Exodus 30:34

And the LORD said unto Moses, Take unto thee sweet spices, stacte, and onycha, and galbanum; these sweet spices with pure frankincense: of each shall there be a like weight:

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
LORD	יְהוָ֨ה Yah.weh	H3068	Jehovah · proper noun, a title
said	וַיֹּאמֶר֩ vai.yo.Mer	H559	to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
Moses	מֹשֶׁ֜ה mo.Sheh	H4872	Mosheh · proper noun, a man's name
Take	קַח kach-	H3947	to take (in the widest variety of applications) · verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine singular
spices	סַמִּ֗ים sa.Mim	H5561	an aroma · noun, common masculine plural absolute
stacte	נָטָ֤ף na.Taf	H5198	a drop · noun, common masculine singular absolute
onycha	וּשְׁחֵ֙לֶת֙ u.she.Che.let	H7827	a scale or shell · conjunction + noun, common feminine singular absolute
galbanum	וְחֶלְבְּנָ֔ה ve.chel.be.Nah	H2464	galbanam · conjunction + noun, common feminine singular absolute
sweet	סַמִּ֖ים sa.Mim	H5561	an aroma · noun, common masculine plural absolute
spices	סַם çam	H5561	an aroma
pure	זַכָּ֑ה za.Kah	H2134	clear · adjective, feminine singular absolute
frankincense	וּלְבֹנָ֣ה u.le.vo.Nah	H3828	frankincense (from its whiteness or perhaps that of its… · conjunction + noun, common feminine singular absolute
each	בַּ֥ד bad	H905	properly · noun, common masculine singular absolute
like	בְּבַ֖ד be.Vad	H905	properly · preposition + noun, common masculine singular absolute

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Exodus 37:29 And he made the holy anointing oil, and the pure incense of sweet spices, according to the work of the apothecary.
Exodus 25:6 Oil for the light, spices for anointing oil, and for sweet incense,
Exodus 30:23 Take thou also unto thee principal spices, of pure myrrh five hundred shekels, and of sweet cinnamon half so much, even two hundred and fift…
Leviticus 2:15 And thou shalt put oil upon it, and lay frankincense thereon: it is a meat offering.
Leviticus 2:1 And when any will offer a meat offering unto the LORD, his offering shall be of fine flour; and he shall pour oil upon it, and put frankince…
Leviticus 5:11 But if he be not able to bring two turtledoves, or two young pigeons, then he that sinned shall bring for his offering the tenth part of an…
Leviticus 24:7 And thou shalt put pure frankincense upon each row, that it may be on the bread for a memorial, even an offering made by fire unto the LORD.
Nehemiah 13:5 And he had prepared for him a great chamber, where aforetime they laid the meat offerings, the frankincense, and the vessels, and the tithes…

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Exodus 30:22–end

Directions are here given for the composition of the holy anointing oil and the incense that were to be used in the service of the tabernacle; with these God was to be honoured, and therefore he would appoint the making of them; for nothing comes to God but what comes from him. 1. The holy anointing oil is here ordered to be made up the ingredients, and their quantities, are prescribed, Exo 30:23-25. Interpreters are not agreed concerning them; we are sure, in general, they were the best and fittest for the purpose; they must needs be so when the divine wisdom appointed them for the divine honour. It was to be compounded secundum artem - after the art of the apothecary (Exo 30:25); the spice…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Exodus 30:34

the Lord said unto Moses, Take unto thee sweet spices--These were: stacte--the finest myrrh; onycha--supposed to be an odoriferous shell; galbanum--a gum resin from an umbelliferous plant. frankincense--a dry, resinous, aromatic gum, of a yellow color, which comes from a tree in Arabia, and is obtained by incision of the bark. This incense was placed within the sanctuary, to be at hand when the priest required to burn on the altar. The art of compounding unguents and perfumes was well known in Egypt, where sweet-scented spices were extensively used not only in common life, but in the ritual of the temples. Most of the ingredients here mentioned have been found on minute examination o…

