Moses · Traditional Attribution

Exodus · Chapter 39shemot

The Completion of the Priestly Garments

The skilled craftsmen bring God's design to life. Following the detailed instructions given on Mount Sinai, Bezalel and his team create the sacred garments for Aaron and his sons—the ephod, breastpiece, robe, tunics, turban, and sash. Each item is crafted with meticulous care using gold, blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, exactly as the LORD commanded Moses. This chapter marks the fulfillment of God's vision for holy worship, as every garment is completed and brought to Moses for inspection.

Exodus 39:1-31

Making the Priestly Garments

LSB Text

¹Moreover, from the blue and purple and scarlet material, they made finely woven garments for ministering in the holy place as well as the holy garments which were for Aaron, just as Yahweh had commanded Moses. ²He made the ephod of gold, and of blue and purple and scarlet material, and fine twisted linen. ³Then they hammered out gold sheets and cut them into threads to be woven in with the blue and the purple and the scarlet material, and the fine linen, the work of a skilled workman. ⁴They made attaching shoulder pieces for the ephod; it was attached at its two upper ends. ⁵The skillfully woven band which was on it was like its workmanship, of the same material: of gold and of blue and purple and scarlet material, and fine twisted linen, just as Yahweh had commanded Moses. ⁶They made the onyx stones, set in gold filigree settings; they were engraved like the engravings of a signet, according to the names of the sons of Israel. ⁷And he placed them on the shoulder pieces of the ephod, as memorial stones for the sons of Israel, just as Yahweh had commanded Moses. ⁸He made the breastpiece, the work of a skillful workman, like the workmanship of the ephod: of gold and of blue and purple and scarlet material and fine twisted linen. ⁹It was square; they made the breastpiece folded double, a span long and a span wide when folded double. ¹⁰And they mounted four rows of stones on it. The first row was a row of ruby, topaz, and emerald; ¹¹and the second row, a turquoise, a sapphire and a diamond; ¹²and the third row, a jacinth, an agate, and an amethyst; ¹³and the fourth row, a beryl, an onyx, and a jasper. They were set in gold filigree settings when they were mounted. ¹⁴The stones were according to the names of the sons of Israel; they were twelve, corresponding to their names, engraved with the engravings of a signet, each with its name for the twelve tribes. ¹⁵They made on the breastpiece chains like cords, of twisted cordage work in pure gold. ¹⁶They made two gold filigree settings and two gold rings, and put the two rings on the two ends of the breastpiece. ¹⁷Then they put the two gold cords in the two rings at the ends of the breastpiece. ¹⁸They put the other two ends of the two cords on the two filigree settings, and put them on the shoulder pieces of the ephod at the front of it. ¹⁹They made two gold rings and placed them on the two ends of the breastpiece, on its inner edge which was next to the ephod. ²⁰Furthermore, they made two gold rings and placed them on the bottom of the two shoulder pieces of the ephod, on the front of it, close to the place where it joined, above the woven band of the ephod. ²¹They bound the breastpiece by its rings to the rings of the ephod with a blue cord, so that it would be on the woven band of the ephod, and that the breastpiece would not come loose from the ephod, just as Yahweh had commanded Moses. ²²Then he made the robe of the ephod of woven work, all of blue; ²³and the opening of the robe was at the top in the center, like the opening of a coat of mail, with a binding all around its opening, so that it would not be torn. ²⁴They made on the hem of the robe pomegranates of blue and purple and scarlet material, twisted. ²⁵They also made bells of pure gold, and put the bells between the pomegranates all around on the hem of the robe, ²⁶alternating a bell and a pomegranate, a bell and a pomegranate all around on the hem of the robe for the service, just as Yahweh had commanded Moses. ²⁷They made the tunics of finely woven linen for Aaron and his sons, ²⁸and the turban of fine linen, and the decorated caps of fine linen, and the linen breeches of fine twisted linen, ²⁹and the sash of fine twisted linen, and blue and purple and scarlet material, the work of the weaver, just as Yahweh had commanded Moses. ³⁰They made the plate of the holy crown of pure gold, and inscribed it like the engravings of a signet: "Holy to Yahweh." ³¹And they fastened a blue cord to it, to fasten it on the turban above, just as Yahweh had commanded Moses.

