Chapter Overview
Summary
Exodus 26 details the tabernacle's fabric structure — curtains of linen and goats' hair, frames of acacia wood, silver bases, bars, and the inner veil separating the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place. The chapter's theological weight rests on the veil (katapetasma) that divides the two sanctuaries (26:31–33) — the object torn at Jesus' crucifixion (Matt 27:51, Mark 15:38, Luke 23:45) and named explicitly in Hebrews 6:19, 9:3, and 10:20.
Notable Variants
The inner veil vocabulary at 26:31 (katapetasma) inherited by Heb 6:19 ('behind the veil'), Heb 9:3 ('the second veil'), Heb 10:20 ('through the veil, that is, through his flesh'); the 'pattern shown you on the mountain' refrain at 26:30 repeating the 25:40 typos theology.
Structural Notes
LXX Exodus 26 preserves MT's 37-verse structure. The Greek order of 25–31 (instructions) vs. 35–40 (construction) involves several modest rearrangements across the whole sequence.
"You shall make the tabernacle with ten curtains of finely twisted linen and blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, with cherubim skillfully worked into them.
The ten curtains of finely twisted linen with cherubim-worked designs track MT. The color-palette (blue/hyacinth, purple, scarlet, linen-white) is consistent across all LXX tabernacle-texts.
The length of each curtain shall be twenty-eight cubits, and the width of each curtain four cubits. All the curtains shall be the same size.
Curtain dimensions (28 × 4 cubits) track MT.
Five curtains shall be joined to one another, and the other five curtains shall be joined to one another.
Five-and-five curtain-joining pattern tracks MT.
You shall make loops of blue yarn on the edge of the outermost curtain in the first set, and likewise on the edge of the outermost curtain in the second set.
The blue-yarn loops on curtain edges track MT.
You shall make fifty loops on the one curtain, and fifty loops on the edge of the curtain in the second set, the loops being opposite one another.
Fifty loops on each set, opposite one another, track MT.
You shall make fifty clasps of gold and join the curtains to one another with the clasps, so that the tabernacle forms a single unit.
Fifty gold clasps joining the tabernacle into 'a single unit' (esēi mia) tracks MT. The unity-of-the-tabernacle motif resonates with NT ecclesiological unity language (Eph 4:4–6).
"You shall make curtains of goats' hair for a tent over the tabernacle. You shall make eleven curtains.
The eleven goats'-hair curtains for the tent-over-tabernacle track MT.
The length of each curtain shall be thirty cubits, and the width of each curtain four cubits. The eleven curtains shall be the same size.
Curtain dimensions (30 × 4 cubits) track MT.
You shall join five curtains by themselves and six curtains by themselves, and you shall fold the sixth curtain double at the front of the tent.
The five-and-six folding pattern with the sixth doubled at the tent-front tracks MT.
You shall make fifty loops on the edge of the outermost curtain in one set, and fifty loops on the edge of the curtain in the other set.
Fifty loops on each set track MT.
You shall make fifty clasps of bronze, put the clasps into the loops, and join the tent together so that it forms a single unit.
Fifty bronze clasps — a slightly lesser material than the gold of v. 6 — for the outer layer track MT. The graded-material hierarchy (gold inside, bronze outside) carries through all tabernacle instructions: the closer to the Most Holy Place, the more precious the metal.
The part that hangs over the back of the tabernacle — the extra half-curtain — shall hang over the back.
The extra half-curtain hanging over the back tracks MT.
The extra cubit on each side in the length of the tent curtains shall hang over the sides of the tabernacle, on this side and on that side, to cover it.
The extra-cubit side-covering tracks MT.
You shall make a covering for the tent of rams' skins dyed red, and a covering of fine leather on top of that.
The rams'-skin covering and the fine-leather outer covering track MT. The outer leather covering of the tabernacle is perhaps the reference in 2 Corinthians 5:1 ('our earthly tent [skēnos]') and Hebrews 11:9 (the patriarchs dwelling in tents).
"You shall make upright frames of acacia wood for the tabernacle.
The acacia-wood upright frames track MT.
Each frame shall be ten cubits long and a cubit and a half wide.
Frame dimensions (10 × 1.5 cubits) track MT.
Each frame shall have two tenons joined to one another. You shall make all the frames of the tabernacle this way.
The two-tenon frame construction tracks MT.
You shall make the frames for the tabernacle: twenty frames for the south side.
Twenty frames on the south side track MT.
You shall make forty bases of silver under the twenty frames — two bases under each frame for its two tenons.
Forty silver bases track MT.
For the second side of the tabernacle, on the north side, twenty frames,
Twenty frames on the north side track MT.
with their forty bases of silver — two bases under each frame.
Forty silver bases for the north side track MT.
For the back of the tabernacle, on the west side, you shall make six frames.
Six frames for the west back track MT.
You shall make two frames for the corners of the tabernacle at the back.
