Exodus 38 — Hebrew and Greek compared
← Exodus 37 compared · Reading text of Exodus 38 · Exodus: all chapters · Exodus 39 compared →
Same 6 Similar 3 Different 8 Divergent 12 Disparate 2
Disparate in this chapter: 38:24, 38:29
Each verse is rendered independently from the Hebrew (Rabbinic reading tradition) and from the Greek (Saints reading tradition). The badge classifies the relationship between the two readings; the note beneath records the source document’s comparison and attributed interpretation. Each column retains its own verse references where numbering differs.
Making the Altar of Burnt Offering
38:1 Divergent
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
38:1 He made the altar of burnt offering of acacia wood, five cubits long and five cubits wide, square, and three cubits high.
Greek · Saints priority
G 38:22 He made the bronze altar from the bronze censers belonging to the men who had rebelled with the assembly of Korah.
G introduces the Korah-censer tradition, comparable to Numbers sixteen, and omits the dimensions and wood here. The chronological difference is retained; V1’s bracketed H construction details are removed from G.
38:2 Divergent
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
38:2 He made horns on its four corners, of one piece with it, and overlaid it with bronze.
Greek · Saints priority
H 38:2 alignment — No corresponding horn-construction clause in this G account. —
38:3 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
38:3 He made all the altar’s utensils: the pots, shovels, basins, meat forks, and firepans. He made all its utensils of bronze.
Greek · Saints priority
G 38:23 He made all the altar’s utensils: its firepan, its base, its bowls, and its bronze meat forks.
The utensil lists differ; G does not repeat the H list or its final comprehensive bronze clause.
38:4 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
38:4 He made a bronze network grating for the altar beneath its ledge, extending halfway down it.
Greek · Saints priority
G 38:24a He made an attachment for the altar, a network beneath the firepan, extending underneath it to its midpoint.
The technical nouns differ; G does not explicitly name bronze in this first portion.
38:5 Similar
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
38:5 He cast four rings for the four corners of the bronze grating, as holders for the poles.
Greek · Saints priority
G 38:24b He put four bronze rings on the four sides of the altar’s attachment, wide enough for the bars, so that the altar could be carried with them.
G says attached rather than cast, and explains the carrying function.
38:6 Divergent
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
38:6 He made poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with bronze.
Greek · Saints priority
H 38:6 alignment — No separate pole-making clause in this G account. —
38:7 Divergent
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
38:7 He put the poles into the rings on the sides of the altar, to carry it. He made it hollow, of boards.
Greek · Saints priority
H 38:7 alignment — No corresponding insertion or hollow-board clause in this G account. —
38:8 Divergent
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
38:8 He made the bronze basin and its bronze stand from the mirrors of the women who served at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting.
Greek · Saints priority
G 38:26–27 He made the bronze basin and its bronze stand from the mirrors of the women who fasted, who fasted at the doors of the Tent of Testimony, on the day he erected it. He made the basin so that Moses, Aaron, and his sons could wash their hands and feet from it. When they entered the Tent of Testimony or approached the altar to minister, they washed from it, as the Lord commanded Moses.
G identifies the women as fasting and adds the erection date and washing explanation. H’s participle describes organized service or assembling; the exact activity is not specified. The additional G washing passage is retained here rather than supplied as a fabricated clause later in chapter forty.
Rabbinic reception: Rashi on 38:8 recounts a midrash in which the mirrors are cherished because the women used them to sustain marital life and Israel’s continuity in Egypt. This interpretation differs from G’s fasting description and is not substituted for it. [R38]
Making the Courtyard
38:9 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
38:9 He made the court. On the south side, its hangings were a hundred cubits of finely twisted linen.
Greek · Saints priority
G 37:7 They made the court, with its southwest hangings of spun fine linen, a hundred by a hundred.
RH has a hundred by a hundred, without cubits in this clause. The direction describes the hangings. The difficult dimensional wording is retained without supplying a unit or replacing it with Hebrew’s linear measurement.
38:10 Divergent
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
38:10 There were twenty pillars and twenty bronze bases; the pillars’ hooks and bands were silver.
Greek · Saints priority
G 37:8 There were twenty pillars and twenty bases.
G gives the counts without these material details here; its general materials statement follows later.
