Exodus 39:11

Summary

The verse describes the second row of gemstones set in a structure (likely the high priest's breastplate, based on context), naming three stones: nofekh ("turquoise", H5306), sappir ("sapphire", H5601), and yahalom ("emerald", H3095). The sentence is a simple nominal list with no verb.

Key words

• ha-Tur ("the row", H2905) — noun with definite article, identifying the object being described (a row of stones).
• ha-sheni ("second", H8145) — ordinal number with definite article, agreeing with Tur to specify which row.
• nofekh ("turquoise", H5306) — masculine singular noun; the provided grammar marks it as construct form ("X of…"), though no following noun appears in this verse to complete the construct chain.
• sappir ("sapphire", H5601) — masculine singular noun, listed without conjunction before it, directly following nofekh.
• yahalom ("emerald", H3095) — masculine singular noun, joined by the conjunction ve ("and", H9002), closing the three-item list.

What the text says

The Hebrew clause has no finite verb; it is a nominal sentence functioning as a continuation of a larger list (verses enumerating rows of stones). The subject phrase ve-ha-Tur ha-sheni ("and the second row") stands first, followed by three stone names in apposition, identifying the contents of that row: nofekh, sappir, and yahalom. Only the last item is joined with the conjunction ve ("and"), a common Hebrew list pattern where earlier items are simply juxtaposed and the final item is marked with the conjunction.

The grammatical note marking nofekh as a construct form is notable: construct nouns normally link to a following noun to form a phrase like "X of Y," but here nofekh is followed directly by sappir, a separate stone name, not a noun it modifies. The data does not clarify a construct relationship between the two; they appear instead as sequential items in the list.

Differences between versions

The Septuagint text supplied for this reference (καὶ ἐποίησαν οἱ υἱοὶ Ἰσραὴλ...) does not correspond to the Hebrew content of this verse; it describes the Israelites acting according to the Lord's command to Moses, not a list of stones. This reflects the differing chapter and verse arrangement between the Masoretic Text and the LXX in this section of Exodus.

The Vulgate names the stones as carbunculus, sapphirus, and jaspis, differing from the Hebrew glosses "turquoise," "sapphire," and "emerald." Among the modern translations, nofekh is rendered "turquoise" (BSB), "esmeralda" (RV1909), or "turquesa" (SBLIBRE), while yahalom appears as "diamond" (BSB), "diamante" (RV1909), or "esmeralda" (SBLIBRE) — showing inconsistent identification of these two stones across versions, while sappir is uniformly rendered "sapphire/zafiro."