Exodus 39:36

Summary

This verse lists three cultic items completed for the tabernacle: the shulchan ("table", H7979), all its accessory vessels, and the lechem hapPanim ("bread of the presence/faces", H3899/H6440). The syntax is a simple enumeration using the direct object marker before each item.

Key words

• shulChan ("table", H7979) — masculine singular noun, marked by the definite article ha ("the", H9009), referring to a specific, already-known table.
• kol ("all", H3605) — construct form meaning "all of," governing the following noun to express totality of a set.
• keLav ("its articles/vessels", H3627) — masculine plural noun in construct with the pronominal suffix v ("its", H9023), meaning "its vessels" (i.e., belonging to the table).
• Lechem ("bread of", H3899) — masculine singular noun in construct state, meaning "bread of [something]," requiring a following noun to complete its meaning.
• paNim ("presence/faces", H6440) — masculine plural noun, definite by the article ha (H9009) attached, completing the construct chain as "the presence."

What the text says

The verse is built as a chain of three direct objects, each introduced by the untranslated marker 'et (H0853), which signals that a definite noun follows as the object of an implied verb (the making/completing of the tabernacle furnishings, carried over from the surrounding narrative). The first object is ha-shulChan ("the table", H7979), a single definite noun. The second object expands this with kol-keLav ("all its vessels", H3627), a construct chain where kol ("all", H3605) governs keLav, and the suffix v ("its", H9023) ties the vessels back to the table just mentioned — so grammatically the vessels belong to the table, not to some other referent.

The third object, introduced again by 'et (H0853) plus the conjunction ve ("and", H9002), is lechem ha-paNim ("the bread of the presence", H3899/H6440). This is a construct phrase: lechem ("bread of", H3899) is grammatically incomplete on its own and requires the following plural noun paNim ("presence/faces", H6440) to form the fixed expression. The article ha (H9009) attaches to paNim, making the whole construct phrase definite as a unit, a common feature of Hebrew construct chains where definiteness is marked on the final noun.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew text lists ha-shulChan ("the table"), kol-keLav ("all its vessels"), and lechem ha-paNim ("the bread of the presence"). The RV1909, BSB, and SBLIBRE all render these three items consistently with the Hebrew. The Vulgate text supplied here (candelabrum, lucernas, et utensilia earum cum oleo — "the lampstand, the lamps, and their utensils with oil") does not correspond to the same set of nouns found in the Hebrew of this verse; it names different objects (lampstand, lamps, oil) rather than the table and bread of the presence.