Exodus 30:34

The Lord said to Moses: “Take ¹  spices, gum resin, ²  onycha, ³  galbanum, ⁴  and pure frankincense ⁵  of equal amounts ⁶ 

Ex 25:6; Ex 30:23; Ex 37:29; Le 2:1,15; Le 5:11; Le 24:7; 1Ch 9:29,30; Ne 13:5; So 3:6; Mt 2:11

¹ tn The construction is “take to you,” which could be left in that literal sense, but more likely the suffix is an ethical dative, stressing the subject of the imperative.

² sn This is from a word that means “to drip”; the spice is a balsam that drips from a resinous tree.

³ sn This may be a plant, or it may be from a species of mollusks; it is mentioned in Ugaritic and Akkadian; it gives a pungent odor when burnt.

⁴ sn This is a gum from plants of the genus Ferula; it has an unpleasant odor, but when mixed with others is pleasant.

⁵ tn The word “spice is repeated here, suggesting that the first three formed half of the ingredient and this spice the other half – but this is conjecture (U. Cassuto, Exodus, 400).

⁶ tn Heb “of each part there will be an equal part.”