Exodus 39:38

Summary

Exodus 39:38 lists four items among the tabernacle furnishings produced by the craftsmen: the gold altar, the anointing oil, the aromatic incense, and the screen for the entrance of the tent. Each item is introduced by the direct object marker, indicating these are objects being enumerated in a series, likely as items presented or accounted for.

Key words

• miz.Bach ("altar of", H4196) — masculine singular construct, forming a construct chain with the following word "gold" (za.Hav, H2091) to mean "altar of gold."
• She.men ("oil of", H8081) — masculine singular construct, linked to mish.Chah ("anointing", H4888A) to form "oil of anointing."
• ke.To.ret ("incense of", H7004) — feminine singular construct, joined to sa.Mim ("perfumes", H5561, plural) to produce "incense of spices/perfumes."
• ma.Sakh ("screen of", H4539) — masculine singular construct, beginning a double construct chain: "screen of the entrance of the tent."
• 'Et ("", H0853) — the direct object marker, repeated four times, syntactically marking each item as a direct object of an implied verb from the preceding context.

What the text says

The verse consists of a chain of four noun phrases, each preceded by the untranslated direct object marker 'Et (H0853). This marker signals that all four items function as direct objects of a verb located earlier in the passage (not included in this verse), most likely a verb of making or bringing, consistent with the inventory-style listing found in this chapter of Exodus.

Each item is expressed through a construct chain (smikhut), a Hebrew grammatical construction where one noun modifies another to form a compound sense, similar to "of" phrases in English. For example, miz.Bach ("altar of", H4196) plus za.Hav ("gold", H2091) yields "altar of gold." The final phrase extends this pattern further: ma.Sakh ("screen of", H4539) governs Pe.tach ("entrance of", H6607), which itself governs 'O.hel ("tent", H0168G), creating a double construct chain — "screen of the entrance of the tent." This layered construction allows Hebrew to build precise compound descriptions without additional prepositions.

The plural form sa.Mim ("perfumes", H5561) attached to ke.To.ret ("incense of", H7004) indicates that the incense is composed of multiple aromatic substances, rendered in translations as "aromatic" or "fragrant" incense.

Differences between versions

The Vulgate excerpt provided (VULCLEM) contains only the final clause, "et tentorium in introitu tabernaculi" ("and the tent covering at the entrance of the tabernacle"), omitting the first three items (gold altar, anointing oil, incense) that appear in the Hebrew text and other versions. The Spanish (RV1909, SBLIBRE) and English (BSB) versions render all four items consistent with the Hebrew construct chains, though English and Spanish use prepositional phrases ("altar of gold," "oil of the anointing") rather than Hebrew's construct state.