Exodus 40:22

Summary

The verse states that someone (grammatically "he," understood as Moses from context) placed the shulchan ("table", H7979) inside the 'ohel mo'ed ("tent of meeting", H0168G/H4150I), positioning it on the north side of the mishkan ("tabernacle", H4908), outside the parokhet ("curtain", H6532).

Key words

• va-yiTen ("and he put", H5414H) — qal verb in narrative (vav-consecutive) form, marking a sequential action in the ongoing account of the tabernacle's assembly.
• ha-shulChan ("the table", H7979) — masculine singular noun with definite article, the object being placed.
• Yerekh ("side of", H3409) — feminine singular noun in construct state, meaning it must be followed by another noun ("side of the tabernacle") to complete its sense.
• tzaFonah ("north", H6828G) — feminine singular noun with a directional he (H9011) suffix, meaning "toward the north," indicating direction rather than mere location.
• mi-Chutz ("from outside", H2351 + H9006) — preposition + noun indicating spatial position relative to the parokhet, i.e., on the exterior side of it.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence follows a simple narrative chain typical of the tabernacle-construction account: verb (va-yiTen) + object (ha-shulchan) + location phrases stacked in sequence. The first locative phrase, be-'Ohel mo'Ed ("in the tent of meeting"), establishes the general space. The second, 'al Yerekh ha-mishKan tzaFonah ("on the side of the tabernacle, northward"), narrows the position using the construct noun Yerekh ("side of") linked to ha-mishkan ("the tabernacle"), then reinforced by the directional suffix on tzaFonah. The final phrase, mi-Chutz la-paRokhet ("from outside the curtain"), clarifies the table's position relative to the parokhet, without stating what lies on the other side of that curtain.

The directional he on tzaFonah is a grammatical feature that indicates motion or orientation toward a direction, contributing a spatial precision that a flat translation as "north" does not fully convey — it functions closer to "northward" or "toward the north."

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the object as τὴν λυχνίαν ("the lampstand") where the Hebrew has ha-shulchan ("the table", H7979). The LXX also gives the direction as πρὸς νότον ("toward the south") where the Hebrew has tzaFonah ("northward", H6828G). The Vulgate follows the LXX's object, "candelabrum" ("lampstand"), and its direction, "in parte australi" ("on the south side"), and further replaces the Hebrew's mi-chutz la-parokhet ("outside the curtain") with "e regione mensae" ("opposite the table").