Exodus 39:2

Summary

The verse states that the ephod was made using gold, together with violet-blue, purple, and scarlet-dyed materials, combined with twisted fine linen. The sentence names the object made and then lists the five materials used in its construction.

Key words

• va-ya'as ("and he made", H6213H) — qal narrative verb, third-person masculine singular, continuing the sequential storyline of the construction account.
• ha-'efod ("the ephod", H0646) — definite noun marked as direct object by 'et (H0853), identifying the specific garment being fabricated.
• tekhelet ("violet stuff", H8504) — feminine singular noun naming one of the four textile/dye materials, listed without a conjunction before it.
• tola'at shani ("scarlet-stuff of scarlet", H8438B + H8144) — construct chain: tola'at ("scarlet-stuff of") governs shani ("scarlet"), a double term for the red dye material.
• mashzar ("twisted", H7806) — hophal passive participle, masculine singular, describing the fine linen (shesh) as having been twisted through a causative-passive process.

What the text says

The clause opens with the narrative verb va-ya'as ("and he made"), followed by the direct object marker 'et and the definite noun ha-'efod ("the ephod"). After naming the object, the Hebrew shifts into a list of materials — zahav ("gold"), tekhelet ("violet stuff"), argaman ("purple"), tola'at shani ("scarlet-stuff of scarlet"), and shesh mashzar ("twisted fine linen") — without any preposition indicating "of" or "with"; the materials are simply juxtaposed after the object, a construction typical of workshop-style enumeration in this section of Exodus.

The word shani ("scarlet") is grammatically in construct with tola'at ("scarlet-stuff of"), producing a compound expression for the red dye-stuff rather than two separate items. The final noun, shesh ("fine linen"), is qualified by mashzar, a hophal passive participle meaning "twisted" — grammatically indicating that the linen has undergone a twisting process, without specifying the agent.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew, describing the ephod's materials as a fixed list, differs sharply from the Septuagint text supplied, which speaks of a silver contribution (ἀργυρίου ἀφαίρεμα) and specific quantities of talents and shekels — content unrelated to the ephod's materials, reflecting a different verse alignment in the LXX Exodus tradition at this point. The Vulgate (superhumerale... de auro, hyacintho, et purpura, coccoque bis tincto, et bysso retorta) and the Spanish and English versions all render the five Hebrew material terms in equivalent sequence, with BSB notably framing gold, blue, purple, and scarlet as decorative "yarn" embroidered onto the linen rather than as parallel materials, a interpretive choice not explicit in the Hebrew's simple juxtaposition.