עשו בגדי שרד, “they made into sacramental vestments.” Each garment was composed of a different kind of fabric. How did this work out? All the coverings needed to transport the Tabernacle’s furnishings in, such as the candlestick, the table, the golden altar, the laver, etc., were made totally of blue wool, תכלת. For instance, the coverings for the copper altar were made of red wool, (Numbers 4,13), and the covers for the Table and the showbreads were made of purple coloured wool, (Numbers 4,8). All the details have been spelled out in the Book of Numbers chapter 4.

ויעשו את אבני השהם, “they “made,” i.e. arranged the onyx stones;” the root עשה is also used in this sense elsewhere, as in Genesis 18,7: וימהר לעשות אותו, “he hastened to prepare it.”

על שני קצות החשן, “at the two ends of the breastplate.” Here the Torah used the preposition: על whereas in Exodus 28,24, it used the preposition: אל.

ולא יזה החשן, “so that the breastplate would not come loose;” this is a present tense.

פארי המגבעות, “the decorated turbans;” Rav Hai Gaon explains that the word means something that looks like an ornament in the shape of a pomegranate on top of the headgear.

ותכל כל עבודת, “thus was completed all the work;” according to our sages the work was completed on the 25th day in the month of Kislev, the day we commence to celebrate the festival of Chanukkah.

את המנורה הטהורה, “the candlestick, the pure one.” The reason why the Torah added the adjective “the pure one,” is because no sacrificial blood was ever sprinkled on the candlestick so that it remained ritually pure.

נרות המערכה, “the lamps in its proper order;” the expression מערכה or its equivalent יערוך, “he would do so in proper order,” first occurred in Exodus 27,21 where the functions of the priests are discussed. Alternately, it may allude to the showbreads which were arranged in order on the table and illuminated by the lamps of the candlestick.

“and the anointing oil” The author does not understand why this oil is mentioned here. He already discussed this question above (37,29).

את מיתריו ויתדותיה, “its cords and its pegs;” compare a similar mixture of masculine and feminine in 35,17.

כן עשו בני ישראל את כל העבודה, “so the Israelites had done all the work;” the Mishnah in tractate Sotah folio 9 states that as soon as Solomon’s temple was completed the Tabernacle and all its appurtenances were hidden. To the question where it was hidden, the Talmud replied that it was “stored” beneath the cavities of the Sanctuary.