translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: EXO

label: NET translator note

text: Heb “and Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying.”


text: Heb “called by name.” This expression means that the person was specifically chosen for some important task (S. R. Driver, Exodus , 342). See the expression with Cyrus in Isa 45:3-4 .


text: Heb “and in all work”; “all” means “all kinds of” here.


text: The expression is לַחְשֹׁב מַחֲשָׁבֹת ( lakhshov makhashavot , “to devise devices”). The infinitive emphasizes that Bezalel will be able to design or plan works that are artistic or skillful. He will think thoughts or devise the plans, and then he will execute them in silver or stone or whatever other material he uses.


text: The expression uses the independent personal pronoun (“and I”) with the deictic particle (“behold”) to enforce the subject of the verb – “and I, indeed I have given.”


text: Heb “and in the heart of all that are wise-hearted I have put wisdom.” sn The verse means that there were a good number of very skilled and trained artisans that could come to do the work that God wanted done. But God’s Spirit further endowed them with additional wisdom and skill for the work that had to be done.


text: The form is a perfect with vav ( ו ) consecutive. The form at this place shows the purpose or the result of what has gone before, and so it is rendered “that they may make.”


text: Heb “all the vessels of the tent.”


text: Heb “and Yahweh said ( אָמַר , ’ amar ) to Moses, saying.”


text: Or “your sanctifier.”


text: This clause is all from one word, a Piel plural participle with a third, feminine suffix: מְחַלְלֶיהָ ( mÿkhalleha , “defilers of it”). This form serves as the subject of the sentence. The word חָלַל ( khalal ) is the antonym of קָדַשׁ ( qadash , “to be holy”). It means “common, profane,” and in the Piel stem “make common, profane” or “defile.” Treating the Sabbath like an ordinary day would profane it, make it common.


text: This is the asseverative use of כִּי ( ki ) meaning “surely, indeed,” for it restates the point just made (see R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax , 73, §449).


text: Heb “the one who does.”


text: “any” has been supplied.


text: Literally “her” (a feminine pronoun agreeing with “soul/life,” which is grammatically feminine).


text: This is an adverbial accusative of time, indicating that work may be done for six days out of the week.


text: The form is a Niphal imperfect; it has the nuance of permission in this sentence, for the sentence is simply saying that the six days are work days – that is when work may be done.


text: The expression is שַׁבַּת שַׁבָּתוֹן ( shabbat shabbaton ), “a Sabbath of entire rest,” or better, “a sabbath of complete desisting” (U. Cassuto, Exodus , 404). The second noun, the modifying genitive, is an abstract noun. The repetition provides the superlative idea that complete rest is the order of the day.


text: The expression again forms an adverbial accusative of time.