Hebrew Text

¹וּמִן־הַתְּכֵ֤לֶת וְהָֽאַרְגָּמָן֙ וְתוֹלַ֣עַת הַשָּׁנִ֔י עָשׂ֥וּ בִגְדֵי־שְׂרָ֖ד לְשָׁרֵ֣ת בַּקֹּ֑דֶשׁ ... ⁵וְחֵ֨שֶׁב אֲפֻדָּת֤וֹ אֲשֶׁ֣ר עָלָ֔יו מִמֶּ֣נּוּ הוּא֙ כְּמַעֲשֵׂ֔הוּ ... ¹⁴וְ֠הָאֲבָנִים עַל־שְׁמֹ֨ת בְּנֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֥ל הֵ֛נָּה שְׁתֵּ֥ים עֶשְׂרֵ֖ה עַל־שְׁמֹתָ֑ם פִּתּוּחֵ֤י חוֹתָם֙ אִ֣ישׁ עַל־שְׁמ֔וֹ לִשְׁנֵ֥ים עָשָׂ֖ר שָֽׁבֶט׃ ... ³⁰וַֽיַּעֲשׂ֛וּ אֶת־צִ֥יץ נֵֽזֶר־הַקֹּ֖דֶשׁ זָהָ֣ב טָה֑וֹר וַיִּכְתְּב֣וּ עָלָ֗יו מִכְתַּב֙ פִּתּוּחֵ֣י חוֹתָ֔ם קֹ֖דֶשׁ לַיהוָֽה׃

v.1 u-min ha-tekhelet ve-ha-argaman ve-tola‘at ha-shani ‘asu vigdei-serad le-sharet ba-qodesh; v.14 shtem ‘esreh ‘al-shemotam, pittuchei chotam, ish ‘al-shemo, li-shneim ‘asar shavet; v.30 wa-yikhtevu ‘alaw mikhtav pittuchei chotam: qodesh la-YHWH.

Key Words

בִּגְדֵי־שְׂרָד bigdei-serad finely woven garments / service garments

A construct phrase whose second element serad is a hapax in this fixed expression (Exod 31:10, 35:19, 39:1, 41). Its etymology is debated—some derive it from a root meaning "to braid, plait" (yielding "plaited / finely woven"), others from an Akkadian cognate sardû ("of fine quality"). LSB renders "finely woven," following the Vulgate's vestes tradition. Either way, these are not ordinary clothes but a specially designated category set apart for sanctuary service. The bigdei-serad are distinct from the high-priestly vestments; they are the working livery for ministry in the holy place.

אֵפוֹד ephod ephod (priestly vestment)

A noun derived from the verbal root ’-p-d ("to gird"), denoting a sleeveless apron-like garment that wrapped the upper body. The high-priestly ephod was uniquely woven from the four sanctuary materials—blue, purple, scarlet, fine linen—with gold filaments hammered out and cut into thread (v. 3), the only place in Scripture where this technique is described. The ephod functioned as the foundational layer onto which the breastpiece was attached, holding the Urim and Thummim and the twelve-tribe stones. It is a vestment of representation: when Aaron entered the holy place, he wore Israel itself on his shoulders and over his heart.

חֹשֶׁן choshen breastpiece (of judgment)

From an unused root, traditionally connected to a Semitic term for "ornament." The full title in 28:15 is choshen mishpat ("breastpiece of judgment"), because it housed the Urim and Thummim used for divine adjudication. Crafted as a folded square pouch a span on each side, it bore four rows of three stones each, every stone engraved with a tribal name. Its placement over the heart (v. 17 et al.) made it an emblem of priestly intercession: Aaron carried Israel's twelve tribes on his heart whenever he entered the holy place. The doubling of the fabric (kaphul, v. 9) created a pocket, almost certainly to hold the lots.

פִּתּוּחֵי חוֹתָם pittuchei chotam engravings like a signet

A construct phrase repeated three times in the chapter (vv. 6, 14, 30), borrowed from the world of ancient Near Eastern seal-cutting. Cylinder and stamp seals were the legal-binding signatures of the ancient world, often inscribed with personal names and totemic emblems. By specifying that the tribal stones and the gold plate are engraved pittuchei chotam, the text elevates the priestly garments to the status of a covenantal seal—the names borne on Aaron's body have the legal force of Israel's signature in the divine archives. The phrase appears nowhere outside the priestly garments and Solomon's brazen sea (1 Kgs 7:36), marking it as cultic-legal vocabulary.