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Adam Clarke on Exodus 30:34

Take unto thee sweet spices - The holy perfume was compounded of the following ingredients: Stacte - נטף nataph, supposed to be the same with what was afterwards called the balm of Jericho. Stacte is the gum which spontaneously flows from the tree which produces myrrh. See Clarke's note on Exo 30:23. Onycha - שחלת shecheleth, allowed by the best critics to be the unguis odoriferans described by Rumph, which is the external crust of the shell-fish purpura or murex, and is the basis of the principal perfumes made in the East Indies. Galbanum - חלבנה chelbenah, the bubon gummiferum or African ferula; it rises with a ligneous stalk from eight to ten feet, and is garnished with leaves at each joi…

The Church Fathers

What he orders concerning the aromas with which the timiama or incense should be made, and the mandate that it be made, according to the art of the perfumer, a perfumed ointment, is not to be interpreted in the sense of making an ointment, that is, something with which he anointed himself, but, as has been said, the timiama or incense to be placed on that altar of incense, where it was not lawful to offer sacrifices and was inside the saint of saints.
— Augustine of Hippo, QUESTIONS ON EXODUS, Q. 136 (tr. J. Litteral, draft)

"You shall not offer upon it incense of another composition." Later in this book the spices from which this incense was to be composed are specified by name: stacte, and onycha, galbanum of pleasing fragrance, and the purest frankincense. It is obvious that all of these signify the eternal goods which we ought to seek from the Lord before anything else. Consequently upon the altar of gold they were not supposed to offer incense of any composition other than that which the Lord had decreed, because when we pray we ought to seek from the Lord nothing other than that which he himself has commanded and has promised to give us. And we ought to believe nothing concerning him other than that which he himself has taught.
— Bede, On the Tabernacle 3.12, AT EXODUS 30:9

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Frankincense — (Heb. lebonah; Gr. libanos, i.e., “white”), an odorous resin imported from Arabia (Isa. 60:6; Jer. 6:20), yet also growing in Palestine (Cant. 4:14). It was one of the ingredients in the perfume of…
Galbanum — Heb. helbenah, (Ex. 30:34), one of the ingredients in the holy incense. It is a gum, probably from the Galbanum officinale.
Incense — A fragrant composition prepared by the “art of the apothecary.” It consisted of four ingredients “beaten small” (Ex. 30:34-36). That which was not thus prepared was called “strange incense” (30:9).…
Onycha — A nail; claw; hoof, (Heb. sheheleth; Ex. 30:34), a Latin word applied to the operculum, i.e., the claw or nail of the strombus or wing-shell, a univalve common in the Red Sea. The opercula of these…
Perfumes — Were used in religious worship, and for personal and domestic enjoyment (Ex. 30:35-37; Prov. 7:17; Cant. 3:6; Isa. 57:9); and also in embalming the dead, and in other funeral ceremonies (Mark 14:8;…
Spices — Aromatic substances, of which several are named in Ex. 30. They were used in the sacred anointing oil (Ex. 25:6; 35:8; 1 Chr. 9:29), and in embalming the dead (2 Chr. 16:14; Luke 23:56; 24:1; John…
Stacte — (Heb. nataph), one of the components of the perfume which was offered on the golden altar (Ex. 30:34; R.V. marg., “opobalsamum”). The Hebrew word is from a root meaning “to distil,” and it has been…
Frankincense · An ingredient of the sacred oil — An ingredient of the sacred oil
Galbanum · A fragrant gum used in the sacred oil — A fragrant gum used in the sacred oil
Incense · Formula for compounding — Formula for compounding
Onycha · species of mussel, possessing an odor

Exodus 30:34

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Exodus 30:22–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Exodus 30:34

Adam Clarke on Exodus 30:34

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Exodus 30:34

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Exodus 30:22–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Exodus 30:34

Adam Clarke on Exodus 30:34

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John Gill on Exodus 30:34

John Calvin on Exodus 30:34–end

Keil & Delitzsch on Exodus 30:34–end

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Exodus 30:33

Rashi on Exodus 30:34