Exodus 40:35

Summary

The verse states that Moses was unable to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud had settled upon it, and the glory of Yehovah filled the tabernacle. The Hebrew presents this as two linked facts: Moses' inability to enter, and the reason for it (the cloud's presence and the glory's filling).

Key words

• yakhol ("he was able", H3201) — qal perfect, negated by lo' ("not", H3808); expresses a completed state of capacity, here denied.
• lavo' ("to go/enter", H0935G) — qal infinitive with prefixed preposition la- ("to"), forming the purpose/goal of the inability: entering.
• shakhan ("it had settled down", H7931) — qal perfect; describes the cloud's action as a completed, resulting state (it had come to rest and remained).
• khevod ("glory of", H3519) — masculine singular construct, bound to YHWH, forming the phrase "glory of Yehovah" as the subject of the second clause.
• male' ("it had filled", H4390) — qal perfect; parallel in form to shakhan, marking a completed action with ongoing result.

What the text says

The sentence divides into two parts joined by ki ("for/because", H3588A), a subordinating particle that gives the reason for the first clause. The first clause negates Moses' ability (ve-lo' yakhol Mosheh) to perform the action expressed by the infinitive lavo' ("to enter"), directed toward 'ohel mo'ed ("tent of meeting", construct phrase, H0168G + H4150I). The second part, introduced by ki, gives two coordinated facts: the cloud (ha-'anan, H6051, with definite article) had settled (shakhan) "over it" ('alav, preposition + suffix "it/him"), and the glory of Yehovah (khevod YHWH, construct phrase) had filled (male') the tabernacle (ha-mishkan, H4908, marked by the direct object marker 'et, H0853).

All three main verbs — yakhol, shakhan, male' — are qal perfect forms. In Biblical Hebrew narrative, the perfect here does not merely mark past tense but presents these as completed, settled states: the cloud's resting and the glory's filling are treated as accomplished facts that explain the ongoing situation of Moses' exclusion. The construct chains 'ohel mo'ed ("tent of meeting") and khevod YHWH ("glory of Yehovah") each bind two nouns into a single referential unit, a feature not always visually distinct in translation.