This is an assembly made up of several smaller fragments and contains two columns of a scroll. The Right side is Exodus 30:13-18 and the Left side is Exodus 31:3-6.
The first word on this fragment is הקדש, hakodesh. This word means “the holy” or “the sanctified”. This fragment begins the instructions for “the sanctified shekel” which is in the amount of a half shekel.
The second word on this fragment, center of the second line is ליהוה.
Why do the Hebrew texts, at times use the phase אל יהוה, and in other places use ליהוה? Both of these phases are translated in English as “to YHVH”. We see the first form being used when Moses speaks to YHVH, as in Exodus 4:10 “משה אל יהוה” which simply translates as “Moses to YHVH”. The second form is the word YHVH with the lamed preposition attached. This preposition means more than “to” but means “belonging to”. This half shekel “belongs to YHVH”. It is to be used for His sanctified purpose.
In the center of the third line we see the word השקל H’shekel from verse 15.
Notice how there is a major break (space, parashat, paragraph break) in the very center of this fragment. This line has a single letter “vav” which means “and”. This is a very common way of beginning a new thought and a new chapter. There should be a chapter break after Exodus 30:16. Exodus 31 should begin with Exodus 30:17. Notice how verse 16 ends the discussion of the Atonement money and begins the instructions for the making of the bronze laver. There should be a new chapter break at this point.
On the last line of this column we see a common difference between the modern spellings and the more ancient spellings. The last line of the center of the right column reads:
אותו בין אהל מועד ובין המזבח
“et between the tent of witness and between the altar”.
The word moed מועד is the etymon (root) word edd/עד with the mem prefix. The mem prefix means “from” and the word מועד/moed means “from witness”. Hebrew words have broader meaning and this word could be translated as tent “of meeting”, tent “of appointment”, or as tent “of witness”.
The Hebrew word for an animal to be sacrificed is zevach זבח. We see this root word, with the addition of two prefixes, as the last word on this column המזבח. The word for altar is simply Zevach with the mem prefix, mizbeach and means “from sacrifice”.
“et between the tent of witness and between the altar/ha-miz-be-ach”.