צִיץ נֵזֶר־הַקֹּדֶשׁ tzitz nezer ha-qodesh plate of the holy crown

The compound title for the gold rosette (tzitz, "blossom, flower") that sat on Aaron's turban. Nezer ("crown, consecration") is the same word used for the Nazirite's separation in Num 6 and for the king's diadem (2 Sam 1:10), tying high-priestly office to the categories of vow and royalty. The inscription qodesh la-YHWH ("Holy to Yahweh") is the only direct quotation of an inscribed text in the Tabernacle account. Aaron wore the divine name on his forehead so that, per 28:38, he might "bear the iniquity" of Israel's holy gifts—a representational atonement borne in the very metal of the diadem.

קֹדֶשׁ לַיהוָה qodesh la-YHWH Holy to Yahweh

The inscribed phrase on the gold plate of the high priest's turban (v. 30) and the climactic two-word formula of Exodus' priestly section. Qodesh is the noun "holiness, sanctity," and the prepositional phrase la-YHWH ("belonging to Yahweh") makes the whole an act of consecrated belonging. The same phrase will reappear in Zech 14:20-21 in eschatological extension—every cooking pot in Jerusalem will bear the inscription that here is reserved for the high priest alone. LSB preserves the divine name "Yahweh" rather than smoothing to "the Lord," which is the linguistic anchor of the entire OT priestly economy.

אַבְנֵי זִכָּרוֹן avnei zikkaron memorial stones

A construct phrase first introduced in 28:12, specifying the function of the two onyx stones on the ephod's shoulder pieces. Zikkaron ("memorial, remembrance") in priestly contexts is never mere mental recall but covenantal evocation—making something present before Yahweh. The same word will be used of the Passover (12:14), the Feast of Trumpets (Lev 23:24), and the meal offering of jealousy (Num 5:15). The shoulder stones thus inscribe Israel into Yahweh's active remembrance every time the high priest crosses the sanctuary threshold; the names are presented to God, not displayed to the people.

פַּעֲמוֹן וְרִמּוֹן pa‘amon ve-rimmon bell and pomegranate

The alternating ornaments of the high priest's robe hem (vv. 25-26). The pa‘amonim ("bells") were small round gold spheres—archaeology has recovered exemplars from Iron Age sanctuaries—whose chiming announced the priest's entrance into the holy place. The rimmonim ("pomegranates") were embroidered colored fruit-shapes representing the agricultural fruitfulness of the land Yahweh would give. Bells and pomegranates together synthesized the audible and the visible, the sanctuary and the land, sound and harvest, into one moving icon of priestly presence. The threat in 28:35 ("that he may not die") frames the bells as a vital signal of life within the holy place.

Grammar & Argument

The opening verse pivots with the rare conjunctive phrase u-min ha-tekhelet ve-ha-argaman ve-tola‘at ha-shani ("and from the blue and the purple and the scarlet"), repeating verbatim the materials inventory of 35:6, 25 and the Sinai instruction of 28:5. The fourfold material spec (the three dyes plus fine linen) is one of the most precisely repeated formulae in the Pentateuch—at least eighteen occurrences across chs. 25-39—and the chapter's drumbeat refrain ka-asher tzivah YHWH et-Mosheh ("just as Yahweh had commanded Moses") appears at vv. 1, 5, 7, 21, 26, 29, 31. This repetition is not editorial padding; it is theological architecture. Where Sinai gave a vertical descent of revelation (Yahweh to Moses), ch. 39 gives a horizontal ascent of obedience (workmen reproducing the design with verbal exactness). The two columns balance.

The verb-tense pattern is striking: the chapter is dominated by the wayyiqtol form wa-ya‘as ("and he made"), repeated more than thirty times, alternating with wa-ya‘asu ("and they made"). The shift between singular and plural is not random—the singular often refers to Bezalel as the master craftsman (named in 38:22), while the plural denotes the craft team. This grammar mirrors the architecture of inspired-but-collaborative work: a Spirit-filled designer (31:2-5) directing skilled hands. The text is the OT's most sustained meditation on holy artisanship as an act of covenant fidelity. The same Spirit that hovered over the waters (Gen 1:2) now hovers over Bezalel's chisel.

