Exodus 27
Contemporary English Version
The Altar for Offering Sacrifices
(Exodus 38.1-7)
The Lord said to Moses:
27 Use acacia wood to build an altar 2.25 meters square and 1.34 meters high, 2 and make each of the four top corners stick up like the horn of a bull. Then cover the whole altar with bronze, including the four horns. 3 All the equipment for the altar must also be made of bronze—the pans for the hot ashes, the shovels, the sprinkling bowls, the meat forks, and the fire pans. 4-5 Halfway up the altar build a ledge around it, and cover the bottom half of the altar with a decorative bronze grating. Then attach a bronze ring beneath the ledge at the four corners of the altar. 6-7 Cover two acacia wood poles with bronze and put them through the rings for carrying the altar. 8 Construct the altar in the shape of an open box, just as you were shown on the mountain.
The Courtyard around the Sacred Tent
(Exodus 38.9-20)
The Lord said:
9-15 Surround the sacred tent with a courtyard 44 meters long on the south and north and 22 meters wide on the east and west. Use 20 bronze posts on bronze stands for the south and north and 10 for the west. Then hang a curtain of fine linen on the posts along each of these three sides by using silver hooks and rods.
Place three bronze posts on each side of the entrance at the east and hang a curtain 6.67 meters wide on each set of posts. 16 Use four more of these posts for the entrance way, then hang on them an embroidered curtain of fine linen nine meters long and woven with blue, purple, and red wool.
17-18 Make the curtains that surround the courtyard 2.25 meters high and hang them from the bronze posts with silver hooks and rods. 19 Make the rest of the equipment for the sacred tent of bronze, including the pegs for the tent and for the curtain surrounding the courtyard.
The Oil for the Lamp in the Holy Place
(Leviticus 24.1-4)
The Lord said to Moses:
20 Command the people of Israel to supply you with the purest olive oil. Do this so the lamp will keep burning 21 in front of the curtain that separates the holy place from the most holy place, where the sacred chest is kept. Aaron and his sons are responsible for keeping the lamp burning every night in the sacred tent. The Israelites must always obey this command.
Exodus 27
Lexham English Bible
Instructions for Making the Bronze Altar
27 “And you will make the altar of acacia wood, five cubits long and five cubits wide; the altar will be square, and its height will be three cubits. 2 And you will make its horns on its four corners; its horns will be of one piece with it,[a] and you will overlay it with bronze. 3 And you will make its pots for removing its fat-soaked ashes and its shovels and its sprinkling bowls and its forks[b] and its fire pans; you will make all its equipment with bronze. 4 And you will make for it a grating, a work of bronze network, and you will make on the network four bronze rings on its four ends. 5 And you will put it under the ledge of the altar, below, and the network will be up to the middle of the altar. 6 And you will make poles for the altar, poles of acacia wood, and you will overlay them with bronze. 7 And the poles will be put into the rings, and the poles will be on the two sides of the altar when carrying it. 8 You will make it hollow with boards. As it was shown you on the mountain, so they will do.
Instructions for Making the Courtyard
9 “You will make the courtyard of the tabernacle; for the south[c] side will be hangings for the courtyard of finely twisted linen, one hundred cubits long for the one side. 10 And its twenty pillars and their twenty bases will be bronze; the hooks of the pillars and their bands will be silver. 11 And likewise for the north side along the length will be hangings one hundred cubits long; and its twenty pillars and their bases will be bronze; the hooks of the pillars and their bands will be silver. 12 And the width of the courtyard for the west[d] side will be hangings of fifty cubits, their ten pillars and their ten bases. 13 And the width of the courtyard for the east side, toward sunrise, will be fifty cubits. 14 And hangings for the shoulder[e] will be fifteen cubits with their three pillars and their three bases. 15 And fifteen cubits of hangings will be for the second shoulder[f] with their three pillars and their three bases. 16 And for the gate of the courtyard there will be a screen of twenty cubits of blue and purple and crimson yarns and finely twisted linen, the work of an embroiderer; with their four pillars and their four bases.
17 “All the pillars of the courtyard all around will be banded with silver, and their hooks will be silver, and their bases will be bronze. 18 The length of the courtyard will be one hundred cubits and the width fifty cubits[g] and the height five cubits, of finely twisted linen, with their bronze bases. 19 Bronze will be for all the equipment of the tabernacle in all its service and all its pegs[h] and all the pegs[i] of the courtyard.
