Exodus 30

English Standard Version

The Altar of Incense

30 ^(A)“You shall make ^(B)an altar on which to burn incense; you shall make it of acacia wood. ²A cubit^[a] shall be its length, and a cubit its breadth. It shall be square, and two cubits shall be its height. ^(C)Its horns shall be of one piece with it. ³You shall ^(D)overlay it with pure gold, its top and around its sides and its horns. And you shall make a molding of gold around it. ⁴And you shall make two golden rings for it. Under its molding on two opposite sides of it you shall make them, and they shall be ^(E)holders for poles with which to carry it. ⁵You shall make the poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold. ⁶And you shall put it in front of the veil that is above the ark of the testimony, in front of the ^(F)mercy seat that is above the testimony, where I will meet with you. ⁷And Aaron shall ^(G)burn fragrant incense on it. Every morning when he ^(H)dresses the lamps he shall burn it, ⁸and when Aaron sets up the lamps at twilight, he shall burn it, a regular incense offering before the Lord throughout your generations. ⁹You shall not offer ^(I)unauthorized incense on it, or a burnt offering, or a grain offering, and you shall not pour a drink offering on it. ¹⁰^(J)Aaron shall make atonement on its horns once a year. With the blood of the ^(K)sin offering of atonement he shall make atonement for it once in the year throughout your generations. It is most holy to the Lord.”

The Census Tax

¹¹The Lord said to Moses, ¹²^(L)“When you take the census of the people of Israel, then each shall give ^(M)a ransom for his life to the Lord when you number them, that there be no plague among them when you number them. ¹³Each one who is numbered in the census shall give this: half a shekel^[b] according to the ^(N)shekel of the sanctuary (the ^(O)shekel is twenty gerahs),^[c] ^(P)half a shekel as an offering to the Lord. ¹⁴Everyone who is numbered in the census, from twenty years old and upward, shall give the Lord's offering. ¹⁵The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less, than ^(Q)the half shekel, when you give the Lord's offering to make atonement for your lives. ¹⁶You shall take the atonement money from the people of Israel and shall ^(R)give it for the service of the tent of meeting, that it may bring the people of Israel to ^(S)remembrance before the Lord, so as to make atonement for your lives.”

The Bronze Basin

¹⁷The Lord said to Moses, ¹⁸“You shall also make a ^(T)basin of bronze, with its stand of bronze, for washing. ^(U)You shall put it between the tent of meeting and the altar, and you shall put water in it, ¹⁹with which Aaron and his sons ^(V)shall wash their hands and their feet. ²⁰When they go into the tent of meeting, or when they come near the altar to minister, to burn a food offering^[d] to the Lord, they shall wash with water, so that they may not die. ²¹They shall wash their hands and their feet, so that they may not die. It shall ^(W)be a statute forever to them, even to him and to his offspring throughout their generations.”

The Anointing Oil and Incense

²²The Lord said to Moses, ²³“Take the ^(X)finest spices: of liquid myrrh 500 shekels, and of sweet-smelling cinnamon half as much, that is, 250, and 250 of ^(Y)aromatic cane, ²⁴and 500 of cassia, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, and a ^(Z)hin^[e] of olive oil. ²⁵And you shall make of these a sacred anointing oil blended as by the ^(AA)perfumer; it shall be a ^(AB)holy anointing oil. ²⁶^(AC)With it you shall anoint the tent of meeting and the ark of the testimony, ²⁷and the table and all its utensils, and the lampstand and its utensils, and the altar of incense, ²⁸and the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils and the ^(AD)basin and its stand. ²⁹You shall consecrate them, that they may be most holy. ^(AE)Whatever touches them will become holy. ³⁰^(AF)You shall anoint Aaron and his sons, and consecrate them, that they may serve me as priests. ³¹And you shall say to the people of Israel, ‘This shall be my holy anointing oil throughout your generations. ³²It shall not be poured on the body of an ordinary person, and you shall make no other like it in composition. ^(AG)It is holy, and it shall be holy to you. ³³^(AH)Whoever compounds any like it or whoever puts any of it on an outsider shall be cut off from his people.’”

³⁴The Lord said to Moses, ^(AI)“Take sweet spices, stacte, and onycha, and galbanum, sweet spices with pure frankincense (of each shall there be an equal part), ³⁵and make an ^(AJ)incense blended as by the ^(AK)perfumer, ^(AL)seasoned with salt, pure and holy. ³⁶You shall beat some of it very small, and put part of it before the testimony in the tent of meeting ^(AM)where I shall meet with you. ^(AN)It shall be most holy for you. ³⁷And the incense that you shall make ^(AO)according to its composition, you shall not make for yourselves. It shall be for you holy to the Lord. ³⁸^(AP)Whoever makes any like it to use as perfume shall be cut off from his people.”