The breastpiece passage (vv. 8-21) follows a deliberate inclusio. It opens with wa-ya‘as et ha-choshen (v. 8) and closes with ka-asher tzivah YHWH et-Mosheh (v. 21). Within this frame, the four rows of three stones (vv. 10-13) form a literal twelve-tribe enumeration; the verbal sequence then turns to the gold cord-chains and rings (vv. 15-21) that physically secure the breastpiece to the ephod. The phrase ve-lo’ yizzach ha-choshen me-‘al ha-ephod ("the breastpiece would not come loose from the ephod," v. 21) uses the niphal of z-ch-ch ("to slip away"), a hapax in this binyan—the lexical novelty matching the cultic novelty of fastening Israel inseparably to her mediator.

The chapter's literary climax is v. 30. After thirty verses of materials and craft, the inscribed gold plate breaks the stylistic register: instead of "they made," it is wa-yikhtevu ‘alaw mikhtav pittuchei chotam ("and they wrote upon it the writing of the engravings of a signet")—the only writing-act in the entire chapter, recording the only directly quoted inscription: qodesh la-YHWH. This is the verbal hinge of the priestly garments; everything previous has been preparation for the moment when the divine name is borne, in writing, on the high priest's forehead. The legal weight of pittuchei chotam (signet-engravings have legal force in the ANE) means Aaron now wears Yahweh's official seal—he is not only Israel's representative to God but also Yahweh's official representative to Israel.

The recurring refrain "just as Yahweh had commanded Moses" is not pedantic legalism but a theology of obedient art. Holiness is rendered not by improvisation but by reproduction; the Spirit-filled craftsman is, paradoxically, the one most bound to the pattern. Aaron will go on to wear the divine name on his head not because he has earned it but because Bezalel's hands reproduced the engraving exactly as commanded.

OT Connection

Genesis 1:31 · 1 Kings 7:13-51 · Zechariah 14:20-21

The chapter's grammar deliberately echoes Gen 1. There Yahweh sees what He has made and pronounces it good (wa-yar’ Elohim et kol-asher ‘asah ve-hinneh tov me’od); here, by the end of ch. 39 (v. 43), Moses sees what the people have made and blesses them. The Tabernacle is a re-creation in miniature, with Bezalel as the craftsman through whom the Spirit forms a divine dwelling on earth. Solomon's temple construction in 1 Kgs 7 will follow exactly this same materials-and-fabrication pattern, deliberately positioning itself as the architectural fulfillment of Sinai's tent.

Zechariah 14:20-21 takes the inscription qodesh la-YHWH—the singular phrase reserved for the high-priestly diadem in 39:30—and prophesies that on the eschatological Day of the Lord, this same inscription will appear on the bells of the horses and on every cooking pot in Jerusalem. The trajectory is breathtaking: what is unique to the high priest in Exodus becomes universal to all of Israel's daily life in the eschaton. The diadem's two-word inscription is the seed; Zechariah's universal sanctification is the harvest.

LSB Choices Worth Noting

"Yahweh" for the divine name (vv. 1, 5, 7, 21, 26, 29, 30, 31) is the single most distinctive LSB choice. The chapter's seven-fold repetition of ka-asher tzivah YHWH ("just as Yahweh had commanded") becomes audibly different in LSB than in translations that smooth to "the LORD"—the personal name is heard as a refrain rather than a title. This matters especially in v. 30, where the inscribed phrase qodesh la-YHWH ("Holy to Yahweh") is rendered with the actual name written on the high priest's forehead, not a generic substitute.

"Memorial stones" for avnei zikkaron (v. 7) preserves the covenant-evocation force of zikkaron. Some translations weaken this to "stones of remembrance," but LSB's "memorial" carries the legal-cultic weight: the stones present Israel before Yahweh, not merely jog Aaron's memory.

"Plate of the holy crown" for tzitz nezer ha-qodesh (v. 30) preserves all three nouns rather than collapsing to a single English word. Some translations render only "holy crown" or "sacred diadem"; LSB keeps the layering—the gold rosette is a plate, set within a crown, designated as holy.

