Exodus 25:31

¹ “You are to make a lampstand ²  of pure gold. The lampstand is to be made of hammered metal; its base and its shaft, its cups, ³  its buds, and its blossoms are to be from the same piece. ⁴ 

"Make a lampstand of pure gold and hammer it out, base and shaft; its flowerlike cups, buds and blossoms shall be of one piece with it.

"Then you shall make a lampstand of pure gold. The lampstand and its base and its shaft are to be made of hammered work; its cups, its bulbs and its flowers shall be of one piece with it.

"Make a lampstand of pure, hammered gold. The entire lampstand and its decorations will be one piece––the base, center stem, lamp cups, buds, and blossoms.

"Make a Lampstand of pure hammered gold. Make its stem and branches, cups, calyxes, and petals all of one piece.

And you are to make a support for lights, of the best gold; its base and its pillar are to be of hammered gold; its cups, its buds, and its flowers are to be made of the same metal.

You shall make a lampstand of pure gold. The base and the shaft of the lampstand shall be made of hammered work; its cups, its calyxes, and its petals shall be of one piece with it;

"You shall also make a lampstand of pure gold; the lampstand shall be of hammered work. Its shaft, its branches, its bowls, its ornamental knobs, and flowers shall be of one piece .

¹ “You are to make a lampstand ²  of pure gold. The lampstand is to be made of hammered metal; its base and its shaft, its cups, ³  its buds, and its blossoms are to be from the same piece. ⁴ 

¹ sn Clearly the point here is to provide light in the tent for access to God. He provided for his worshipers a light for the way to God, but he also wanted them to provide oil for the lamp to ensure that the light would not go out. Verses 31-36 describe the piece. It was essentially one central shaft, with three branches on either side turned out and upward. The stem and the branches were ornamented every so often with gold that was formed into the shape of the calyx and corolla of the almond flower. On top of the central shaft and the six branches were the lamps.

² tn The word is מְנֹרָה (mÿnorah) – here in construct to a following genitive of material. The main piece was one lampstand, but there were seven lamps on the shaft and its branches. See E. Goodenough, “The Menorah among the Jews of the Roman World,” HUCA 23 (1950/51): 449-92.

³ sn U. Cassuto (Exodus, 342-44) says that the description “the cups, knobs and flowers” is explained in vv. 32-36 as three decorations in the form of a cup, shaped like an almond blossom, to be made on one branch. Every cup will have two parts, (a) a knob, that is, the receptacle at the base of the blossom, and (b) a flower, which is called the corolla, so that each lamp rests on top of a flower.

⁴ tn Heb “will be from/of it”; the referent (“the same piece” of wrought metal) has been specified in the translation for clarity.