Exodus 30:5

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

You shall make the poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold.

World English Bible · Public Domain

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שִׁטִּ֑ים

shiṭṭâh

H7848

“acacia trees”

Noun, Common, Feminine, Plural, Absolute

Appears 28× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Exodus 25:5

Full BDB Definition

Origin: meaning the sticks of wood [from the same as H7850 ]

TWOT: 2371

acacia tree, acacia wood

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 →

8: words
7: distinct lemmas
Pentateuch: section

Shared distinctive vocabulary

שִׁטִּ֑ים acacia tree H7848 occurs in 28 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Grammatical profile

2 verbs
4 nouns
2 particles

Verb forms

וְעָשִׂ֥יתָ Qal · Sequential Perfect
וְצִפִּיתָ֥ Piel · Sequential Perfect

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 13 words from the Hebrew and 15 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 8 Hebrew tokens and 10 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 30:5 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Exodus 25:13 You shall make poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold.
Exodus 25:27 the rings shall be close to the rim, for places for the poles to carry the table.

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 30:5 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

וְעָשִׂ֥יתָ אֶת הַבַּדִּ֖ים עֲצֵ֣י שִׁטִּ֑ים וְצִפִּיתָ֥ אֹתָ֖ם זָהָֽב

You shall make the poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Exodus 30:5 Septuagint · lemma form

καί ποιέω σκυτάλη ἐκ ξύλον ἄσηπτος καί καταχρυσόω αὐτός χρυσίον

And you shall make the staves of incorruptible wood, and shall gild them with gold.

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)

וְתַעְבֵּד יָת אֲרִיחַיָא דְאָעֵי שִׁטִין וְתַחֲפֵי יָתְהוֹן דַהֲבָא:

(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)

וְתַעֲבֵיד יַת אֲרִיחַיָא דְקִיסֵי שִׁיטָא וְתַחֲפֵי יַתְהוֹן דַּהֲבָא

And thou shalt make the staves of sitta wood, and cover them with gold.

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 30:5 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 →

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

5. Cf. Exo_25:13; Exo_25:28, Exo_27:6.

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 thou shalt make the staves of shittim wood,.... Of the same wood the altar itself was made:

and overlay them with gold; as that was; these rings and staves may be an emblem of the precious ordinances of Christ, in which he grants his presence; and where he is held forth in different ages and places as the interceding high priest of his people, their advocate with the Father, pleading continually his propitiatory sacrifice in their favour.

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

The staves were to be of acacia wood, overlaid with gold, like those used for carrying the ark (Exo_25:13) and the table of shewbread (ib, 28).

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

Scofield Reference Notes

C. I. Scofield

shittim

i.e. acacia.

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — 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.

ark of the testimony

The ark is the chest that contains the commandments. This can be stated clearly in the translation. See how you translated this in Exodus 26:33. AT: "the chest containing the commandments" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

atonement lid

This is the lid that sits on top of the ark where the atonement offering was made. See how you translated this in Exodus 25:17.

where I will meet with you

Here "you" refers to Moses. (See: Forms of You)

translationWords

acacia

gold

altar of incense

ark of the covenant

atonement lid

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

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 8 words (7 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is shiṭṭâh (“acacia tree”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

What does “acacia tree” (shiṭṭâh) contribute to the verse as a whole?
Exodus 25:5 shares the word «acacia tree» with this verse. How do the two illuminate each other?
These translations render this verse differently. What is at stake in choosing one wording over another?
The verb «וְעָשִׂ֥יתָ» is Qal Sequential Perfect. How does its form color the action?
Reading how The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges and John Gill's Exposition read this verse, where do the two commentators agree and where do they part?

Things to notice

This verse counts 8 Hebrew ↔ 10 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 7 words in this verse.
7 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 8 words in this verse.