Exodus 39:32-43

Completion and Inspection of the Tabernacle

LSB Text

³²Thus all the work of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting was completed; and the sons of Israel did according to all that Yahweh had commanded Moses; so they did. ³³They brought the tabernacle to Moses, the tent and all its furnishings: its hooks, its boards, its bars, and its pillars and its sockets; ³⁴and the covering of rams' skins dyed red, and the covering of porpoise skins, and the screening veil; ³⁵the ark of the testimony and its poles and the mercy seat; ³⁶the table, all its utensils, and the bread of the Presence; ³⁷the pure gold lampstand, with its arrangement of lamps and all its utensils, and the oil for the light; ³⁸and the gold altar, and the anointing oil and the fragrant incense, and the screen for the doorway of the tent; ³⁹the bronze altar and its bronze grating, its poles and all its utensils, the laver and its stand; ⁴⁰the hangings for the court, its pillars and its sockets, and the screen for the gate of the court, its cords and its pegs and all the equipment for the service of the tabernacle, for the tent of meeting; ⁴¹the woven garments for ministering in the holy place and the holy garments for Aaron the priest and the garments of his sons, to minister as priests. ⁴²So the sons of Israel did all the work according to all that Yahweh had commanded Moses. ⁴³And Moses examined all the work and behold, they had done it; just as Yahweh had commanded, so they had done it. So Moses blessed them.

Hebrew Text

³²וַתֵּ֕כֶל כָּל־עֲבֹדַ֕ת מִשְׁכַּ֖ן אֹ֣הֶל מוֹעֵ֑ד וַֽיַּעֲשׂוּ֙ בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל כְּ֠כֹל אֲשֶׁ֨ר צִוָּ֧ה יְהוָ֛ה אֶת־מֹשֶׁ֖ה כֵּ֥ן עָשֽׂוּ׃ ... ⁴³וַיַּ֨רְא מֹשֶׁ֜ה אֶת־כָּל־הַמְּלָאכָ֗ה וְהִנֵּה֙ עָשׂ֣וּ אֹתָ֔הּ כַּאֲשֶׁ֛ר צִוָּ֥ה יְהוָ֖ה כֵּ֣ן עָשׂ֑וּ וַיְבָ֥רֶךְ אֹתָ֖ם מֹשֶֽׁה׃

v.32 wa-tekhel kol-avodat mishkan ohel mo‘ed; wa-ya‘asu benei yisra’el ke-khol asher tzivah YHWH et-mosheh ken ‘asu; v.43 wa-yar mosheh et-kol ha-mela’khah ve-hinneh ‘asu otah, ka-asher tzivah YHWH ken ‘asu, wa-yevarekh otam mosheh.

Key Words

וַתֵּכֶל wa-tekhel and it was completed (Piel preterite)

A wayyiqtol form of the verb k-l-h ("to complete, finish"), feminine singular agreeing with kol-avodat ha-mishkan ("all the work of the tabernacle"). The verb is deliberately chosen to echo Gen 2:1-2: wa-yekhullu ha-shamayim ve-ha-aretz ("and the heavens and the earth were completed") and wa-yekhal Elohim ba-yom ha-shevi‘i mela’khto ("and God completed on the seventh day His work"). The lexical pairing of k-l-h + mela’khah ("work") in v. 32 is the same construction as Gen 2:2, framing the Tabernacle as a re-creation. What was true of God's cosmic work is now true of Israel's covenantal work: it is brought to its appointed completion.

מִשְׁכַּן אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד mishkan ohel mo‘ed tabernacle of the tent of meeting

A double-construct phrase combining the two principal names for the sanctuary. Mishkan ("dwelling place") emphasizes Yahweh's stable indwelling; ohel mo‘ed ("tent of meeting") emphasizes appointed encounter. The phrase appears here at the climax (v. 32) to integrate both registers into one finished structure. Mishkan shares the same root as shekinah, the later rabbinic term for the divine presence; mo‘ed ("appointed time/place") is cognate with the festival calendar (mo‘adim). Together they fuse the spatial (dwelling) and temporal (appointment) dimensions of covenantal proximity.

