Exodus 30:1-10

Contemporary English Version

The Altar for Burning Incense

(Exodus 37.25-28)

The Lord said to Moses:

30 Build an altar of acacia wood where you can burn incense. ² Make it 45 centimeters square and 90 centimeters high, and make each of its four corners stick up like the horn of a bull. ³ Cover it with pure gold and put a gold edging around it. ⁴ Then below the edging on opposite sides attach two gold rings through which you can put the poles for carrying the altar. ⁵ These poles are also to be made of acacia wood covered with gold.

⁶ Put the altar in front of the inside curtain of the sacred tent. The chest with the place of mercy^[a] is kept behind that curtain, and I will talk with you there. ^7-8 From now on, when Aaron takes care of the lamps each morning and evening, he must burn sweet-smelling incense to me on the altar. ⁹ Burn only the proper incense on the altar and never use it for grain sacrifices or animal sacrifices or drink offerings. ^10 (A) Once a year Aaron must purify the altar by smearing on its four corners^[b] the blood of an animal sacrificed for sin, and this practice must always be followed. The altar is sacred because it is dedicated to me.