Exodus 40:7

Summary

Exodus 40:7 instructs the placement of the kiyyor ("laver", H3595) at a specific location — between the tent of meeting and the altar — and the subsequent placement of water in it. The verse uses two sequential perfect verbs to link two consecutive actions within a series of tabernacle-installation instructions.

Key words

• na.ta.Ta ("you will put", H5414H) — qal sequential perfect, second person masculine singular; appears twice (positions 2 and 14), continuing a chain of instructions begun in prior verses, each time introducing a new placement action.
• ki.Yor ("laver", H3595) — masculine singular noun, marked with the definite article ha (H9009) and the direct object marker 'et (H0853), identifying it as the specific object already known in the tabernacle context.
• bein ("between", H0996G) — construct form used twice (positions 6 and 10), each governing a following noun in construct chain, establishing the laver's position relative to two other named structures.
• 'O.hel ("[the] tent of", H0168G) construct + mo.'Ed ("meeting", H4150I) — construct pair forming "tent of meeting," the first reference point for the laver's placement.
• sham ("there", H8033G) — adverb specifying location, referring back to the kiyyor just positioned, before the second verb introduces the water.

What the text says

The verse is built on two parallel clauses, each opened by the narrative vav (H9001) attached to the verb na.ta.Ta ("you will put/place"). The first clause has the kiyyor as its direct object (marked by 'et, H0853) and specifies location through two paired construct phrases joined by "and": bein 'Ohel mo'ed ("between the tent of meeting") and u-vein ha-mizbeach ("and between the altar"). This double construct with bein creates a spatial triangulation, fixing the laver's position between two already-established structures rather than describing it in isolation.

The second clause repeats the same verb form na.ta.Ta, but now takes mayim ("water", H4325G) as its object, with the adverb sham ("there", H8033G) pointing back to the location just established. The repetition of the identical verb form for two different actions (placing the object, then placing water in it) creates a two-step procedural structure typical of the surrounding tabernacle-assembly instructions in this chapter, where each object is first positioned and then given its functional content or role.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew text of this verse concerns placing the laver between the tent of meeting and the altar, then adding water. The Vulgate (VULCLEM) reflects this same content: labrum inter altare et tabernaculum, quod implebis aqua ("the laver between the altar and the tabernacle, which you shall fill with water"), matching the Hebrew's spatial and procedural sense, though reversing the order of "altar" and "tabernacle" compared to the Hebrew's "tent of meeting... altar" sequence. The LXX text provided (LXXSWETE) describes a different content — anointing oil, anointing the tent and its contents, and consecration — corresponding to material found elsewhere in Exodus 30 rather than to the laver-placement instruction rendered in the Hebrew and Vulgate for this verse.