מְלָאכָה mela’khah work, craft, occupation

A feminine noun derived from the root for "messenger" (mal’akh), denoting commissioned or assigned work. It is distinguished from ‘avodah ("service, labor") in priestly literature: mela’khah is the skilled, designed work of construction (Gen 2:2-3, Exod 20:9-10, 31:3), whereas ‘avodah tends toward routine service. The chapter's heavy use of mela’khah in vv. 32, 42, 43 deliberately ties the Tabernacle's completion to creation's completion (Gen 2:2-3) and to the prohibition of mela’khah on the Sabbath. The Tabernacle is the Sabbath's spatial corollary; both rest on the rhythm of completed-and-blessed creative work.

וַיַּרְא ... וְהִנֵּה wa-yar’ ... ve-hinneh and he saw ... and behold

A two-element grammatical pattern that systematically echoes Gen 1, where Yahweh's seven-fold creative inspection follows the formula wa-yar’ Elohim ki-tov ("and God saw that it was good"). Here Moses is the inspector, and the formula is adapted: wa-yar’ mosheh et-kol ha-mela’khah ve-hinneh ‘asu otah ("and Moses saw all the work, and behold, they had done it"). The presentational hinneh ("behold") is rare with the perfect verb in this construction; it dramatizes the moment of inspection. Where Yahweh saw what He had Himself made, Moses sees what the people have made—but the framework of inspect-and-affirm is the same.

וַיְבָרֶךְ אֹתָם wa-yevarekh otam and he blessed them

The chapter's final clause and its theological hinge. The Piel of b-r-kh ("to bless") is the priestly-paternal blessing form; the same root yields berakhah ("blessing"). Moses' blessing functions on two registers: legally, it is the inspector's authoritative seal of acceptance; covenantally, it is the channel of divine favor flowing from completed work to working hands. The verb deliberately echoes Gen 2:3, where Yahweh "blessed (wa-yevarekh) the seventh day," and the patriarchal blessings of Gen 27 and 49. Moses stands here as a priestly figure prefiguring Aaron's later benedictory role (Num 6:23-27).

כַּאֲשֶׁר צִוָּה יְהוָה ka-asher tzivah YHWH just as Yahweh had commanded

The recurring refrain that punctuates the entire chapter (vv. 1, 5, 7, 21, 26, 29, 31, 32, 42, 43). The Piel of tz-w-h ("to command, charge") combined with the comparative ka-asher ("just as, exactly as") creates a formula of obedient verbatim reproduction. By v. 43 the formula has been used eight times, accumulating a rhetorical weight that is itself the chapter's thesis: covenantal holiness is constituted by exact correspondence between divine instruction and human execution. The repetition is not stylistic monotony but theological architecture; it is the Tabernacle's spoken counterpart to its woven and metalwork structure.

Grammar & Argument

The pericope opens with wa-tekhel kol-avodat mishkan ohel mo‘ed ("and all the work of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting was completed"), a clause that deliberately mirrors Gen 2:1-2 in both vocabulary (k-l-h + mela’khah) and shape. The Pentateuch's two largest construction projects—the cosmos and the Tabernacle—are framed by the same verb of completion. This is no accident: the seven speeches by which Yahweh issues the Tabernacle blueprint to Moses (chs. 25-31) end with a Sabbath command, and ch. 39 ends with a Sabbath-shaped completion. The Tabernacle is creation re-staged on a smaller scale: a microcosm where heaven and earth, Yahweh and humanity, are once again brought into ordered communion.

Verses 33-41 are an inventory list rather than a narrative. The catalogue moves systematically from the structural shell (boards, bars, pillars, sockets, vv. 33-34) inward through the holy place (ark, table, lampstand, gold altar, vv. 35-38) and out to the courtyard (bronze altar, laver, hangings, vv. 39-40), closing with the priestly garments (v. 41). This is not random ordering; it follows the gradient of holiness from outer-court to most-holy-place and back. The phrase vayyavi’u et ha-mishkan el-mosheh ("they brought the tabernacle to Moses," v. 33) inaugurates the inspection. The verb b-w-’ in the Hiphil ("to bring") is the covenantal verb of presentation, used elsewhere of bringing offerings to the priest. Israel itself is now the offering-bringer; the Tabernacle is the corporate offering.

