Exodus 40:33

Summary

The verse narrates the completion of the tabernacle's setup: Moses erects the courtyard surrounding the tabernacle and altar, hangs the screen at the courtyard's entrance, and thereby finishes the assigned work.

Key words

• va-yaKem ("he set up", H6965H) — hiphil narrative form; the causative stem indicates Moses caused the courtyard structure to stand, continuing the narrative chain begun with "and."
• chaTzer ("courtyard", H2691A) — common-gender singular noun, appearing twice (as direct object and again in construct with "gate"), marking the enclosed space around the tabernacle.
• maSakh ("screen of", H4539) — masculine singular noun in construct state, meaning it must be linked to the following word ("gate"), forming "screen of the gate."
• va-yiTen ("he put", H5414H) — qal narrative form; a simple (non-intensive) action verb describing the placement of the screen.
• va-yeKhal ("he finished", H3615G) — piel narrative form; the intensive stem emphasizes the completive, decisive nature of finishing the melaKhah ("work", H4399), the feminine noun denoting the labor/task as a whole.

What the text says

The verse is built from three sequential narrative clauses, each introduced by the vav-consecutive pattern ("and...then"): va-yaKem ("he set up"), va-yiTen ("he put"), and va-yeKhal ("he finished"). This chaining signals a straightforward temporal sequence of completed actions performed by one subject, Moses, who is named explicitly only in the final clause (moSheh, H4872).

The direct object marker 'et (H0853) appears three times, marking each grammatical object precisely: the courtyard, the screen of the gate, and the work. The construct chain maSakh Sha'ar he-chaTzer ("screen of the gate of the courtyard") stacks three nouns in sequence, each governing the next, producing a compact genitive structure that a single-word gloss cannot replicate — it specifies not just "a screen" but the particular screen belonging to the particular gate belonging to the particular courtyard.

The final verb, va-yeKhal (piel of H3615), carries an intensive nuance beyond simple ending — it marks the deliberate, effective completion of the melaKhah ("work"), the same term used elsewhere for the entirety of the tabernacle's construction task.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew text of this verse (courtyard setup, screen placement, completion of the work) corresponds to the RV1909, SBLIBRE, and BSB renderings, which follow the same three-part sequence. The VULCLEM text supplied here does not match this content; instead it describes Moses unable to enter the tent because of the cloud and the Lord's glory — content that in other traditions appears in the following verses of this chapter. This reflects a difference in verse alignment/numbering between the Vulgate text given and the Hebrew verse under analysis, rather than a translation of the same wording.