Exodus 38:3

Summary

This verse lists the bronze utensils Bezalel (or the craftsman, unnamed in this verse) made for the altar of burnt offering: pots, shovels, bowls, forks, and fire-pans. The verse closes by stating that all these implements were made of bronze.

Key words

• va-Ya'as ("and he made", H6213H) — qal narrative verb, marking the main narrative action that opens the verse.
• kelei ("articles of", H3627) — masculine plural construct noun, meaning "vessels/utensils of," linking to ha-mizbeach ("the altar", H4196) to specify the category of objects.
• ha-Sirot ("the pots", H5518A) — feminine plural noun with definite article, the first item in the list of specific utensils.
• kol-kelav ("all its articles", H3627 + suffix) — construct phrase with 3rd person suffix ("its"), summarizing the list before the final statement.
• 'asah nechoshet ("he made bronze", H6213H + H5178A) — perfect verb followed by the material noun nechoshet ("bronze", H5178A), closing the verse by naming the metal used for everything just listed.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence is built around two verbal clauses framing a list. The first clause, va-Ya'as et-kol-kelei ha-mizbeach ("and he made all the articles of the altar"), uses the construct chain kelei ha-mizbeach ("articles of the altar") to introduce a general category before specifying its members. Each subsequent item — ha-Sirot ("the pots"), ha-Ya'im ("the shovels", H3257), ha-Mizrakot ("the bowls", H4219), ha-Mizlagot ("the forks", H4207B), ha-Machtot ("the fire-pans", H4289) — is marked with the direct object marker 'et (H0853, untranslated) and the definite article ha (H9009), and joined by the conjunction ve ("and", H9002). This repetitive syntax of object-marker + article + noun creates a formal inventory style typical of construction and dedication lists in this section of Exodus.

The verse ends with a second clause, kol-kelav 'asah nechoshet ("all its articles he made bronze"), which repeats the construct phrase kol-kelav ("all its articles") using a pronominal suffix ("its," referring back to the altar) rather than repeating "of the altar" explicitly. The verb 'asah (H6213H) appears here in the perfect form, summarizing the completed action, while nechoshet ("bronze", H5178A) stands as an unmarked predicate noun indicating the material — the Hebrew does not use a preposition ("of/in bronze") but places the material noun directly after the verb.

Differences between versions

The Vulgate renders the list with an added general phrase "vasa diversa" ("various vessels") not explicitly present as a separate item in the Hebrew text, before listing lebetes, forcipes, fuscinulas, uncinos, and ignium receptacula. The Hebrew construct phrase kol-kelei ha-mizbeach ("all the articles of the altar") functions as the category header, while the Vulgate's "vasa diversa" serves a similar but not identical summarizing role. The Septuagint text supplied here (from Exodus 38, LXXSWETE) corresponds to different material (rings and altar construction, not the utensil list), so no direct comparison of the utensil vocabulary can be made from the provided LXX excerpt.