Numbers 3:37

Summary

Numbers 3:37 lists the equipment associated with the pillars surrounding the courtyard of the tabernacle: the pillars themselves, their bases, their tent pegs, and their ropes. The verse is part of an inventory of items entrusted to a specific Levitical family, continuing the enumeration begun in the preceding verses.

Key words

• 'ammudei ("pillars of", H5982G) — masculine plural construct, linking the pillars directly to the courtyard that follows.
• chatzer ("courtyard", H2691A) — singular common noun, the enclosed space whose perimeter the pillars support.
• saviv ("all around", H5439G) — adverbial noun indicating the pillars encircle the courtyard rather than standing at a single point.
• 'adnei ("bases of", H0134) — masculine plural construct with the 3rd person masculine plural suffix -hem ("their", H9028), showing the bases belong to the pillars just named.
• meitrei ("ropes of", H4340) — masculine plural construct, also carrying the suffix -hem, tying the ropes to the same set of pillars.

What the text says

The verse is built as a chain of construct nouns, each followed by the pronominal suffix -hem ("their," H9028), which repeatedly points back to the pillars ('ammudei, H5982G) introduced at the start. This construction creates a cascading list: pillars → their bases ('adnei, H0134) → their tent pegs (yetodam, H3489) → their ropes (meitreihem, H4340). Each item is grammatically subordinate to the pillars, showing that all four components—pillars, bases, pegs, ropes—form a single functional set associated with the courtyard's perimeter structure.

The word saviv ("all around," H5439G) modifies chatzer ("courtyard," H2691A) to specify that the pillars run along the entire circumference, not just one side. The repeated conjunction ve- ("and," H9002) before each noun creates a simple additive list without hierarchy among the items, though their sequence—pillars, bases, pegs, ropes—follows a logical order from the structural supports to the securing elements.

Differences between versions

No substantive divergence appears among the Hebrew, LXX, and Vulgate for this verse. The LXX renders meitreihem ("their ropes," H4340) with κόλους, and the Vulgate uses funibus ("ropes"), both corresponding to the Hebrew term for ropes/cords. The Vulgate compresses the list slightly with "cum basibus suis, et paxilli cum funibus" but preserves all four elements found in the Hebrew.