38:11 Divergent
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
38:11 On the north side were a hundred cubits, with twenty pillars and twenty bronze bases; the pillars’ hooks and bands were silver.
Greek · Saints priority
G 37:9 The north side was a hundred by a hundred, with twenty pillars and twenty bases.
RH mentions only the north side, gives a hundred by a hundred without a unit, and does not repeat Hebrew’s material details here.
38:12 Divergent
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
38:12 On the west side were fifty cubits of hangings, with ten pillars and ten bases; the pillars’ hooks and bands were silver.
Greek · Saints priority
G 37:10 On the side toward the sea were curtains of fifty cubits, with ten pillars and ten bases.
West corresponds to toward the sea; G does not repeat the silver fittings here.
38:13 Same
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
38:13 On the east side were fifty cubits.
Greek · Saints priority
G 37:11 On the east side were fifty cubits.
Both give fifty cubits for the east side. RH places the flank and curtain description in 37:12.
38:14 Same
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
38:14 The hangings on one side of the gate were fifteen cubits, with three pillars and three bases.
Greek · Saints priority
G 37:12 On the flank were hangings of fifteen cubits, with three pillars and three bases.
RH includes fifteen-cubit hangings with three pillars and three bases, corresponding to Hebrew 38:14.
38:15 Same
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
38:15 On the other side of the court’s gate, as on this side, were fifteen cubits of hangings, with three pillars and three bases.
Greek · Saints priority
G 37:13 On the second flank, on either side by the gate of the court, were curtains of fifteen cubits, with three pillars and three bases.
RH has fifteen cubits, corresponding to Hebrew 38:15. The provisional webpage’s one hundred fifty is superseded.
38:16 Same
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
38:16 All the hangings around the court were of finely twisted linen.
Greek · Saints priority
G 37:14 All the curtains of the court were of spun fine linen.
RH names the court’s curtains, corresponding to Hebrew 38:16; the provisional tent reading is superseded.
38:17 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
38:17 The pillars’ bases were bronze, their hooks and bands silver, and their capitals overlaid with silver. All the pillars of the court had silver bands.
Greek · Saints priority
G 37:15 Their pillars’ bases were bronze, their hooks silver, their capitals overlaid with silver, and all the court’s pillars overlaid with silver.
G describes silver overlay on the pillars; H specifies bands.
38:18 Similar
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
38:18 The screen for the court’s gate was embroidered in blue, purple, and scarlet yarn and finely twisted linen. It was twenty cubits long and five cubits high, matching the court’s hangings.
Greek · Saints priority
G 37:16 The veil for the court’s gate was embroidered in blue, purple, spun scarlet, and spun fine linen. It was twenty cubits long, with its height and breadth five cubits, matching the court’s hangings.
G’s dimensional syntax is retained rather than forced into a modern technical drawing.
38:19 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
38:19 There were four pillars and four bronze bases, with silver hooks and silver overlay on their capitals and bands.
Greek · Saints priority
G 37:17–18a There were four pillars and four bronze bases, with silver hooks and capitals overlaid with silver; the pillars themselves were overlaid with silver.
G continues its silver-overlay description into the following clause.
38:20 Divergent
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
38:20 All the pegs of the tabernacle and of the surrounding court were bronze.
Greek · Saints priority
G 37:18b; 38:21 All the pegs around the court were bronze. He made the pegs of the tent and the pegs of the court of bronze.
RH 37:18 names the court pegs; the later metalwork clause at 38:21 explicitly names both tent pegs and court pegs. Both statements are retained here against Hebrew’s single instruction. [G37; G38]
Materials of the Tabernacle
38:21 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
38:21 These are the accounts of the tabernacle, the tabernacle of the testimony, recorded at Moses’ command for the service of the Levites under Ithamar son of Aaron the priest.
Greek · Saints priority
G 37:19 This is the arrangement of the Tent of Testimony, as appointed for Moses, with the service belonging to the Levites through Ithamar son of Aaron the priest.
H introduces accounts; G introduces an arrangement or ordering of service.
38:22 Divergent
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
38:22 Bezalel son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, made everything YHWH had commanded Moses.
Greek · Saints priority
G 37:20 Bezalel son of Uri, of the tribe of Judah, did as the Lord commanded Moses.
G does not name Hur here.
38:23 Divergent
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
38:23 With him was Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, an engraver, designer, and embroiderer in blue, purple, and scarlet yarn and fine linen.
