complete verse (Exodus 37:23)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Exodus 37:23:

  • Kupsabiny: “Bezalel made seven lamps, the things used for cutting wicks and things to remove ashes/burned wicks with from pure gold.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “They made seven lamps, a wick trimmer and trays of pure gold.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “They also made seven lights/(lamp), the trimmers/tongs of-it, and the thing-to-catch the ashes from the wick of the light. It is- all -pure gold.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Bariai: “He did like that and when it was done, then he made seven lams. And he made things like gol tongs to be for the cutting of the edges of the lams wiks. And also, he made a gol plate for the lams.” (Source: Bariai Back Translation)
  • Opo: “And they pound for it bowl seven, and its candle-extinguisher, and platter which they throw candle which be quenched in it. They pound be it with gold which not [eye] be mixed with other things.” (Source: Opo Back Translation)
  • English: “Bezalel also made seven small cups for holding oil. He put one cup on top of the shaft and he put the others on top of the branches. He made from pure gold the tongs for removing the burned wicks and the trays in which to put the burned wicks.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Exod 37:23 - 37:24

These verses are similar to 25.37-39, but there are several significant differences, especially in verse 23. The verbs, of course, are here rendered in the past tense. The second part of 25.37 is omitted entirely in verse 23, since it refers to the placement of the lamps rather than to how they were made. Verse 24 is almost the same as 25.39, but all its utensils is different from “all these utensils.”

The seven lamps, as Revised Standard Version, Contemporary English Version, New International Version, and others translate, seem to have been made of pure gold, whereas in 25.37 it is not indicated what material was used. (See the comment there.) Good News Translation may be correct in separating the first part of verse 23 from the second part with a comma, for the Masoretic Text shows a major mark setting the word for lamps apart from the other things. Thus the words of pure gold may be understood as referring only to the snuffers and the trays. The ceramic oil lamp was used so widely in Israelite households that we would expect the Hebrew text to be more explicit than it is. However, it is probably better to assume that these lamps were also made of gold.

Quoted with permission from Osborn, Noel D. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Exodus. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1999. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .