Exodus 38:7

Summary

The verse describes the insertion of carrying poles into rings attached to the sides of the altar, and states that the altar itself was constructed as a hollow object made of boards.

Key words

• yavi ("he put/brought", H0935P) — hiphil (causative) narrative form: someone causes the poles to enter the rings; the subject is unnamed here but referenced as "he."
• badim ("poles", H0905G) — masculine plural noun, definite by the preceding article ha, the object being inserted.
• tabba'ot ("rings", H2885) — feminine plural noun, the receptacles into which the poles go.
• laset ("to carry", H5375H) — qal infinitive expressing purpose: "in order to carry it."
• nevuv ("hollow of", H5014) — qal passive participle in construct form, meaning "hollowed out of," describing the altar's internal structure.
• luchot ("boards", H3871) — feminine plural noun, the material from which the hollow altar is made.

What the text says

The verse divides into two grammatical units. The first, introduced by the narrative va-yavi ("and he put"), describes a causative action: the poles (badim) are made to enter the rings (tabba'ot) that sit on the sides (tzal'ot, construct plural) of the altar (ha-mizbeach). The purpose clause la-set oto bahem ("to carry it by them") uses the infinitive set with a pronominal suffix ("it") and a plural suffix ("them," referring to the poles), clarifying the function of the rings and poles together.

The second unit shifts to a description of the altar's construction using a different verbal pattern: nevuv luchot asah oto ("hollow of boards he made it"). Here nevuv is a passive participle in construct relationship with luchot ("boards"), literally "hollow-of-boards," a construct phrase describing the material and internal emptiness together. The verb asah ("he made", qal perfect) closes the sentence, again with the object suffix "it" referring back to the altar. The construct chain nevuv luchot is compact in Hebrew, expressing in two words what other languages render as a fuller descriptive clause.

Differences between versions

The Vulgate renders the hollow construction descriptively: "the altar itself was not solid, but hollow with boards, and empty inside" (non erat solidum, sed cavum ex tabulis, et intus vacuum), expanding the compact Hebrew construct nevuv luchot into a fuller explanatory statement. The Hebrew text itself does not include the phrase "empty inside" as a separate statement — this appears to be an interpretive expansion in the Vulgate. The LXX text provided here (referring to cherubim on the mercy seat) does not correspond to this verse's content in the Hebrew, Vulgate, or modern translations, indicating a mismatch in the source material supplied for comparison.