Exodus 31:5

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

and in cutting of stones for setting, and in carving of wood, to work in all manner of workmanship.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Highlights

1 first appearance in the Hebrew Bible

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וּבַחֲרֹ֥שֶׁת

chărôsheth

H2799

“and · in/at · carving of”

Conjunction + Preposition + Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Construct

Appears 4× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears here

Full BDB Definition

Origin: from H2790

TWOT: 760b

carving, skilful working

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

Notable vocabulary

The rarest word here is וּבַחֲרֹ֥שֶׁת carving H2799 — appearing just 4 times in the whole Hebrew Bible.

First appearance in Scripture

This word makes its first canonical appearance in the Hebrew Bible here:

וּבַחֲרֹ֥שֶׁת carving H2799

Shared distinctive vocabulary

וּבַחֲרֹ֥שֶׁת carving H2799 occurs in 2 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Exodus 35:33

Grammatical profile

2 verbs
6 nouns

Verb forms

לְמַלֹּ֖את Piel · Infinitive Construct
לַעֲשׂ֖וֹת Qal · Infinitive Construct

Repetition

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

וּבַחֲרֹ֥שֶׁת carving H2799 ×2

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 19 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.

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to Exodus 31:5 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Exodus 28:9–21 You shall take two onyx stones, and engrave on them the names of the children of Israel:

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 31:5 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

וּבַחֲרֹ֥שֶׁת אֶ֛בֶן לְמַלֹּ֖את וּבַחֲרֹ֣שֶׁת עֵ֑ץ לַעֲשׂ֖וֹת בְּכָל מְלָאכָֽה

and in cutting of stones for setting, and in carving of wood, to work in all manner of workmanship.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Exodus 31:5 Septuagint · lemma form

καί ὁ λιθουργικός καί εἰς ὁ ἔργον ὁ τεκτονικός ὁ ξύλον ἐργάζομαι κατά πᾶς ὁ ἔργον

and works in stone, and for artificers' work in wood, to work at all works.

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)

וּבְאָמָנוּת אֶבֶן טָבָא לְאַשְׁלָמָא וּבְנַגָרוּת אָעָא לְמֶעְבַּד בְּכָל עִבִידָא:

(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)

וּבְאַגְלָפוּת מַרְגְּלִיתָא לְאַשְׁלָמָא וּבְנַגָרוֹת קִיסָא לְמֶעֱבַד כָּל עִיבִידְתָּא

and in the cutting of jewels for their insetting, and in the carving of woods, to make all manner of work.

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 31:5 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 →

Trapp's Complete Commentary

John Trapp

Exo 31:5 And in cutting of stones, to set [them], and in carving of timber, to work in all manner of workmanship.

Ver. 5. And in cutting of stones.] Moses might well doubt where he should find fit workmen among those brick makers for Egypt.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Joseph Benson's Commentary

Exo 31:5. In cutting of stones — That is, in cutting and setting the precious stones, and in graving on them what God commanded. In carving of timber — Rather in cutting of timber, as the same word is rendered in the beginning of the verse; for we do not read of any carved work about the tabernacle.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 5. In cutting of stones, &c.] Every thing that concerned the lapidary's, jeweller's, and carver's art.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

5. for setting] See Exo_25:7, Exo_28:17; Exo_28:20.

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 in cutting of stones to set them,.... Not of marble stones, or of any common stones used in building, and the cutting and hewing of them to be laid therein, for of those there was no use in the tabernacle; but of precious stones, and the cutting of them, and setting of them in their ouches or enclosures, as the onyx stones on the shoulders of the high priest, and the twelve precious stones in his breastplate: Bezaleel was taught by the Spirit of God the art of jewelling, and instructed others in it:

and in carving of timber; or rather, "in cutting timber" (o); for it is the same word as before, for we have no account of any carved work in the tabernacle; and therefore this must design the work of carpenters and joiners in cutting the shittim wood, making planks and boards of it, and of them the sides of the tabernacle, jointed into sockets; the ark of the testimony, the shewbread table, and altar of incense, which were of timber, and the workmanship of such persons:

to work in all manner of workmanship; in all other manufactories; as spinning, weaving, embroidery, dying various colours, compounding ointment, perfume, &c.

(o) "in fabrefactione ligni", Montanus; so Tigurine version.

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

Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

Marble and (or) precious stones. Marble was not used in the tabernacle. (Calmet)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

The Pulpit Commentary

In cutting of stonesi.e. , "in Genesis-curling." The fabric of the tabernacle was entirely of metal, cloth, and wood. In carving of timber. Rather "cutting." The word is the same as that used of the stones. And no ornamental "carving" of the woodwork was prescribed.

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

Rashi

Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (Rashi)

ובחרשת denotes artisanship generally, as (Isaiah 40:20) “a clever artisan (חרש חכם)”. Onkelos, however, more closely defines the term each time it occurs in this verse and varies the definition he gives of them: the first he renders by אמנות and the second by נגרות, because the lapidary is called in Aramaic אמן, whilst the worker in wood is called נגר, and he therefore uses the abstract forms of these nouns to specify the particular kind of artisanship here intended.

למלאת TO SET IN — i. e. to put it into its setting, so as to fill it in (למלאת) by making the setting according to the size of the bottom of the stones and its thickness.

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

Discussion questions

How does “carving” (chărôsheth) shape what this verse is saying?
This is the first place “carving” appears in Scripture (first appears here). What does its debut here establish?
How does Exodus 35:33, which shares the word «carving», read alongside this verse?
What does the repetition of “carving” (2× in this one verse) do in this verse?
These translations render this verse differently; the difference is in the English rendering, not the original. What questions does that raise?
«לְמַלֹּ֖את» is a Piel Infinitive Construct verb. How does that grammatical form shape the action described?
Compare how Trapp's Complete Commentary and Joseph Benson's Commentary read this verse. Where do they agree or differ?

Things to notice

1 word makes its first canonical appearance in Scripture here.
These translations choose different wording for 12 words in this verse.
“carving” occurs 2× in this single verse.
7 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 8 words in this verse.