Exodus 38:21–31, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
Exodus 38:21–31
The Materials Are Audited
The sum of the tabernacle, by Ithamar's hand
This is the sum of the tabernacle of testimony, counted at Moses' commandment for the Levites' service, by Ithamar son of Aaron. Bezalel of Judah and Oholiab of Dan are named again as the makers.
Gold of the offering, silver of the numbered, brass of the sockets
Gold occupied for the holy work is twenty-nine talents and seven hundred thirty shekels. Silver from those numbered is a hundred talents and 1,775 shekels: a bekah, a half-shekel, from 603,550 men twenty years old and up. The hundred talents cast the sockets; the remaining silver makes hooks, overlay of capitals, and fillets. Brass is seventy talents and 2,400 shekels for sockets of the door, the altar, vessels, pins, and court.
Resource accounting belongs to completion. The equal census silver of 30:11–16 reappears as sockets you can count. Numbers here are an audit, not a boast, and not a modern census to copy uncritically.
How this should shape us
Publish the metals, who counted them, and what they became. A sacred project without an inventory is asking to become a rumor about missing gold.
Teach it back
Explain Exodus 38:21–31 in your own words. Include both movements, its place in Exodus, one historical or compositional uncertainty, one affected person or group, and one conclusion the complete context rules out.
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Go deeper
The explanation above is meant to stand on its own. Open these notes only if you want language, history, disagreements, or source locations.
Where careful interpreters disagreeThe strongest options and their difficulties
Where do careful interpreters disagree?
Best judgment: Careful interpreters agree that the received text states the following: Ithamar oversees an inventory naming Bezalel and Oholiab and accounting for gold, silver redemption money, bronze, bases, hooks, vessels, and pegs. They disagree over source layers, date, historical recovery, archaeology, Hebrew details, ritual development, legal use, and canonical relationship in different proportions; this study treats the final form directly while marking those alternatives as probable or uncertain rather than settled fact.
How certain? probableResearch trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section
Supports: Exact KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage for this thought unit.
Exodus 38:21–31, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording, morphology, names, speech, law, ritual vocabulary, older-English controls, and translation limits.
Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Exod.xml, words and morphology for 38:21–31
Supports: Unit-bounded Hebrew, syntax, lexical, textual, name, measure, legal, ritual, and older-English notes; silence is not evidence.
NET Bible Exodus PDF, complete 127-page PDF, translation and verse-attached translator notes for 38:21–31
Supports: Mountain location uncertainty, covenant and treaty comparison, source plurality, mediation, Decalogue, covenant blood, and priestly dwelling instruction.
Yale Bible Study, 'Sinai,' complete study guide pp. 1–6, covenant, Moses and the mountain, Decalogue, Exodus 24, and tabernacle framing; applied to Exodus 38:21–31
Supports: Architectural and ritual comparanda, pattern language, movement, possible historical models, and explicit reconstruction limits.
Homan, 'The Tabernacle in Its Ancient Near Eastern Context,' complete article sections on form, furnishings, shown pattern, temple-building parallels, portability, and historical-versus-literary models; applied to Exodus 38:21–31
Supports: Material-source theology, skilled labor, voluntary gifts, half-shekel assessment, manufactured holiness, and the limits of idealized production language.
Ben-Dov, 'The Materiality of a Divine Dwelling,' complete article sections on Exodus 20 and 25–40, donated and assessed materials, craft, manufactured objects, and divine presence; applied to Exodus 38:21–31
Sources for This Section
These records identify the source, the claim it supports, and the exact location used. A source remains evidence to evaluate; it does not replace the biblical text.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage for this thought unit.
Exact location: Exodus 38:21–31, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Exodus
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording, morphology, names, speech, law, ritual vocabulary, older-English controls, and translation limits.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Exod.xml, words and morphology for 38:21–31
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: Exodus with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
eBible.org distribution of the NET Bible, PDF generated 2026-08-12
Supports: Unit-bounded Hebrew, syntax, lexical, textual, name, measure, legal, ritual, and older-English notes; silence is not evidence.
Exact location: NET Bible Exodus PDF, complete 127-page PDF, translation and verse-attached translator notes for 38:21–31
Open source ↗open university course study guide
Sinai Study Guide
Joel S. Baden and John J. Collins
Yale Bible Study, 2019 course edition
Supports: Mountain location uncertainty, covenant and treaty comparison, source plurality, mediation, Decalogue, covenant blood, and priestly dwelling instruction.
Exact location: Yale Bible Study, 'Sinai,' complete study guide pp. 1–6, covenant, Moses and the mountain, Decalogue, Exodus 24, and tabernacle framing; applied to Exodus 38:21–31
Open source ↗ancient near eastern comparative architecture study
The Tabernacle in Its Ancient Near Eastern Context
Michael M. Homan
TheTorah.com, 2018
Supports: Architectural and ritual comparanda, pattern language, movement, possible historical models, and explicit reconstruction limits.
Exact location: Homan, 'The Tabernacle in Its Ancient Near Eastern Context,' complete article sections on form, furnishings, shown pattern, temple-building parallels, portability, and historical-versus-literary models; applied to Exodus 38:21–31
Open source ↗modern jewish scholarly material and literary study
The Materiality of a Divine Dwelling
Jonathan Ben-Dov
TheTorah.com, 2017
Supports: Material-source theology, skilled labor, voluntary gifts, half-shekel assessment, manufactured holiness, and the limits of idealized production language.
Exact location: Ben-Dov, 'The Materiality of a Divine Dwelling,' complete article sections on Exodus 20 and 25–40, donated and assessed materials, craft, manufactured objects, and divine presence; applied to Exodus 38:21–31
Open source ↗