative clause 'asher puqqad 'al-pi Mosheh ("which was recorded at the mouth of Moses") uses the pual (intensive passive) of the same root that produced peqûdê, showing the text pairing a nominal form and a verbal form of one root to frame both the inventory itself and the act of recording it.

The final phrase, 'avodat halviyyim beyad 'Itamar ben-'Aharon hakohen ("the service of the Levites by the hand of Ithamar son of Aaron the priest"), is joined without an explicit connector to what precedes it. The Hebrew syntax leaves open how 'avodat halviyyim relates grammatically to the recording clause — whether it names what was recorded, or the sphere of activity under Ithamar's oversight.

Differences between versions

The LXXSWETE text supplied for this reference does not correspond to the Hebrew content of Exodus 38:21 (it speaks of bronze pegs of the courtyard), reflecting the well-known divergence in verse ordering between the Hebrew and Greek text of Exodus 35–40. The Vulgate renders 'avodat halviyyim as "in cæremoniis Levitarum" ("in the ceremonies of the Levites"), treating it as modifying the manner of recording. RV1909 renders it as purpose, "para el ministerio de los Levitas" ("for the ministry of the Levites"), while BSB reads it as designating Levites acting "under the direction" of Ithamar — each reflecting a different resolution of the syntactic ambiguity noted above.