Footnotes

Exodus 30:2 A cubit was about 18 inches or 45 centimeters
Exodus 30:13 A shekel was about 2/5 ounce or 11 grams
Exodus 30:13 A gerah was about 1/50 ounce or 0.6 gram
Exodus 30:20 Or an offering by fire
Exodus 30:24 A hin was about 4 quarts or 3.5 liters

Psalm 69

English Standard Version

Save Me, O God

To the choirmaster: according to ^(A)Lilies. Of David.

69 Save me, O God!
    For ^(B)the waters have come up to my neck.^[a]
²I sink in deep ^(C)mire,
    where there is no foothold;
I have come into deep waters,
    and the flood ^(D)sweeps over me.
³^(E)I am weary with my crying out;
    ^(F)my throat is parched.
^(G)My eyes grow dim
    with ^(H)waiting for my God.

⁴^(I)More in number than the hairs of my head
    are ^(J)those who hate me ^(K)without cause;
mighty are those who would destroy me,
    ^(L)those who attack me with lies.
What I did not steal
    must I now restore?
⁵O God, you know my folly;
    the wrongs I have done are not hidden from you.

⁶Let not those who hope in you ^(M)be put to shame through me,
    O Lord God of hosts;
let not those who seek you be brought to dishonor through me,
    O God of Israel.
⁷For it is ^(N)for your sake that I have borne reproach,
    that dishonor has covered my face.
⁸I have become ^(O)a stranger to my brothers,
    an alien to my mother's sons.

⁹For ^(P)zeal for your house has consumed me,
    and ^(Q)the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.
¹⁰When I wept and humbled^[b] my soul with fasting,
    it became my reproach.
¹¹When I made ^(R)sackcloth my clothing,
    I became ^(S)a byword to them.
¹²I am the talk of those who ^(T)sit in the gate,
    and the drunkards make ^(U)songs about me.

¹³But as for me, my ^(V)prayer is to you, O Lord.
    At ^(W)an acceptable time, O God,
    in the abundance of your steadfast love answer me in your saving faithfulness.
¹⁴Deliver me
    from sinking in ^(X)the mire;
^(Y)let me be delivered from my enemies
    and from ^(Z)the deep waters.
¹⁵Let not the flood sweep over me,
    or the deep swallow me up,
    or ^(AA)the pit close ^(AB)its mouth over me.

¹⁶Answer me, O Lord, for your ^(AC)steadfast love is good;
    according to your abundant ^(AD)mercy, ^(AE)turn to me.
¹⁷^(AF)Hide not your face from your servant,
    ^(AG)for I am in distress; ^(AH)make haste to answer me.
¹⁸Draw near to my soul, redeem me;
    ransom me because of my enemies!

¹⁹You know my ^(AI)reproach,
    and my shame and my dishonor;
    my foes are all known to you.
²⁰^(AJ)Reproaches have broken my heart,
    so that I am in ^(AK)despair.
I ^(AL)looked for ^(AM)pity, but there was none,
    and for ^(AN)comforters, but I found none.
²¹They gave me ^(AO)poison for food,
    and for my thirst they gave me ^(AP)sour wine to drink.

²²^(AQ)Let their own ^(AR)table before them become a snare;
    ^(AS)and when they are at peace, let it become a trap.^[c]
²³^(AT)Let their eyes be darkened, so that they cannot see,
    ^(AU)and make their loins tremble continually.
²⁴Pour out your indignation upon them,
    and let your burning anger overtake them.
²⁵^(AV)May their camp be a desolation;
    let no one dwell in their tents.
²⁶For they ^(AW)persecute him whom ^(AX)you have struck down,
    and they recount the pain of ^(AY)those you have wounded.
²⁷^(AZ)Add to them punishment upon punishment;
    may they have no acquittal from you.^[d]
²⁸Let them be ^(BA)blotted out of the book of the living;
    let them not be ^(BB)enrolled among the righteous.

²⁹But I am afflicted and in pain;
let your salvation, O God, ^(BC)set me on high!

³⁰I will ^(BD)praise the name of God with a song;
    I will ^(BE)magnify him with ^(BF)thanksgiving.
³¹This will ^(BG)please the Lord more than an ox
    or a bull ^(BH)with horns and hoofs.
³²When ^(BI)the humble see it they will be glad;
    you who seek God, ^(BJ)let your hearts revive.
³³For the Lord hears the needy
    and ^(BK)does not despise his own people who are prisoners.

³⁴Let ^(BL)heaven and earth praise him,
    the seas and everything that moves in them.
³⁵For ^(BM)God will save Zion
    and build up the cities of Judah,
and people shall dwell there and possess it;
³⁶    ^(BN)the offspring of his servants shall inherit it,
    and those who love his name shall dwell in it.

Footnotes

Psalm 69:1 Or waters threaten my life
Psalm 69:10 Hebrew lacks and humbled
Psalm 69:22 Hebrew; a slight revocalization yields (compare Septuagint, Syriac, Jerome) a snare, and retribution and a trap
Psalm 69:27 Hebrew may they not come into your righteousness