Exodus 40:19

Summary

Exodus 40:19 describes Moses spreading the tent over the tabernacle structure and placing its covering on top, in accordance with a command from Yehovah. The verse closes a sequence of construction actions with the standard formula affirming compliance with divine instruction.

Key words

• va-yifros — paras ("he spread out", H6566) — qal narrative form (vav + prefix conjugation), marking this as the next sequential action in the assembly narrative.
• ha-'Ohel ("the tent", H0168G) — masculine singular noun with definite article, referring to the outer tent structure distinct from the mishkan.
• ha-mishKan ("the tabernacle", H4908) — masculine singular noun with definite article, the structure over which the tent is spread.
• mikhSeh ("covering of", H4372) — construct-state noun, grammatically bound to ha-'Ohel ("the tent") that follows, forming the phrase "the covering of the tent."
• tzivVah ("he had commanded", H6680) — piel perfect of the intensive stem, denoting a completed authoritative act of command, here attributed to Yehovah (H3068G).

What the text says

The verse contains two main clauses joined by narrative vav (H9001), each reporting a discrete physical action: first va-yifros ("and he spread out", H6566) the 'Ohel ("tent", H0168G) 'al ("over", H5921A) the mishkan ("tabernacle", H4908); then va-yasem ("and he put", H7760H) the mikseh ("covering of", H4372) of the tent 'alav ("over it", H5921A + suffix) milemaʿlah ("from above", H4605 with directional he, H9011). The construct phrase mikseh ha-'ohel ("covering of the tent") shows that this second layer belongs specifically to the tent structure, not the tabernacle itself, distinguishing two architectural layers named separately in the Hebrew.

The final clause, ka'asher tzivvah Yehovah 'et-Mosheh ("just as Yehovah had commanded Moses"), uses the piel perfect tzivvah (H6680) to mark a prior, completed command, syntactically subordinated to the main narrative action via the relative particle ka'asher (H0834D). This formula recurs across the chapter, consistently pairing each construction step with a reference to a prior directive.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew names two distinct objects — ha-'Ohel ("the tent") and ha-mishkan ("the tabernacle") — and describes covering the tent with its own mikseh ("covering"). The LXX (Swete) instead speaks of bringing "the ark" (τὴν κιβωτὸν) into "the tent" (τὴν σκηνὴν) and covering "the ark of the testimony" (τὴν κιβωτὸν τοῦ μαρτυρίου) with "the covering of the veil" (τὸ κατακάλυμμα τοῦ καταπετάσματος), a different set of objects than those named in the Hebrew. The Vulgate similarly refers to bringing "the ark" (arcam) into "the tabernacle" (tabernaculum) and hanging "a veil" (velum) before it, diverging from the Hebrew's tent-over-tabernacle imagery. The Spanish and English translations (RV1909, BSB, SBLIBRE) follow the Hebrew structure, rendering "tent" and "tabernacle" as in the Masoretic text.