What Does Exodus 35:35 Mean?
He has filled them with wisdom of heart, to work all manner of work, of the carver, and of the designer, and of the embroiderer, in blue, and in purple, in scarlet, and fine linen, and of the weaver, even of those who do any work, and of those who devise designs.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
Them hath he filled with wisdom of heart, to work all manner of work, of the engraver, and of the cunning workman, and of the embroiderer, in blue, and in purple, in scarlet, and in fine linen, and of the weaver, even of them that do any work, and of those that devise cunning work.THE KEY
The verse repeats the root for devising in both the workman’s skill and the designs he makes, showing wisdom as thought taking shape in the world.
THE MEANING
Wisdom here is more than an inward quality: it moves through planning, embroidery, weaving, and skilled work. Your heart’s understanding can become something tangible, shaped with care and imagination.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that wisdom belongs only to abstract thought or words, separate from the skill of making.
THE ROOT
מַחֲשָׁבֹת
machashavot
GROWS FROM
חשב
chashav
To think, reckon, plan, or devise.
“designer” in this verse is machashavot. The verse uses this root for both devising and designs: the skilled worker’s thought takes material form. Elsewhere the same root can mean reckon, linking the making of a design with the mind’s work of ordering.
ALSO GROWS
chashav: Think, reckon, plan, or devise.
חָשַׁב
This verb describes the act of devising in the verse, and its range also includes reckoning.
machashavah: Thought, plan, or design.
מַחֲשָׁבָה
The verse’s plural form, machashavot, names the designs that skilled thought brings into form.
חָכְמָה
chokhmah
GROWS FROM
חכם
ch-k-m
To be wise or skillful.
The word for wisdom can also describe practical skill. Here, wisdom of heart is visible in the ability to plan and carry out intricate work.
ALSO GROWS
chakam: Wise or skillful.
חָכָם
The related word can describe a person whose wisdom is expressed as ability.
chakhmei-lev: Wise-hearted, skilled in heart.
חַכְמֵי־לֵב
This related phrase describes skilled makers elsewhere in Exodus, joining inward wisdom with craft.
THE PATTERN
Wisdom takes form through distinct gifts and skilled work that can serve beyond the person who makes it.
And I have filled him with the breath of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of work.He was a widow's son of the branch of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a carver in bronze. And he was filled with craft, and with discernment, and with perception to work every work in bronze. And he came to king Solomon, and did all his work.As each has received a gift, serve it to one another as good stewards of the many-colored favor of God.THE THREAD
And he leaned his weight on the LORD, and he counted it to him as alignment.The Hebrew word translated counted comes from the same root, חשב, as the designs in this verse. That root spans reckoning and devising, joining the mind’s work of ordering with the skilled hand that gives an idea form.
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