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Exodus 38:21

in Exodus 38

This is the inventory for the tabernacle, the tabernacle of the Testimony, as recorded at Moses’ command by the Levites under the direction of Ithamar son of Aaron the priest.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV

ASV

This is the sum of the things for the tabernacle, even the tabernacle of the testimony, as they were counted, according to the commandment of Moses, for the service of the Levites, by the hand of Ithamar, the son of Aaron the priest.

KJV

This is the sum of the tabernacle, even of the tabernacle of testimony, as it was counted, according to the commandment of Moses, for the service of the Levites, by the hand of Ithamar, son to Aaron the priest.

This verse in Exodus 38

Commentary

7 notes on this verse

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

This is the sum of the tabernacle--Having completed his description of the component parts of the tabernacle, the inspired historian digresses into a statement respecting the gold and silver employed in it, the computation being made according to an order of Moses--by the Levites, under the direction of Ithamar, Aaron's youngest son.

This site's exposition

This is the sum of the tabernacle

on Exodus 38:21-23

The metals given for the tabernacle are counted and the count is written into the record, taken by Ithamar under Moses' commandment. Bezaleel is named again as the man who made all that the LORD commanded, and Exodus 31:3 is the first place in Scripture that anyone is said to be filled with the Spirit of God, given for cutting stone, working metal and carving wood. He is of Judah and Aholiab is of Dan, so the work is not held by one tribe. The line about doing all that the LORD commanded Moses becomes the refrain of chapters 39 and 40, where it occurs thirteen times.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

The Tabernacle and Its Furniture. 1 And he made the altar of burnt offering of shittim wood: five cubits was the length thereof, and five cubits the breadth thereof; it was foursquare; and three cubits the height thereof.

quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — scripture-overlap:92%@v1-2

A commentator

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)

proposed

By the hand of Ithamar - Here we have a breviate of the account which by Moses's appointment the Levites took and kept of the gold, silver, and brass, that was brought in for the tabernacle's use, and how it was employed. Ithamar the son of Aaron was appointed to draw up this account.
This is the sum of the tabernacle,....

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

proposed

This is the sum of the tabernacle - That is, The foregoing account contains a detail of all the articles which Bezaleel and Aholiab were commanded to make; and which were reckoned up by the Levites, over whom Ithamar, the son of Aaron, presided.
This is the sum ... - “This is the reckoning of the tabernacle, the tabernacle of the Testimony as it was reckoned up according to the commandment of Moses, by the service of the Levites, by the hand of Ithamar,” etc. The weight of the metals was taken by the Levites, under the direction of Ithamar. The tabernacle is called the tabernacle of the testimony, or the depository of the testimony, i. e. the tables of the law Exo 25:16.

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

Scripture uses this expression because the term “Tabernacle” means the curtains of fine-twined linen, which are so called both when the command was given. And thou shalt make the Tabernacle of ten curtains (above,:1).
Ramban: Spain, 1194–1270 · Ramban on Exodus 38:21:1, via Sefaria, Commentary on the Torah by Ramban (Nachmanides). Translated and annotated by Charles B. Chavel. New York, Shilo Pub. House, 1971-1976

This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.

Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 6 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.

The words behind it

17 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • אֵ֣לֶּהthese

    ʾelehH428746 times

  • פְקוּדֵ֤י[were] [the] expenses of

    fekudeiH6485303 times

  • הַמִּשְׁכָּן֙the tabernacle

    hamishkanH4908139 times

  • מִשְׁכַּ֣ן[the] tabernacle of

    mishkanH4908139 times

  • הָעֵדֻ֔תthe testimony

    haedutH571559 times

  • אֲשֶׁ֥רwhich

    ʾasherH8345497 times

  • פֻּקַּ֖דit was recorded

    pukadH6485303 times

  • עַל־on

    ʾal-H59215755 times

  • פִּ֣י[the] mouth of

    piH6310498 times

  • מֹשֶׁ֑הMoses

    moshehH4872765 times

  • עֲבֹדַת֙[the] service of

    ʾavodatH5656145 times

  • הַלְוִיִּ֔םthe Levites

    halviyimH3881291 times

  • בְּיַד֙by [the] hand of

    beyadH30271618 times

  • אִֽיתָמָ֔רIthamar

    ʾitamarH38521 times

  • בֶּֽן־[the] son of

    ben-H11214930 times

  • אַהֲרֹ֖ןAaron

    ʾaharonH175347 times

  • הַכֹּהֵֽן׃the priest

    hakohenH3548750 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Numbers 9:15

    On the day that the tabernacle, the Tent of the Testimony, was set up, the cloud covered it and appeared like fire above the tabernacle from evening until morning.

    it leads to

    • Exodus 13:21

      And the LORD went before them in a pillar of cloud to guide their way by day, and in a pillar of fire to give them light by night, so that they could travel…

    • Exodus 40:34

      Then the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.

    • Nehemiah 9:19

      You in Your great compassion did not forsake them in the wilderness. By day the pillar of cloud never turned away from guiding them on their path; and by the night the pillar of…

  • Through

    Acts 7:44

    Our fathers had the tabernacle of the Testimony with them in the wilderness. It was constructed exactly as God had directed Moses, according to the pattern he had seen.

    it leads to

    • Exodus 25:40

      See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.

  • Through

    Numbers 1:53

    But the Levites are to camp around the tabernacle of the Testimony and watch over it, so that no wrath will fall on the congregation of Israel. So the Levites are responsible for the…

    it leads to

    • Numbers 16:46

      Moses said to Aaron, “Take your censer, place fire from the altar in it, and add incense. Go quickly to the congregation and make atonement for them, because wrath has come out from the…

    • Leviticus 10:6

      Then Moses said to Aaron and his sons Eleazar and Ithamar, “Do not let your hair become disheveled and do not tear your garments, or else you will die, and the LORD will be…

    • 1 Chronicles 23:32

      So the Levites were to carry out the responsibilities for the Tent of Meeting and the Holy Place, and, under their brothers the descendants of Aaron, the service of the house of the LORD.

  • Through

    2 Chronicles 24:6

    So the king called Jehoiada the high priest and said, “Why have you not required the Levites to bring from Judah and Jerusalem the tax imposed by Moses the servant of the LORD and…

    it leads to

    • Exodus 30:12–16

      “When you take a census of the Israelites to number them, each man must pay the LORD a ransom for his life when he is counted. Then no plague will come upon them when…

Where this verse is studied

About Exodus

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.