Greek · Saints priority
G 37:21 Eliab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, directed the woven, needleworked, and embroidered work, weaving in scarlet and fine linen.
G uses the name Eliab and does not list blue or purple here.
38:24 Disparate
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
38:24 All the gold used for the work, for all the sanctuary’s work, was the gold of the presentation offering: twenty-nine talents and seven hundred thirty shekels, by the sanctuary shekel.
Greek · Saints priority
G 39:1 All the gold worked into the objects, for all the work of the holy things, was the gold of the firstfruits: twenty-nine talents and seven hundred twenty shekels, by the holy shekel.
H gives seven hundred thirty shekels; the consulted G text gives seven hundred twenty. Keep the source totals distinct.
38:25 Same
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
38:25 The silver from those enrolled in the congregation was a hundred talents and one thousand seven hundred seventy-five shekels, by the sanctuary shekel,
Greek · Saints priority
G 39:2 The silver contribution from the enrolled men of the congregation was a hundred talents and one thousand seven hundred seventy-five shekels,
The standard-of-weight clause in G belongs to the following per-head statement.
Earlier navigation: 39:2a → RH 39:2.
38:26 Similar
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
38:26 a bekah per head—that is, half a shekel by the sanctuary shekel—for everyone passing into the enrollment, from twenty years old upward: six hundred three thousand five hundred fifty men.
Greek · Saints priority
G 39:3 One drachma per head, half a shekel by the holy shekel, for everyone passing into the enrollment from twenty years old upward: six hundred three thousand five hundred fifty.
H names the bekah; G names a drachma and explicitly equates it here with half a shekel. No universal wage conversion is implied.
Earlier navigation: 39:2b–3 → RH 39:3.
38:27 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
38:27 The hundred talents of silver were used to cast the bases of the sanctuary and the bases of the veil: a hundred bases for the hundred talents, a talent per base.
Greek · Saints priority
G 39:4 The hundred talents of silver were used to cast the hundred capitals of the tent and the capitals of the veil: a hundred capitals for the hundred talents, a talent per capital.
RH 39:4 names capitals, while Hebrew 38:27 names bases. RH does not repeat hundred separately for the veil group.
Earlier navigation: 39:4–5 → RH 39:4.
38:28 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
38:28 From the one thousand seven hundred seventy-five shekels he made hooks for the pillars, overlaid their capitals, and made bands for them.
Greek · Saints priority
G 39:5 They used the one thousand seven hundred seventy-five shekels for the pillars’ hooks; he gilded their capitals and adorned them.
G explicitly says gilded and varies the grammatical subject. H’s surrounding account concerns silver fittings.
Earlier navigation: 39:6 → RH 39:5.
38:29 Disparate
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
38:29 The bronze of the presentation offering was seventy talents and two thousand four hundred shekels.
Greek · Saints priority
G 39:6 The bronze of the contribution was seventy talents and one thousand five hundred shekels.
The shekel totals differ: H two thousand four hundred; G one thousand five hundred.
Earlier navigation: 39:7 → RH 39:6.
38:30 Divergent
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
38:30 With it he made the bases of the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, the bronze altar and its bronze grating, and all the altar’s utensils,
Greek · Saints priority
G 39:7; 39:9 From it he made the bases of the entrance of the Tent of Testimony, the bronze attachment of the altar, all the altar’s utensils, and all the equipment of the Tent of Testimony,
G’s two related clauses are aligned together; its intervening gate-and-peg clause follows in the next row. G does not name the altar itself in this materials-use list.
Earlier navigation: 39:8 → RH 39:7; 39:10 → RH 39:9.
38:31 Same
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
38:31 the bases of the surrounding court, the bases of the court’s gate, all the pegs of the tabernacle, and all the pegs of the surrounding court.
Greek · Saints priority
G 39:8 the bases of the court all around, the bases of the court’s gate, the pegs of the tent, and the pegs of the surrounding court.
RH 39:8 names the surrounding court’s bases, corresponding to Hebrew 38:31; the provisional gate reading is superseded.
Earlier navigation: 39:9 → RH 39:8.
← Exodus 37 compared · Reading text of Exodus 38 · Exodus: all chapters · Exodus 39 compared →
Saints Translation · Companion comparison edition · working draft awaiting specialist review.