Exodus 30:37

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

The incense which you shall make, according to its composition you shall not make for yourselves: it shall be to you holy for Yahweh.

World English Bible · Public Domain

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Word by word

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בְּמַ֨תְכֻּנְתָּ֔הּ

mathkôneth

H4971

“in/at · measurement · her”

Preposition + Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Construct + Suffix, Personal, 3rd Person, Feminine, Singular

Appears 5× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Exodus 5:8

Full BDB Definition

Origin: from H8505 in the transferred sense of measuring

TWOT: 2511c

measurement, proportion, tale - tale, tally (of bricks) - measurement, proportion

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

11: words
8: distinct lemmas
Pentateuch: section

Notable vocabulary

The rarest word here is בְּמַ֨תְכֻּנְתָּ֔הּ measurement H4971 — appearing just 5 times in the whole Hebrew Bible.

Shared distinctive vocabulary

בְּמַ֨תְכֻּנְתָּ֔הּ measurement H4971 occurs in 5 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Grammatical profile

3 verbs
4 nouns
2 prepositions
2 particles

Verb forms

תַּעֲשֶׂ֔ה Qal · Imperfect
תַעֲשׂ֖וּ Qal · Imperfect
תִּהְיֶ֥ה Qal · Imperfect

Repetition

A word recurs within this verse — often emphatic in Hebrew:

תַּעֲשֶׂ֔ה to do H6213 ×2

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 24 words from the Hebrew and 22 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — closely comparable.

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

In the original languages it is 11 Hebrew tokens and 13 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to Exodus 30:37 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Exodus 29:37 Seven days you shall make atonement for the altar, and sanctify it: and the altar shall be most holy; whatever touches the altar shall be holy.
Exodus 30:32–33 It shall not be poured on man's flesh, neither shall you make any like it, according to its composition: it is holy. It shall be holy to you.
Leviticus 2:3 That which is left of the meal offering shall be Aaron's and his sons'. It is a most holy thing of the offerings of Yahweh made by fire.

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew Exodus 30:37 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

וְהַקְּטֹ֨רֶת֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר תַּעֲשֶׂ֔ה בְּמַ֨תְכֻּנְתָּ֔הּ לֹ֥א תַעֲשׂ֖וּ לָכֶ֑ם קֹ֛דֶשׁ תִּהְיֶ֥ה לְךָ֖ לַיהוָֽה

The incense which you shall make, according to its composition you shall not make for yourselves: it shall be to you holy for Yahweh.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Exodus 30:37 Septuagint · lemma form

θυμίαμα κατά ὁ σύνθεσις οὗτος οὐ ποιέω σύ αὐτός ἁγίασμα εἰμί σύ κύριος

You⌃ shall not make any for yourselves according to this composition; it shall be to you a holy thing for the Lord.

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Targum (Aramaic paraphrase)

The Targum is the ancient Jewish Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Scriptures — an interpretive translation, not the Hebrew text itself. Onkelos (literal) and Pseudo-Jonathan (expansive) render the Torah, and Jonathan the Prophets. Coverage is partial: where no permissively-licensed English translation exists for a verse, only the Aramaic is shown. This is verse-level text, not a word-by-word alignment to the Hebrew.

Targum Onkelos Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)

וּקְטֹרֶת בּוּסְמִין דִי תַעְבֵּד בִּדְמוּתַהּ לָא תַעְבְּדוּן לְכוֹן קוּדְשָׁא תְּהֵי לָךְ קֳדָם יְיָ:

(no public-domain English translation for this verse)

Targum Onkelos — Aramaic: “Onkelos Genesis” (public domain); “Onkelos Exodus” (public domain); “Onkelos Leviticus” (public domain); “Onkelos Numbers” (public domain); “Onkelos Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “J.W. Etheridge. The Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan Ben Uzziel on the Pentateuch. London: Longmans, Green, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)

וּקְטוֹרֶת בּוּסְמִין דְּתַעֲבֵיד בִּדְמוּיָיהּ לָא תַעַבְּדוּן לְכוֹן קוּדְשָׁא תְּהֵא לְכוֹן קֳדָם יְיָ

And of the sweet incense thou shalt make, the like shall not be made among you; it shall be sacred to you before the Lord:

Targum Pseudo-Jonathan — Aramaic: “Targum Jonathan on Genesis” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Exodus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Leviticus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Numbers” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “The Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel, trans. J. W. Etheridge, London, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.

Commentary

Notes on Exodus 30:37 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Geneva Bible (1599)

Geneva Bible translators

Only dedicated to the use of the Tabernacle.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(37, 38) These instructions are similar to those given with respect to the holy oil (Exo_30:32-33). Neither of the two holy compounds were to be applied to any profane use.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

37. thereof] i.e. of the incense described in v. 34.

37, 38. Incense of this composition to be used exclusively in the service of Jehovah. Cf. v. 32 f.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Gill's Exposition

And as for the perfume which thou shalt make,.... As above directed:

ye shall not make to yourselves according to the composition thereof; that is, for their own use, for the scenting of their rooms, or to snuff up, or smell to, as in the next verse:

it shall be unto thee holy for the Lord; separated entirely for his service, to be burned upon his altar, and to be no otherwise used.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

The Pulpit Commentary

Vers. 37, 38. Ye shall not make unto yourselves, etc. None shall be made by any man for private use according to the same recipe, since the compound, as described, is "holy unto the Lord." If any man does so, he shall be "cut off from among his peoplei.e. , "put to death by the civil authority." (see Exo_31:14)

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

unfoldingWord translationNotes

Door43 World Missions Community

General Information:

Yahweh continues to tell Moses what the people must do.

you must not make any

The word "you" here refers to the people of Israel.

with the same formula

"with the same ingredients" or "with the same items." See how you translated this in Exodus 30:32.

It must be most holy to you

"You must consider it to be most holy"

perfume

This is a pleasant smelling liquid a person puts on his or her body.

must be cut off from his people

The metaphor "cut off" has at least three possible meanings. They can be expressed in active form: 1) "I will no longer consider him to be one of the people of Israel" 2) "the people of Israel must send him away" or 3) "the people of Israel must kill him." See how you translated this in Exodus 30:33. (See: Metaphor and Active or Passive)

translationWords

incense

holy

cut off

people group

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

Rashi

Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (Rashi)

במתכנתה means, according to the quantity of spices used by Moses.

‘קדש תהיה לך לה IT SHALL BE UNTO THEE HOLINESS FOR THE LORD — This means that you must not make it except in honour of My Name.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

Exodus, in the Pentateuch, opens this verse with 11 words (8 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is mathkôneth (“measurement”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

The word mathkôneth carries the sense “measurement.” How does it shape the verse?
How does Exodus 5:8, which shares the word «measurement», read alongside this verse?
What does the repetition of “to do” (2× in this one verse) do in this verse?
These translations render this verse differently. What is at stake in choosing one wording over another?
«תַּעֲשֶׂ֔ה» is a Qal Imperfect verb. How does that grammatical form shape the action described?
Compare how Geneva Bible (1599) and Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers read this verse. Where do they agree or differ?

Things to notice

This verse counts 11 Hebrew ↔ 13 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 12 words in this verse.
“to do” occurs 2× in this single verse.
8 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 11 words in this verse.