Verses 42-43 form the chapter's true climax. Verse 42's wa-ya‘asu benei yisra’el et-kol ha-‘avodah, ke-khol asher tzivah YHWH et-mosheh, ken ‘asu ("the sons of Israel did all the work according to all that Yahweh had commanded Moses; so they did") is grammatically front-loaded with three repetitive elements—kol ("all") appears three times, and ‘asu ("they did") opens and closes the sentence. The triple kol answers the golden calf episode: where ch. 32 catalogued total covenantal failure, ch. 39 catalogues total covenantal obedience. Israel that broke the covenant has now made the covenant's dwelling-place exactly as commanded.

Verse 43 deploys the Genesis-1 inspection formula wa-yar’ ... ve-hinneh ... wa-yevarekh, but with subtle variation. Yahweh in Gen 1 saw and pronounced "good"; Moses here sees and blesses. The blessing replaces the goodness-pronouncement because Moses cannot pronounce God's verdict on the work—he can only mediate Yahweh's blessing back to the workers. The scene closes the entire Sinai narrative arc that began in 19:1: Israel arrives at Sinai, receives the law, breaks it (32), is restored (33-34), and now completes the dwelling-place that signals covenantal restoration. Ch. 40 will follow with Yahweh's own response—the cloud of glory filling the structure—but ch. 39 ends with the human side complete. The covenant has been answered.

The chapter ends not with Yahweh's verdict but with Moses' blessing, because Israel's part is not to declare the work good—only to do it as commanded. The verdict belongs to the cloud that descends in the next chapter; the blessing belongs to the hands that obeyed.

OT Connection

Genesis 1:31–2:3 · Numbers 6:23-27 · 1 Kings 8:10-11

Verse 43's grammar is a deliberate three-part replay of the Gen 1-2 conclusion. Genesis: wa-yar’ Elohim et-kol-asher ‘asah ve-hinneh tov me’od ("God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good") → wa-yekhullu ha-shamayim ve-ha-aretz ("the heavens and the earth were completed") → wa-yevarekh Elohim et-yom ha-shevi‘i ("God blessed the seventh day"). Exodus 39: wa-yar’ mosheh et-kol ha-mela’khah ve-hinneh ‘asu otah → wa-tekhel kol-avodat ha-mishkan → wa-yevarekh otam mosheh. The same three-verb sequence—see, complete, bless—structures both creation accounts. The Tabernacle is the cosmos in miniature; covenantal Israel constructs in tabernacle-form what Yahweh constructed in cosmos-form.

Solomon's temple dedication in 1 Kgs 8:10-11 will close the same arc: the priests bring up the ark, finish their service, and the cloud fills the house "so that the priests could not stand to minister." Where Exod 40 will close ch. 39's arc with the cloud descending on the tent, 1 Kings will close Solomon's arc with the cloud descending on the temple. The pattern is identical: human work brought to completion exactly as commanded → divine glory descends and inhabits. Moses' blessing in 39:43 is the priestly seed that flowers in the Aaronic blessing of Num 6:24-26 ("Yahweh bless you and keep you...") and ultimately in the temple liturgy. Blessing is the covenantal currency that flows from inspected and accepted work back to the working community.

LSB Choices Worth Noting

"The tabernacle of the tent of meeting" for mishkan ohel mo‘ed (v. 32) preserves the double construct rather than collapsing into a single phrase. Many translations smooth to "the tabernacle, that is, the tent of meeting" or simply "the tent of meeting"; LSB keeps both nouns in genitive subordination, retaining the dwelling-and-encounter pairing the Hebrew foregrounds.

"Just as Yahweh had commanded Moses" for ka-asher tzivah YHWH et-mosheh (vv. 32, 42, 43) preserves the divine name in every refrain. Translations that read "as the LORD had commanded" lose the audible signature—LSB makes the eight-fold drumbeat in this chapter audibly Yahweh-shaped.

"And behold, they had done it" for ve-hinneh ‘asu otah (v. 43) keeps the presentational hinneh rather than smoothing to "and indeed they had done it" or simply "they had done it." The Genesis-1 inspection echo depends on retaining "behold," which LSB does, allowing the careful reader to hear the parallel.