Exodus 36:20

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

He made the boards for the tent of acacia wood, standing up.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Highlights

Septuagint runs longer here — compare

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שִׁטִּ֖ים

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 →

7: words
7: distinct lemmas
Pentateuch: section

Shared distinctive vocabulary

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

Grammatical profile

2 verbs
4 nouns
1 particle

Verb forms

וַיַּ֥עַשׂ Qal · Sequential Imperfect
עֹמְדִֽים Qal · Participle Active

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 12 words from the Hebrew and 19 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — the Septuagint runs noticeably longer here. See the side-by-side →

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 36:20 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Exodus 25:5 rams' skins dyed red, sea cow hides, acacia wood,
Exodus 25:10 "They shall make an ark of acacia wood. Its length shall be two and a half cubits, its breadth a cubit and a half, and a cubit and a half its height.
Exodus 26:15–29 "You shall make the boards for the tent of acacia wood, standing up.
Exodus 40:18–19 Moses raised up the tent, and laid its sockets, and set up the boards of it, and put in the bars of it, and raised up its pillars.
Numbers 25:1 Israel abode in Shittim; and the people began to play the prostitute with the daughters of Moab:
Deuteronomy 10:3 So I made an ark of acacia wood, and hewed two tables of stone like the first, and went up onto the mountain, having the two tables in my hand.

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.

Here the Septuagint runs noticeably longer than the Hebrew — LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) 19 words vs World English Bible 12. A rough length comparison of the two English translations, not a word-level alignment — read both below.

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

Hebrew Exodus 36:20 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

וַיַּ֥עַשׂ אֶת הַקְּרָשִׁ֖ים לַמִּשְׁכָּ֑ן עֲצֵ֥י שִׁטִּ֖ים עֹמְדִֽים

He made the boards for the tent of acacia wood, standing up.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Exodus 36:20 Septuagint · lemma form

καί ὁ στίχος ὁ τέταρτος χρυσόλιθος καί βηρύλλιον καί ὀνύχιον περικυκλόω χρυσίον καί συνδέω χρυσίον

and the fourth row a chrysolite and beryl and onyx set round about with gold, and fastened 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)

וַעֲבַד יָת דַפַּיָא לְמַשְׁכְּנָא דְאָעֵי שִׁטִין קָיְמִין:

(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)

וַעֲבַד יַת לוּחַיָא לְמַשְׁכְּנָא מִן קִיסֵי שִׁיטָא קַיְימִין הֵי כְאוֹרַח נְצִיבְהוֹן

And he made the boards of the tabernacle of sitta wood, standing up, after the way of their plantation;

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 36:20 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 →

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(20-34) After the construction of the roof, that of the walls is described, the order of Exodus 26 being still followed. Exo_36:20-34 correspond to Exo_36:15-29 of Exodus 26. The correspondence is closer than would appear from the Authorised Version.

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

unfoldingWord translationNotes

Door43 World Missions Community

Bezalel made ... for the south side

For Exo 36:20-23 see how you translated many of these words in Exodus 26:15-18.

ten cubits ... one and a half cubits

"10 cubits ... 1.5 cubits" (See: Biblical Distance and Numbers and Fractions)

two wooden pegs for joining

A wooden peg is a small piece of wood sticking out beyond the end of the board so it can be secured.

translationWords

acacia

tabernacle

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

Geneva Bible (1599)

Geneva Bible translators

And to bear up the curtains of the Tabernacle.

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

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 20. And he made boards] See Clarke on Ex 26:15, &c.

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

20. the tabernacle] the Dwelling. So vv. 22, 23, &c.

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.

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.

Kretzmann's Popular Commentary

Paul E. Kretzmann

The Framework and the Veils

v. 20. And he made boards (planks) for the Tabernacle of shittim wood, standing up, strong and durable.

v. 21. The length of a board was ten cubits and the breadth of a board one cubit and a half.

v. 22. One board had two tenons, equally distant one from another. Thus did he make for all the boards of the Tabernacle.

v. 23. And he made boards for the Tabernacle; twenty boards for the south side southward;

v. 24. and forty sockets of silver he made under the twenty boards: two sockets under one board for his two tenons and two sockets under another board for his two tenons. The tenons, fitting exactly in the sockets of the bases, held the planks upright.

v. 25. And for the other side of the Tabernacle, which is toward the north corner, he made twenty boards,

v. 26. and their forty sockets of silver: two sockets under one board and two sockets under another board.

v. 27. And for the sides of the Tabernacle westward he made six boards, of the regular width.

v. 28. And two boards made he for the corners of the Tabernacle in the two sides, the planks on the northwest and southwest corners, respectively, being apparently only one half cubit in width, as they were dovetailed to the first planks on the north and the south side to form a solid corner.

v. 29. And they were coupled beneath, and coupled together at the head thereof, to one ring. Thus he did to both of them in both the corners.

v. 30. And there were eight boards all told, on the west side; and their sockets were sixteen sockets of silver, under every board two sockets.

v. 31. And he made bars of shittim wood, cross-bars of acacia wood to lock the planks in place: five for the boards of the one side of the Tabernacle,

v. 32. and five bars for the boards of the other side of the Tabernacle, and five bars for the boards of the Tabernacle for the sides westward.

v. 33. And he made the middle bar to shoot through the boards from the one end to the other, thus making the walls solid.

v. 34. And he overlaid the boards with gold, and made their rings of gold to be places for the bars, and overlaid the bars with gold. Cf Exo 26:15-30.

v. 35. And he made a veil of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen; with cherubim made he it of cunning work, the four kinds of thread woven into a damask cloth with figures of cherubim.

v. 36. And he made thereunto four pillars of shittim wood, for the entrance of the Most Holy Place, and overlaid them with gold; their hooks, to which the curtain was fastened, were of gold; and he cast for them four sockets of silver, heavy bases to hold the pillars upright.

v. 37. And he made an hanging for the Tabernacle door, the door leading to the Holy Place, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, of needlework, woven in geometrical figures.

v. 38. And the five pillars of it with their hooks, from which this outer screen was suspended; and he overlaid their chapiters, their heads, or capitals, and their fillets, the rods connecting them, with gold; but their five sockets were of brass, of less costly metal than those of the inner curtain. Cf Exo 26:31-37. Thus the directions of the Lord, as given to Moses, were followed with the most painstaking exactness, as the Lord had commanded Moses.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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

Discussion questions

The word shiṭṭâh carries the sense “acacia tree.” How does it shape the verse?
How does Exodus 25:5, which shares the word «acacia tree», read alongside this verse?
The Septuagint runs longer here than the Hebrew. What might account for the difference?
These translations render this verse differently; the difference is in the English rendering, not the original. What questions does that raise?
«וַיַּ֥עַשׂ» is a Qal Sequential Imperfect verb. How does that grammatical form shape the action described?
Compare how Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers and unfoldingWord translationNotes read this verse. Where do they agree or differ?

Things to notice

These translations choose different wording for 11 words in this verse.
7 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 7 words in this verse.