Exodus 39:12

Summary

This verse describes the third row of stones set in the high priest's breastplate: a leshem ("jacinth", H3958), a shevo ("agate", H7618), and an achlamah ("amethyst", H306). The clause identifies these three stones as belonging to ha-Tur ha-shelishi ("the third row", H2905/H7992).

Key words

• Tur ("row", H2905) — masculine singular noun with the definite article ha (H9009), marking it as a specific, already-established row within a series (rows one through four are enumerated across the passage).
• shelishi ("third", H7992) — masculine singular ordinal, agreeing with Tur in gender and number, fixing this row's position in the sequence.
• leshem ("jacinth", H3958) — masculine singular noun naming the first stone of this row; no verb accompanies it, the noun stands in apposition to the row.
• shevo ("agate", H7618) — feminine singular noun, the second stone; despite the gender shift from masculine leshem, it is listed in the same simple sequence.
• achlamah ("amethyst", H306) — feminine singular noun, joined by the conjunction ve ("and", H9002), closing the triad of stones.

What the text says

The Hebrew clause has no finite verb. It consists of a subject phrase, ve-ha-Tur ha-shelishi ("and the third row"), followed by three nouns in simple apposition: leshem, shevo, and ve-achlamah. The construction relies on juxtaposition rather than an explicit verb like "contained" or "had" — the three stone names simply stand next to the row designation, and the reader supplies the implied sense that these stones constitute that row. This paratactic style (naming without a linking verb) is typical of inventory-like lists in this chapter, where each row of the breastplate is described the same way: definite article + ordinal + list of three stone names.

Grammatically, the stones alternate in gender — leshem is masculine, while shevo and achlamah are feminine — but this has no bearing on meaning; Hebrew noun lists do not require gender agreement among items in a series. The final conjunction ve before achlamah ("and amethyst") signals the closing of the three-item list, a common pattern where only the last item receives an explicit "and."

Differences between versions

The Vulgate (In tertio, ligurius, achates, et amethystus) and modern translations (BSB, RV1909, SBLIBRE) follow the Hebrew's three-stone structure for the third row, differing mainly in the specific stone-name equivalents chosen (e.g., "ligurius" for leshem rather than "jacinth"). The Septuagint text supplied here (LXXSWETE) does not correspond to this verse's content at all — it speaks of "the remaining gold of the offering" used to make vessels for ministry, indicating that the LXX's verse numbering and content in this section of Exodus 39 diverges structurally from the Masoretic Text's arrangement of the breastplate stone list.