And all the women that were wise hearted did spin with their hands, and brought that which they had spun, both of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, and of fine linen.

And all the women that were wise-hearted did spin with their hands, and brought that which they had spun, the blue, and the purple, the scarlet, and the fine linen.

The skilful women also gave such things as they had spun, violet, purple, and scarlet, and fine linen,

And every woman that was wise-hearted spun with her hands, and brought what she had spun: the blue, and the purple, and the scarlet, and the byssus.

And all the women that were wise-hearted spun with their hands, and brought that which they had spun, both of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, and of fine linen.

And every wise-hearted woman hath spun with her hands, and they bring in yarn, the blue, and the purple, the scarlet, and the linen;

And all the women who were expert with their hands, made cloth, and gave the work of their hands, blue and purple and red and the best linen.

But the skillful women also gave whatever they had spun: hyacinth, purple, and vermillion, as well as fine linen,

Praeterea omnis mulier intelligenti corde, manibus suis neverunt, et attulerunt quod nendo operatae fuerant, hyaciuthum, purpuram, coccum et byssum.

All the women that were wise-hearted did spin - They had before learned this art, they were wise-hearted; and now they practice it, and God condescends to require and accept their services. In building this house of God, all were ambitious to do something by which they might testify their piety to God, and their love for his worship. The spinning practiced at this time was simple, and required little apparatus. It was the plain distaff or twirling pin, which might be easily made out of any wood they met with in the wilderness.

And all the women that were (e) wise hearted did spin with their hands, and brought that which they had spun, [both] of blue, and of purple, [and] of scarlet, and of fine linen.
(e) Who were witty and expert.

And all the women that were wise hearted,.... That were ingenious, and had a good hand at spinning particularly, these were of the common and lower sort; the more honourable and richer sort of women are before mentioned, as bringing jewels or ornaments of gold of different sorts: but these were such who
did spin with their hands; in which way they got their living: some were more dexterous at it than others:
and brought that which they had spun, both of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, and of fine linen; that is, yarn of these several colours, and flaxen thread, of which fine linen was made, all ready for the weaver, whether in woollen or linen.

All the women who understood it (were wise-hearted, as in Exodus 28:3) spun with their hands, and presented what they spun, viz., the yarn required for the blue and red purple cloth, the crimson and the byssus; from which it is evident that the coloured cloths were dyed in the yarn or in the wool, as was the case in Egypt according to different specimens of old Egyptian cloths (see Hengstenberg, Egypt and the Books of Moses, p. 144). Other women spun goats' hair for the upper or outer covering of the tent (Exodus 26:7.). Spinning was done by the women in very early times (Plin. hist. n. 8, 48), particularly in Egypt, where women are represented on the monuments as busily engaged with the spindle (see Wilkinson, Manners ii. p. 60; iii. p. 133, 136), and at a later period among the Hebrews (Proverbs 31:19). At the present day the women in the peninsula of Sinai spin the materials for their tents from camels' and goats' hair, and prepare sheep's wool for their clothing (Rppell, Nubien, p. 202); and at Neswa, in the province of Omn, the preparation of cotton yarn is the principal employment of the women (Wellstedt, i. p. 90). Weaving also was, and still is to a great extent, a woman's work (cf. 2-Kings 23:7); it is so among the Arab tribes in the Wady Gharandel, for example (Russegger, iii. 24), and in Nubia (Burckhardt, Nub. p. 211); but at Neswa the weaving is done by the men (Wellstedt). The woven cloths for the tabernacle were prepared by men, partly perhaps because the weaving in Egypt was mostly done by the men (Herod. 2, 35; cf. Hengstenberg, p. 143), but chiefly for this reason, that the cloths for the hangings and curtains were artistic works, which the women did not understand, but which the men had learned in Egypt, where artistic weaving was carried out to a great extent (Wilkinson, iii. pp. 113ff.).
(Note: For drawings of the Egyptian weaving-stool, see Wilkinson, iii. p. 135; also Hartmann, die Hebrerinn am Putztisch i. Taf. 1.)