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LXX Exodus

Septuagint

About this book
Chapter 40

1 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 On the first day of the first month, at the new moon, you shall set up the tabernacle of witness, 3 and you shall place in it the ark of the testimony, and shall cover the ark with the veil, 4 and you shall bring in the table and shall set forth that which is to be set forth on it; and you shall bring in the candlestick and place its lamps on it. 5 And you shall place the golden altar, to burn incense before the ark; and you shall put a covering of a veil on the door of the tabernacle of witness. 6 And you shall put the altar of burnt offerings by the doors of the tabernacle of witness, 7  8 and you shall set up the tabernacle all around, and you shall hallow all that belongs to it all around. 9 And you shall take the anointing oil, and shall anoint the tabernacle, and all things in it; and shall sanctify it, and all its furniture, and it shall be holy. 10 And you shall anoint the altar of burnt offerings, and all its furniture; and you shall hallow the altar, and the altar shall be most holy. 11  12 And you shall bring Aaron and his sons to the doors of the tabernacle of witness, and you shall wash them with water. 13 And you shall put on Aaron the holy garments, and you shall anoint him, and you shall sanctify him, and he shall minister to me as priest. 14 And you shall bring up his sons, and shall put tunics on them. 15 And you shall anoint them as you anointed their father, and they shall minister to me as priests; and it shall be that they shall have an everlasting anointing of priesthood, throughout their generations. 16 And Moses did all things whatever the Lord commanded him, so he did. 17 And it happened in the first month, in the second year after their going forth out of Egypt, at the new moon, that the tabernacle was set up. 18 And Moses set up the tabernacle, and put on the capitals, and put the bars into their places, and set up the posts. 19 And he stretched out the curtains over the tabernacle, and put the veil of the tabernacle on it above as the Lord commanded Moses. 20 And he took the testimonies, and put them into the ark; and he put the carrying poles under the ark. 21 And he brought the ark into the tabernacle, and put on it the covering of the veil, and covered the ark of the testimony, as the Lord commanded Moses. 22 And he put the table in the tabernacle of witness, on the north side outside the veil of the tabernacle. 23 And he put on it the show bread before the Lord, as the Lord commanded Moses. 24 And he put the candlestick into the tabernacle of witness, on the side of the tabernacle toward the south. 25 And he put on it its lamps before the Lord, as the Lord had commanded Moses. 26 And he put the golden altar in the tabernacle of witness before the veil; 27 and he burnt on it incense of composition, as the Lord commanded Moses. 28  29 And he put the altar of the burnt offerings by the doors of the tabernacle. 30  31  32  33 And he set up the court all around the tabernacle and the altar; and Moses accomplished all the works. 34 And the cloud covered the tabernacle of witness,⁠ and the tabernacle was filled with the glory of the Lord. 35 And Moses was not able to enter into the tabernacle of testimony, because the cloud overshadowed it,⁠ and the tabernacle was filled with the glory of the Lord.⁠ 36 And when the cloud went up from the tabernacle, the children of Israel prepared to depart with their baggage. 37 And if the cloud did not go up, they did not prepare to depart, till the day when the cloud went up. 38 For a cloud was on the tabernacle by day, and fire was on it by night before all Israel, in all their journeyings.

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Compare Exodus 40:35 and LXX Exodus 40:35

Hebrew Bible · Septuagint

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Summary

Exodus 40 says God’s presence filled the tabernacle so fully that Moses could not enter. The Greek Septuagint changes this to say the cloud “overshadowed” the tent, reshaping it to stress God’s transcendence while trying to keep a sense of nearness.

Passages

Exodus 40:35

Hebrew Bible
34 Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. 35 Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled on it and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. 36 But when the cloud was lifted up from the tabernacle, the Israelites would set out on all their journeys;
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Exodus

LXX Exodus 40:35

Septuagint
34 And the cloud covered the tabernacle of witness, and the tabernacle was filled with the glory of the Lord. 35 And Moses was not able to enter into the tabernacle of testimony, because the cloud overshadowed it, and the tabernacle was filled with the glory of the Lord. 36 And when the cloud went up from the tabernacle, the children of Israel prepared to depart with their baggage.
300–201 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in LXX Exodus

References

"... In the Septuagint of Exodus, the idea of God’s dwelling in Exodus 25:7 is replaced by the notion of God’s appearance and in Exodus 29:45 by the motive of human invocation of God. The connection of “dwelling” with the glory of God is replaced in Exodus 24:16 by the motif of descending and in Exodus 40:35 by the motif of overshadowing. Critical examination of these changes suggests they are the conscious work of the translator. Due to this emphasis of God’s transcendence, any definition of physicality or containment of God is avoided ..."
Martin Meiser, The Septuagint and Its Reception: Collected Essays (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2022), 144.

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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Exodus 40:35 and LXX Exodus 40:35

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