Exodus 39:17

Summary

The verse describes the attaching of the two twisted gold cords to the two gold rings located at the ends of the choshen ("breastpiece", H2833). This is part of the technical description of how the priestly breastpiece was assembled and fixed in place.

Key words

• yittenu ("they put/gave", H5414H) — qal verb, narrative form (vav-consecutive), indicating a sequential action: "and then they put/attached."
• shtei ("two of", H8147) — dual cardinal number in construct state, appearing twice in the verse (positions 3 and 9), each time governing the following noun ("two of the cords," "two of the rings").
• avotot ("cords", H5688) — feminine plural noun, referring to the twisted/braided cords already introduced earlier in the chapter.
• tabba'ot ("rings", H2885) — feminine plural noun, the fixtures to which the cords are attached.
• qetzot ("ends of", H7098) — feminine plural construct noun, specifying location: "the ends of" the breastpiece.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence is built around a single main verb, yittenu ("they put", H5414H), carrying the narrative vav that links this action to the preceding steps in the construction sequence. The object of the verb is shtei ha-avotot ha-zahav — literally "the two of the cords of-the-gold," i.e., "the two gold cords" — using a construct chain where shtei (H8147) governs ha-avotot (H5688), and ha-zahav (H2091) further specifies the material.

The verse then uses two prepositional phrases with 'al ("on", H5921A) to describe placement: first "on the two of the rings" (shtei ha-tabba'ot), then "on the ends of the breastpiece" (qetzot ha-choshen). This second phrase uses qetzot (H7098) in construct with ha-choshen (H2833), meaning literally "ends of the breastpiece." The repeated dual number shtei in both the cord-phrase and the ring-phrase creates a parallel structure, emphasizing that each of the two cords corresponds to one of the two rings, and both are located at the outer edges of the choshen.

Differences between versions

The Vulgate renders the cords as catenae ("chains") rather than as twisted cords, and speaks of uncinis ("hooks") at the corners of the superhumerale (the ephod) rather than tabba'ot ("rings", H2885) at the ends of the choshen itself — shifting both the vocabulary and the described attachment point compared to the Hebrew. The Greek text supplied for this reference does not correspond to the Hebrew content of this verse; it describes lamps and oil, indicating a mismatch in versification between the Hebrew and this LXX witness at this point in the chapter.