Exodus 40:23

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

He set the bread in order on it before Yahweh, as Yahweh commanded Moses.

World English Bible · Public Domain

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עֵ֥רֶךְ

ʻêrek

H6187

“row of”

Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct

Appears 33× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Exodus 40:4

Full BDB Definition

Origin: from H6186

TWOT: 1694a

order, row, estimate, things that are set in order, layer, pile - order, row - estimate, valuation

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
10: distinct lemmas
Pentateuch: section

Shared distinctive vocabulary

עֵ֥רֶךְ row H6187 occurs in 29 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Grammatical profile

2 verbs
6 nouns
1 preposition
2 particles

Verb forms

וַיַּעֲרֹ֥ךְ Qal · Sequential Imperfect
צִוָּ֥ה Piel · Perfect

Repetition

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

יְהוָ֑ה LORD H3068 ×2

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 14 words from the Hebrew and 16 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 15 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 40:23 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Exodus 25:30 You shall set bread of the presence on the table before me always.
Exodus 40:4 You shall bring in the table, and set in order the things that are on it. You shall bring in the lampstand, and light the lamps of it.
Matthew 12:4 how he entered into the house of God, and ate the show bread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for those who were with him, but only for the priests?
Hebrews 9:2 For there was a tabernacle prepared. In the first part were the lampstand, the table, and the show bread; which is called the Holy Place.

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 40:23 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

וַיַּעֲרֹ֥ךְ עָלָ֛יו עֵ֥רֶךְ לֶ֖חֶם לִפְנֵ֣י יְהוָ֑ה כַּאֲשֶׁ֛ר צִוָּ֥ה יְהוָ֖ה אֶת מֹשֶֽׁה

He set the bread in order on it before Yahweh, as Yahweh commanded Moses.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Exodus 40:23 Septuagint · lemma form

καί προτίθημι ἐπί αὐτός ἄρτος ὁ πρόθεσις ἔναντι κύριος ὅς τρόπος συντάσσω κύριος ὁ μωυσῆς

And he put on it the show bread before the Lord, as the Lord commanded Moses.

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)

וְסַדַר עֲלוֹהִי סִדוּר דִלְחֵם קֳדָם יְיָ כְּמָא דִי פַקִיד יְיָ יָת משֶׁה:

(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)

וְסַדֵּר עֲלוֹהִי סִדוּרִין דִּלְחֵם קֳדָם יְיָ הֵיכְמָא דְפַקֵּיד יְיָ יַת משֶׁה

and set in order upon it the rows of bread before the Lord, as the Lord commanded Mosheh.

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 40:23 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

(23) He set the bread in order upon it.—Arranged, i.e., the twelve loaves in two rows, as was afterwards commanded to be done (Lev_24:6).

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

23. See Exo_25:30; and cf. on v. 4a, above.

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 he lighted the lamps before the Lord,.... The seven lamps belonging to it: this, though it was the business of the priests of Aaron, and his sons, yet they not being at present invested with their office, was done by Moses, who in this and several other things mentioned in this chapter officiated as a priest:

as the Lord commanded Moses, Exo 25:37.

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

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Moses performed these priestly functions (Exo 28:1 note), before the holy things with which they were performed were anointed. The things had been made expressly for the service of Yahweh, by His command, and in this fact lay their essential sanctity, of which the anointing was only the seal and symbol. Aaron and his sons, on similar ground, having had the divine call, took part in the service of the sanctuary as soon as the work was completed Exo 40:31. But Moses took part with them, and most likely took the lead, until they were consecrated and invested Lev. 8 and publicly set apart for the office.

Exo 40:26

Before the vail - That is, opposite to the ark, in the middle between the table of showbread on the North and the candlestick on the South.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The Pulpit Commentary

He set the bread in order upon it. Upon the subject of this "order," see Lev_24:6-8, and compare the comment on ver. 4.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — 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 11 words (10 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is ʻêrek (“row”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

How does “row” (ʻêrek) shape what this verse is saying?
How does Exodus 40:4, which shares the word «row», read alongside this verse?
What does the repetition of “LORD” (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?
«וַיַּעֲרֹ֥ךְ» is a Qal Sequential Imperfect verb. How does that grammatical form shape the action described?
Compare how Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers and The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges read this verse. Where do they agree or differ?

Things to notice

This verse counts 11 Hebrew ↔ 15 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 10 words in this verse.
“LORD” occurs 2× in this single verse.
10 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 11 words in this verse.