Exodus 39:8
וַיַּעַשׂ אֶת־הַחֹשֶׁן מַעֲשֵׂה חֹשֵׁב כְּמַעֲשֵׂה אֵפֹד זָהָב תְּכֵלֶת וְאַרְגָּמָן וְתוֹלַעַת שָׁנִי וְשֵׁשׁ מָשְׁזָֽר׃
✦ Hebrew interlinear
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✦ The same verse in five languages
וַיַּ֧עַשׂ אֶת־הַחֹ֛שֶׁן מַעֲשֵׂ֥ה חֹשֵׁ֖ב כְּמַעֲשֵׂ֣ה אֵפֹ֑ד זָהָ֗ב תְּכֵ֧לֶת וְאַרְגָּמָ֛ן וְתוֹלַ֥עַת שָׁנִ֖י וְשֵׁ֥שׁ מָשְׁזָֽר׃
καὶ ἐποίησεν ἐξ αὐτῶν τὰς βάσεις τῆς θύρας τῆς σκηνῆς τοῦ μαρτυρίου,
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
Fecit et rationale opere polymito juxta opus superhumeralis, ex auro, hyacintho, purpura, coccoque bis tincto, et bysso retorta:
También hicieron el pectoral, obra de un artesano experto. Lo hicieron con los mismos materiales que el efod: hilo de oro, y lino fino torcido de color azul, púrpura y escarlata.
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
Hizo también el racional de primorosa obra, como la obra del ephod, de oro, jacinto, y púrpura, y carmesí, y lino torcido.
He made the breastpiece with the same workmanship as the ephod, with gold, with blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, and with finely spun linen.
✦ What the text says
Summary
Exodus 39:8 describes the construction of the choshen ("breastpiece", H2833), made with the same craftsmanship as the ephod. The verse lists the materials used: gold, dyed threads (violet, purple, scarlet), and twisted fine linen.
Key words
- va-i-Ya'as — va ("and", H9001) + ya'as ("he made", H6213H): qal narrative verb, third-person masculine singular, continuing the sequential account of construction.
- Cho.shen ("breastpiece", H2833): masculine singular noun, the object being constructed, marked by the direct object particle 'et (H0853).
- ma'a.Seh cho.Shev ("work of a skillful worker", H4639G + H2803G): construct chain pairing an abstract noun ("work of") with a qal participle acting as a substantive ("one who devises/works skillfully"), describing the manner of craftsmanship.
- ke-ma'a.Seh 'e.Fod ("like the work of the ephod", H9004 + H4639G + H0646): the preposition ke ("like") introduces a comparison, repeating the construct noun ma'aseh to link the breastpiece's craftsmanship to that of the ephod.
- ma.she.Zar ("twisted", H7806): hophal passive participle, masculine singular, indicating that the linen (shesh, H8336B) was passively subjected to a twisting process — the grammatical voice marks the material as worked upon rather than acting.
What the text says
The Hebrew sentence opens with a narrative-vav verb, va-i-Ya'as ("and he made", H6213H), continuing a chain of construction reports typical of Exodus 36–39. The direct object is ha-Choshen ("the breastpiece", H2833), introduced by the object marker 'et (H0853), which itself carries no independent meaning but signals that choshen is the grammatical object of the verb.
The phrase ma'aseh choshev (H4639G + H2803G) is a construct chain literally "work of a deviser/skilled worker," using a qal participle functioning as a noun to describe the type of craftsmanship. This phrase is then compared, via the preposition ke ("like", H9004), to ma'aseh 'efod ("work of the ephod", H0646), establishing that the breastpiece shares the same construction technique as the ephod described earlier in the text.
The materials follow in list form: zahav ("gold", H2091), tekhelet ("violet stuff", H8504), 'argaman ("purple", H0713), tola'at shani ("scarlet stuff", construct chain H8438B + H8144), and shesh mashezar ("twisted fine linen", H8336B + H7806). The final word, mashezar, is a hophal passive participle — a causative-passive verbal form — indicating the linen underwent a twisting process, without specifying the agent.
Differences between versions
The Hebrew text (TAHOT) and the Vulgate (VULCLEM) correspond closely, both describing the breastpiece's construction with the same materials as the ephod. The LXX text supplied here (LXXSWETE) diverges entirely in content, describing instead the making of "the bases of the door of the tabernacle of the testimony" — a different subject matter not paralleling the Hebrew verse at this position, reflecting a differing arrangement of material in the Greek tabernacle-construction narrative at this point in the chapter.
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.