Exodus 39:1

Summary

The verse states that from techelet ("violet stuff", H8504), argaman ("purple", H713), and tola'at hashani ("scarlet stuff", H8438B/H8144), the craftsmen made the woven garments used for service in the holy place, and then made the holy garments belonging to Aaron, following the command Yehovah gave to Moses.

Key words

• techelet ("violet stuff", H8504) — feminine singular noun, one of three dyed materials listed at the head of the sentence, fronted before the verb.
• tola'at ("[the] scarlet stuff of", H8438B) — construct form linking directly to ha-shani ("the scarlet", H8144), forming a construct chain naming the third dye material.
• asu ("they made", H6213H) — qal perfect, 3rd person plural, describing the completed act of making the service garments; this verb is repeated later in a different form.
• vayya'asu ("and they made", H6213H) — same root as above but in the narrative (vav-consecutive) form, marking the next event in the sequence: making the specifically holy garments for Aaron.
• tzivah ("he had commanded", H6680) — piel perfect, 3rd person masculine singular, referring to Yehovah's prior command to Moses, closing the verse with a reference back to instruction.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence opens with the three dye materials fronted before the verb (u-min-ha-techelet ve-ha-argaman ve-tola'at ha-shani), which places emphasis on the raw materials as the topic before stating what was done with them. The first verb, asu ("they made", H6213H, qal perfect), describes production of bigdei-serad ("garments of woven material", H899B + H8278) intended le-sharet ("to serve", H8334, piel infinitive) ba-qodesh ("in the holy place", H6944J). The sentence then shifts to a second clause introduced by the narrative vav on vayya'asu ("and they made", H6213H), which sequences a further action: making bigdei ha-qodesh ("the garments of holiness", H899B + H6944J) that belong to Aaron (asher le-Aharon, using the relative particle H834A). The repetition of the same verbal root asah ("to make", H6213H) in two different grammatical forms — perfect and narrative — distinguishes the general production of ministry garments from the specific production of Aaron's holy garments, without changing the underlying verb. The verse closes with a formula using ka'asher ("just as", H834D) and tzivah ("he had commanded", H6680, piel perfect), attributing the entire process to a command from Yehovah (H3068G) to Mosheh ("Moses", H4872).

Differences between versions

The Vulgate lists four materials — "hyacintho... purpura, vermiculo ac bysso" — including bysso ("fine linen"), a fourth item not present among the three materials given in this Hebrew word list (techelet, argaman, tola'at hashani). The LXX text provided for this verse describes an amount of gold ("Πᾶν τὸ χρυσίον... εἴκοσι τάλαντα...") rather than the dyed materials and garment-making described in the Hebrew, reflecting a different verse content at this point in the Greek text.