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LXX Exodus

Septuagint

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Chapter 25

1 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 Speak to the children of Israel, and take for me first fruits from all who may be disposed in their heart to give; and you shall take my first fruits. 3 And this is the offering which you shall take of them; gold and silver and brass, 4 and blue, and purple, and double scarlet, and fine spun linen, and goats' hair, 5 and rams' skins dyed red, and blue skins, and incorruptible wood, 6  7 and sardius stones, and stones for the carved work for the shoulder-piece, and the full-length robe. 8 And you shall make me a sanctuary, and I will appear among you.⁠ 9 And you shall make for me according to all things which I show you in the mountain; even the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all its furniture: so you will make it. 10 And you shall make the ark of testimony of incorruptible wood; the length of two cubits and a half, and the breadth of a cubit and a half, and the height of a cubit and a half. 11 And you shall gild it with pure gold, you shall gild it outside and inside; and you shall make for it golden wreaths twisted all around. 12 And you shall cast for it four golden rings, and shall put them on the four sides; two rings on the one side, and two rings on the other side. 13 And you shall make carrying poles of incorruptible wood, and shall gild them with gold. 14 And you shall put the carrying poles into the rings on the sides of the ark, to bear the ark with them. 15 The carrying poles shall remain fixed in the rings of the ark. 16 And you shall put into the ark the testimonies which I shall give you. 17 And you shall make a propitiatory, a lid of pure gold; the length of two cubits and a half, and the breadth of a cubit and a half. 18 And you shall make two cherubs carved in gold, and you shall put them on both sides of the propitiatory. 19 They shall be made, one cherub on this side, and another cherub on the other side of the propitiatory; and you shall make the two cherubs on the two sides. 20 The cherubs shall stretch forth their wings above, overshadowing the propitiatory with their wings; and their faces shall be toward each other, the faces of the cherubs shall be toward the propitiatory. 21 And you shall set the propitiatory on the ark above, and you shall put into the ark the testimonies which I shall give you. 22 And I will make myself known to you from there, and I will speak to you above the propitiatory between the two cherubs, which are upon the ark of testimony, even in all things which I shall charge you concerning the children of Israel. 23 And you shall make a table of pure gold, in length two cubits, and in breadth a cubit, and in height a cubit and a half.⁠ 24 And you shall make for it golden wreaths twisted all around. 25 And you shall make for it a crown of a hand-breadth all around, and you shall make a twisted wreath for the crown all around. 26 And you shall make four golden rings; and you shall put the four rings upon the four parts of its feet 27 under the crown; and the rings shall be for bearings for the carrying poles, that they may bear the table with them. 28 And you shall make the carrying poles of incorruptible wood, and you shall gild them with pure gold; and the table shall be borne with them. 29 And you shall make its dishes and its censers, and its bowls, and its cups, with which you shall offer drink-offerings: of pure gold you will make them. 30 And you shall set upon the table show bread before me continually. 31 And you shall make a candlestick of pure gold; you shall make the candlestick of carved work: its stem and its branches, and its bowls and its knops and its lilies shall be of one piece. 32 And six branches proceeding sideways, three branches of the candlestick from one side of it, and three branches of the candlestick from the other side. 33 And three bowls fashioned like almonds, on each branch a knop and a lily; so to the six branches proceeding from the candlestick, 34 and in the candlestick four bowls fashioned like almonds, in each branch knops and the flowers of the same. 35 A knop under two branches out of it, and a knop under four branches out of it; so to the six branches proceeding from the candlestick. 36 Let the knops and the branches be of one piece, altogether carved of one piece of pure gold. 37 And you shall make its seven lamps: and you shall set on it the lamps, and they shall shine from one front. 38 And you shall make its funnel and its snuff-dishes of pure gold. 39 All these articles shall be a talent of pure gold. 40 See, you shall make them according to the pattern shown you in the mount.⁠

Texts in conversation

Compare LXX Exodus 25:23 and Letter of Aristeas 57

Septuagint · Pseudepigrapha, Hebrew Bible Expansions

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Summary

The Greek Septuagint translation of Exodus 25 gives the size of the tabernacle table, made of pure gold. In the Letter of Aristeas, Ptolemy builds his gift table to the same measurements, using language similar to the Greek version of Exodus.

Passages

LXX Exodus 25:23

Septuagint
23 And you shall make a table of pure gold, in length two cubits, and in breadth a cubit, and in height a cubit and a half. 24 And you shall make for it golden wreaths twisted all around. 25 And you shall make for it a crown of a hand-breadth all around, and you shall make a twisted wreath for the crown all around. 26 And you shall make four golden rings; and you shall put the four rings upon the four parts of its feet 27 under the crown; and the rings shall be for bearings for the carrying poles, that they may bear the table with them. 28 And you shall make the carrying poles of incorruptible wood, and you shall gild them with pure gold; and the table shall be borne with them.
300–201 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in LXX Exodus

Letter of Aristeas 57

Pseudepigrapha, Hebrew Bible Expansions · Letter of Aristeas to Philocrates
measure. At the same time he ordered them to press into service all the manifold forms of art, for he was a man of the most lofty conceptions and nature had endowed him with a keen imagination which enabled him to picture the appearance which would be presented by the finished work. He gave orders too, that where there were no instructions laid down in the Jewish Scriptures, everything should be made as beautiful as possible. When such instructions were laid down, they were to be carried out to the letter. They made the table two cubits long (one cubit broad) one and a half cubits high, fashioning it of pure solid gold. What I am describing was not thin gold laid over another foundation, but the whole
200–150 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in the Letter of Aristeas

References

“... The incorporation of scriptural detail from Chapter 25 of the book of Exodus into the lengthy ekphrasis, which describes the furniture made by the King as a gift to the High Priest, sums up well the double perspective of the Letter of Aristeas. [...] This passage includes some of the language of LXX Septuagint 25.23 and 26–8, on which (or a precursor of it) Aristeas is clearly dependent. ...”
Tessa Rajak, Translation and Survival: The Greek Bible of the Ancient Jewish Diaspora (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009), 54.
“... The description of the table goes way beyond the plan that God gives to Moses in the Septuagint of Exodus 25. There the instructions take up a scant three verses. It is not clear the extent to which Ps-Aristeas depends on the account in the Septuagint of Exodus for his description, since in the fifteen paragraphs that he devotes to the table, only a few words and phrases overlap with Exodus, all of them in §§ 57–58. [...] Whereas Ps.-Aristeas certainly knows Greek translations of the Pentateuch, his purpose in this section owes more to his rhetorical use of ekphrasis – that is, creating a stunning vision that will produce awe in his readers – than to any dependence on LXX Exodus. ...”
Benjamin G. Wright III, The Letter of Aristeas: ‘Aristeas to Philocrates’ or ‘On the Translation of the Law of the Jews’ (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2015), 185.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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LXX Exodus 25:23 and Letter of Aristeas 57

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