Pure Oil and Holy Bread

24 The Lord said to Moses, ² “Command the people of Israel to bring you pure oil of pressed olives for the light, to keep the lamps burning continually. ³ This is the lampstand that stands in the Tabernacle, in front of the inner curtain that shields the Ark of the Covenant.^[a] Aaron must keep the lamps burning in the Lord’s presence all night. This is a permanent law for you, and it must be observed from generation to generation. ⁴ Aaron and the priests must tend the lamps on the pure gold lampstand continually in the Lord’s presence.

⁵ “You must bake twelve flat loaves of bread from choice flour, using four quarts^[b] of flour for each loaf. ⁶ Place the bread before the Lord on the pure gold table, and arrange the loaves in two stacks, with six loaves in each stack. ⁷ Put some pure frankincense near each stack to serve as a representative offering, a special gift presented to the Lord. ⁸ Every Sabbath day this bread must be laid out before the Lord as a gift from the Israelites; it is an ongoing expression of the eternal covenant. ⁹ The loaves of bread will belong to Aaron and his descendants, who must eat them in a sacred place, for they are most holy. It is the permanent right of the priests to claim this portion of the special gifts presented to the Lord.”