Instructions for Making Oil for the Lampstand
20 “And you will command the Israelites,[j] and they will bring to you pure, beaten olive oil for the light, to cause a lamp to burn continually. 21 In the tent of assembly outside the curtain that is before the testimony, Aaron and his sons will arrange it, from evening until morning, before Yahweh as a lasting statute throughout their generations from the Israelites.[k]
Footnotes
- Exodus 27:2 Literally “from it”
- Exodus 27:3 1 Samuel 2:13 mentions a fork with “three teeth” used by priests
- Exodus 27:9 Literally “south southward”
- Exodus 27:12 Or “sea”
- Exodus 27:14 Or “side,” referring to the span on one side of the courtyard’s entry
- Exodus 27:15 Or “side,” referring to the span on one side of the courtyard’s entry
- Exodus 27:18 Or “fifty with fifty.” Some suggest that the word for cubits has been accidentally omitted and the number fifty repeated in the Hebrew text. Others suggest that repetition of the number is original and indicates that the two ends of the courtyard are the same size
- Exodus 27:19 Literally “hands”
- Exodus 27:19 Literally “hands”
- Exodus 27:20 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
- Exodus 27:21 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
Exodus 27
New International Version
The Altar of Burnt Offering(A)
27 “Build an altar(B) of acacia wood, three cubits[a] high; it is to be square, five cubits long and five cubits wide.[b] 2 Make a horn(C) at each of the four corners, so that the horns and the altar are of one piece, and overlay the altar with bronze. 3 Make all its utensils of bronze—its pots to remove the ashes, and its shovels, sprinkling bowls,(D) meat forks and firepans.(E) 4 Make a grating for it, a bronze network, and make a bronze ring at each of the four corners of the network. 5 Put it under the ledge of the altar so that it is halfway up the altar. 6 Make poles of acacia wood for the altar and overlay them with bronze.(F) 7 The poles are to be inserted into the rings so they will be on two sides of the altar when it is carried.(G) 8 Make the altar hollow, out of boards. It is to be made just as you were shown(H) on the mountain.
The Courtyard(I)
9 “Make a courtyard(J) for the tabernacle. The south side shall be a hundred cubits[c] long and is to have curtains of finely twisted linen, 10 with twenty posts and twenty bronze bases and with silver hooks and bands on the posts. 11 The north side shall also be a hundred cubits long and is to have curtains, with twenty posts and twenty bronze bases and with silver hooks and bands on the posts.
12 “The west end of the courtyard shall be fifty cubits[d] wide and have curtains, with ten posts and ten bases. 13 On the east end, toward the sunrise, the courtyard shall also be fifty cubits wide. 14 Curtains fifteen cubits[e] long are to be on one side of the entrance, with three posts and three bases, 15 and curtains fifteen cubits long are to be on the other side, with three posts and three bases.
16 “For the entrance to the courtyard, provide a curtain(K) twenty cubits[f] long, of blue, purple and scarlet yarn and finely twisted linen—the work of an embroiderer(L)—with four posts and four bases. 17 All the posts around the courtyard are to have silver bands and hooks, and bronze bases. 18 The courtyard shall be a hundred cubits long and fifty cubits wide,[g] with curtains of finely twisted linen five cubits[h] high, and with bronze bases. 19 All the other articles used in the service of the tabernacle, whatever their function, including all the tent pegs for it and those for the courtyard, are to be of bronze.
Oil for the Lampstand(M)
20 “Command the Israelites to bring you clear oil(N) of pressed olives for the light so that the lamps may be kept burning. 21 In the tent of meeting,(O) outside the curtain that shields the ark of the covenant law,(P) Aaron and his sons are to keep the lamps(Q) burning before the Lord from evening till morning. This is to be a lasting ordinance(R) among the Israelites for the generations to come.
Footnotes
- Exodus 27:1 That is, about 4 1/2 feet or about 1.4 meters
- Exodus 27:1 That is, about 7 1/2 feet or about 2.3 meters long and wide
- Exodus 27:9 That is, about 150 feet or about 45 meters; also in verse 11
- Exodus 27:12 That is, about 75 feet or about 23 meters; also in verse 13
- Exodus 27:14 That is, about 23 feet or about 6.8 meters; also in verse 15
- Exodus 27:16 That is, about 30 feet or about 9 meters
- Exodus 27:18 That is, about 150 feet long and 75 feet wide or about 45 meters long and 23 meters wide
- Exodus 27:18 That is, about 7 1/2 feet or about 2.3 meters
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