Exodus 30:11-38

English Standard Version

The Census Tax

¹¹The Lord said to Moses, ¹²^(A)“When you take the census of the people of Israel, then each shall give ^(B)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^[a] according to the ^(C)shekel of the sanctuary (the ^(D)shekel is twenty gerahs),^[b] ^(E)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 ^(F)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 ^(G)give it for the service of the tent of meeting, that it may bring the people of Israel to ^(H)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 ^(I)basin of bronze, with its stand of bronze, for washing. ^(J)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 ^(K)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^[c] 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 ^(L)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 ^(M)finest spices: of liquid myrrh 500 shekels, and of sweet-smelling cinnamon half as much, that is, 250, and 250 of ^(N)aromatic cane, ²⁴and 500 of cassia, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, and a ^(O)hin^[d] of olive oil. ²⁵And you shall make of these a sacred anointing oil blended as by the ^(P)perfumer; it shall be a ^(Q)holy anointing oil. ²⁶^(R)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 ^(S)basin and its stand. ²⁹You shall consecrate them, that they may be most holy. ^(T)Whatever touches them will become holy. ³⁰^(U)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. ^(V)It is holy, and it shall be holy to you. ³³^(W)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, ^(X)“Take sweet spices, stacte, and onycha, and galbanum, sweet spices with pure frankincense (of each shall there be an equal part), ³⁵and make an ^(Y)incense blended as by the ^(Z)perfumer, ^(AA)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 ^(AB)where I shall meet with you. ^(AC)It shall be most holy for you. ³⁷And the incense that you shall make ^(AD)according to its composition, you shall not make for yourselves. It shall be for you holy to the Lord. ³⁸^(AE)Whoever makes any like it to use as perfume shall be cut off from his people.”