Exodus 39:41

Summary

Exodus 39:41 lists the completion of three categories of priestly garments: the woven garments for service in the holy place, the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments for his sons for their priestly service. The verse uses repeated construct phrases with beged ("garment", H0899B) to itemize what had been made.

Key words

• big.Dei ("garments of", H0899B) — masculine plural construct form, appearing three times, each time linking "garments" to what follows (the woven material, holiness, or the sons); this construct chain structures the whole verse as a list.
• ha.Se.rad ("the woven material", H8278) — masculine singular noun with definite article, describing the type of fabric/work for the first set of garments.
• le.sha.Ret ("to serve", H8334) — Piel infinitive construct with prefixed le- ("to"), expressing purpose: the garments exist "in order to serve" in the holy place.
• ha.Ko.desh ("the holiness/holy place", H6944J) — masculine singular noun with definite article, used twice: once as location (ba.Ko.desh, "in the holy place") and once as a descriptor (big.Dei ha.Ko.desh, "garments of holiness").
• le.kha.Hen ("to serve as priests", H3547) — Piel infinitive construct with prefixed le-, parallel in form to le.sha.Ret, denoting the purpose of the sons' garments.

What the text says

The verse is built as three parallel noun phrases, each governed by the construct form big.Dei ("garments of," H0899B) followed by 'et- (H0853), the untranslated direct object marker signaling that these are objects previously commanded and now completed. The first phrase, big.Dei ha.Se.rad ("garments of the woven material," H8278), is followed by the purpose clause le.sha.Ret ba.Ko.desh ("to serve in the holy place," H8334 + H6944J), using a Piel infinitive to express intensive or dedicated service.

The second phrase, big.Dei ha.Ko.desh ("garments of holiness," H6944J), specifies Aaron's own priestly garments, distinguishing him by name ('a.ha.Ron, H0175) and title (ha.ko.Hen, "the priest," H3548). The third phrase, introduced by the conjunction ve- ("and," H9002), covers big.Dei va.Nav ("garments of his sons," H1121A with pronominal suffix), again followed by a purpose infinitive, le.kha.Hen ("to serve as priests," H3547). The repetition of the le- + infinitive construction (le.sha.Ret / le.kha.Hen) creates a grammatical parallel between the two purpose clauses, both from the same verbal root domain of cultic service, though H8334 is a general service verb while H3547 is specifically denominative from "priest."

Differences between versions

The Hebrew distinguishes ha.Se.rad ("the woven material," H8278) as a distinct term from ha.Ko.desh ("holiness," H6944J), naming two categories of garments. The BSB and SBLIBRE render this as "woven garments" versus "holy garments," preserving the distinction. The Vulgate (VULCLEM) compresses the phrase into "vestes... quibus sacerdotes utuntur" ("garments which the priests use"), not explicitly separating the woven-material term from the holiness term as the Hebrew construct chain does.