Two corner frames track MT.
They shall be joined at the bottom and coupled at the top in a single ring. Both of them shall be this way; they shall form the two corners.
The bottom-joined / top-coupled corner construction tracks MT.
There shall be eight frames with their bases of silver — sixteen bases, two bases under each frame.
Eight frames with sixteen silver bases track MT.
"You shall make bars of acacia wood: five for the frames on one side of the tabernacle,
The acacia-wood bars track MT.
five bars for the frames on the other side of the tabernacle, and five bars for the frames on the back side of the tabernacle, to the west.
Five bars on each side and five at the back track MT.
The middle bar, halfway up the frames, shall run from end to end.
The middle bar running end-to-end tracks MT — structurally the central horizontal member of the tabernacle's frame.
You shall overlay the frames with gold and make their rings of gold as holders for the bars, and you shall overlay the bars with gold.
The gold-overlaid frames and bars track MT.
You shall set up the tabernacle according to the plan that was shown you on the mountain.
Masoretic (WLC)
וַהֲקֵמֹתָ אֶת־הַמִּשְׁכָּן כְּמִשְׁפָּטוֹ אֲשֶׁר הָרְאֵיתָ בָּהָר
You shall set up the tabernacle according to the plan that was shown you on the mountain
Septuagint (LXX)
καὶ ἀναστήσεις τὴν σκηνὴν κατὰ τὸ εἶδος τὸ δεδειγμένον σοι ἐν τῷ ὄρει
You shall set up the tabernacle according to the form shown you on the mountain
The second occurrence (with 25:40) of the 'according to the pattern shown you on the mountain' refrain. Here LXX uses eidos ('form') rather than the typos of 25:40.
The consistent theology of both passages — and of 27:8 where the altar-instructions repeat it — is that earthly worship is a copy of heavenly realities. Hebrews 8:5 builds its whole argument on this Exodus-refrain.
"You shall make a veil of blue, purple, and scarlet yarn and finely twisted linen, with cherubim skillfully worked into it.
Masoretic (WLC)
וְעָשִׂיתָ פָרֹכֶת תְּכֵלֶת וְאַרְגָּמָן וְתוֹלַעַת שָׁנִי
You shall make a veil of blue, purple, and scarlet yarn and finely twisted linen, with cherubim skillfully worked into it
Septuagint (LXX)
καὶ ποιήσεις καταπέτασμα ἐξ ὑακίνθου καὶ πορφύρας καὶ κοκκίνου κεκλωσμένου
You shall make a veil of hyacinth, purple, and twisted scarlet
KATAPETASMA. The LXX's consistent rendering of parokhet as katapetasma is the word that every Gospel uses for the veil torn at the crucifixion (Matt 27:51, Mark 15:38, Luke 23:45).
Hebrews names this veil explicitly: Heb 6:19 ('a hope that enters behind the veil'), Heb 9:3 ('behind the second veil was a tent called the Most Holy Place'), Heb 10:20 ('through the veil, that is, through his flesh, the new and living way').
The Hebrews 10:20 move — identifying the veil with Christ's flesh — is the boldest Christological reading of the tabernacle furniture anywhere in the NT. It depends entirely on the LXX katapetasma for its textual hook.
You shall hang it on four pillars of acacia overlaid with gold, with hooks of gold, on four bases of silver.
The four acacia pillars with gold overlay, gold hooks, silver bases track MT.
You shall hang the veil from the clasps, and you shall bring the ark of the Testimony in there behind the veil. The veil shall separate for you the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place.
The veil-from-clasps hanging and the ark placement 'behind the veil' tracks MT. 'Behind the veil' is the exact LXX phrase Hebrews 6:19 uses: 'entering behind the veil where Jesus has gone as a forerunner for us.' The separation of Holy Place from Most Holy Place (hagia / hagia tōn hagiōn) becomes Hebrews' whole two-tabernacle theology.
You shall put the atonement cover on the ark of the Testimony in the Most Holy Place.
The atonement-cover (hilastērion) on the ark in the Most Holy Place tracks MT — the absolute cultic center.
You shall set the table outside the veil, and the lampstand on the south side of the tabernacle opposite the table. You shall place the table on the north side.
Table-outside-the-veil and lampstand-opposite-table placement tracks MT. The furniture-arrangement becomes the stage for Hebrews 9:2's list of the Holy Place contents.
"You shall make a screen for the entrance of the tent, of blue, purple, and scarlet yarn and finely twisted linen, the work of an embroiderer.
The tent-entrance screen (embroidered blue/purple/scarlet linen) tracks MT.
You shall make for the screen five pillars of acacia and overlay them with gold. Their hooks shall be of gold, and you shall cast five bases of bronze for them.
Five pillars of acacia overlaid with gold, with bronze bases (bronze rather than silver for the outer screen — the material-hierarchy again) track MT.