complete verse (Exodus 37:24)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Exodus 37:24:

  • Kupsabiny: “He used thirty-four kilos of pure gold to make the thing the lamps stood on and everything that went with the lamps.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “They made a lampstand and its needed materials from about thirty-four kilograms pure gold” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “About 35 kilogram of pure gold were used to make the place-to-put the light and all the things-for-use of-it.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Bariai: “All the gol for the lams stand and its things, its heaviness amounted to about thirty-four kilo.” (Source: Bariai Back Translation)
  • Opo: “These many things, lampstand with its things, they make it with kilo gold which be 35.” (Source: Opo Back Translation)
  • English: “He used 75 pounds/35 kg. of pure gold to make the lampstand and all the things that were used to take care of it.” (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 .