26:31 “You are to make a special curtain 1 of blue, purple, and scarlet yarn and fine twisted linen; it is to be made 2 with cherubim, the work of an artistic designer. 26:32 You are to hang it 3 with gold hooks 4 on four posts of acacia wood overlaid with gold, set in 5 four silver bases. 26:33 You are to hang this curtain under the clasps and bring the ark of the testimony in there behind the curtain. 6 The curtain will make a division for you between the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place. 7
26:36 “You are to make a hanging 8 for the entrance of the tent of blue, purple, and scarlet yarn and fine twined linen, the work of an embroiderer. 9
1 tn Although translated “curtain” (traditionally “veil,” so ASV, NAB, NASB) this is a different word from the one used earlier of the tent curtains, so “special curtain” is used. The word פָרֹכֶת (farokhet) seems to be connected with a verb that means “to shut off” and was used with a shrine. This curtain would form a barrier in the approach to God (see S. R. Driver, Exodus, 289).
2 tn The verb is the third masculine singular form, but no subject is expressed. It could be translated “one will make” or as a passive. The verb means “to make,” but probably has the sense of embroidering both here and in v. 1.
3 tn Heb “put it.”
4 tn This clause simply says “and their hooks gold,” but is taken as a circumstantial clause telling how the veil will be hung.
5 tn Heb “on four silver bases.”
6 tn The traditional expression is “within the veil,” literally “into the house (or area) of the (special) curtain.”
7 tn Or “the Holy of Holies.”
8 sn This was another curtain, serving as a screen in the entrance way. Since it was far away from the special curtain screening the Most Holy Place, it was less elaborate. It was not the work of the master designer, but of the “embroiderer,” and it did not have the cherubim on it.
9 tn The word רֹקֵם (roqem) refers to someone who made cloth with colors. It is not certain, however, whether the colors were woven into the fabric on the loom or applied with a needle; so “embroiderer” should be understood as an approximation (cf. HALOT 1290-91 s.v. רקם).