The Tabernacle Erected

40 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ² “On the ^(A)first day of the first month you shall ^(B)erect the tabernacle of the tent of meeting. ³ And you shall put in it the ark of the testimony, and you shall ^(C)screen the ark with the veil. ⁴ And ^(D)you shall bring in the table and arrange it, and ^(E)you shall bring in the lampstand and set up its lamps. ^5 (F)And you shall put the golden altar for incense before the ark of the testimony, and set up the screen for the door of the tabernacle. ^6 (G)You shall set the altar of burnt offering before the door of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting, ^7 (H)and place the basin between the tent of meeting and the altar, and put water in it. ⁸ And you shall set up the court all around, and hang up the screen for the gate of the court.

⁹ “Then you shall take the ^(I)anointing oil and anoint the tabernacle and all that is in it, and consecrate it and all its furniture, so that it may become holy. ¹⁰ You shall also anoint ^(J)the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils, and consecrate the altar, ^(K)so that the altar may become most holy. ¹¹ You shall also anoint the basin and its stand, and consecrate it. ^12 (L)Then you shall bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance of the tent of meeting and shall wash them with water ¹³ and put on Aaron the holy garments. And you shall anoint him and consecrate him, that he may serve me as priest. ¹⁴ You shall bring his sons also and put coats on them, ^15 (M)and anoint them, as you anointed their father, that they may serve me as priests. And their anointing shall admit them to a ^(N)perpetual priesthood throughout their generations.”

¹⁶ This Moses did; according to all that the Lord commanded him, so he did. ¹⁷ In the first month in the second year, on the first day of the month, ^(O)the tabernacle was erected. ¹⁸ Moses erected the tabernacle. He laid its bases, and set up its frames, and put in its poles, and raised up its pillars. ¹⁹ And he spread the tent over the tabernacle and put the covering of the tent over it, as the Lord had commanded Moses. ²⁰ He ^(P)took the testimony and put it into the ark, and put the poles on the ark and set the mercy seat above on the ark. ²¹ And he brought the ark into the tabernacle and ^(Q)set up the veil of the screen, and screened ^(R)the ark of the testimony, as the Lord had commanded Moses. ^22 (S)He put the table in the tent of meeting, on the north side of the tabernacle, outside the veil, ²³ and arranged the bread on it before the Lord, as the Lord had commanded Moses. ^24 (T)He put the lampstand in the tent of meeting, opposite the table on the south side of the tabernacle, ^25 (U)and set up the lamps before the Lord, as the Lord had commanded Moses. ^26 (V)He put the golden altar in the tent of meeting before the veil, ²⁷ and burned fragrant incense on it, as the Lord had commanded Moses. ^28 (W)He put in place the screen for the door of the tabernacle. ^29 (X)And he set the altar of burnt offering at the entrance of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting, and offered on it the burnt offering and the ^(Y)grain offering, as the Lord had commanded Moses. ^30 (Z)He set the basin between the tent of meeting and the altar, and put water in it for washing, ³¹ with which Moses and ^(AA)Aaron and his sons ^(AB)washed their hands and their feet. ³² When they went into the tent of meeting, and when they approached the altar, they washed, as the Lord commanded Moses. ^33 (AC)And he erected the court around the tabernacle and the altar, and set up the screen of the gate of the court. So ^(AD)Moses finished the work.

The Glory of the Lord

³⁴ Then ^(AE)the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and ^(AF)the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. ³⁵ And Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. ³⁶ Throughout all their journeys, ^(AG)whenever the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the people of Israel would set out. ³⁷ But ^(AH)if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not set out till the day that it was taken up. ³⁸ For the cloud of the Lord was on the tabernacle by day, and fire was in it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel throughout all their journeys.

Consecration of Aaron and His Sons

8 ^(A)The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ² “Take Aaron and his sons with him, and ^(B)the garments and ^(C)the anointing oil and the bull of the sin offering and the two rams and the basket of unleavened bread. ³ And assemble all the congregation at the entrance of the tent of meeting.” ⁴ And Moses did as the Lord commanded him, and the congregation was assembled at the entrance of the tent of meeting.

⁵ And Moses said to the congregation, ^(D)“This is the thing that the Lord has commanded to be done.” ⁶ And Moses brought Aaron and his sons and washed them with water. ⁷ And he put ^(E)the coat on him and tied the sash around his waist and clothed him with the robe and put the ephod on him and tied the skillfully woven band of the ephod around him, binding it to him with the band.^{[a] 8} And he placed the breastpiece on him, and ^(F)in the breastpiece he put the Urim and the Thummim. ⁹ And he set ^(G)the turban on his head, and ^(H)on the turban, in front, he set the golden plate, the holy crown, as the Lord commanded Moses.

^10 (I)Then Moses took the anointing oil and anointed the tabernacle and all that was in it, and consecrated them. ¹¹ And he sprinkled some of it on the altar seven times, and anointed the altar and all its utensils and the basin and its stand, to consecrate them. ¹² And ^(J)he poured some of the anointing oil on Aaron's head and anointed him to consecrate him. ¹³ And Moses brought Aaron's sons and clothed them with coats and tied sashes around their waists and bound caps on them, as the Lord commanded Moses.

¹⁴ Then he brought ^(K)the bull of the sin offering, and Aaron and his sons ^(L)laid their hands on the head of the bull of the sin offering. ¹⁵ And he^[b] killed it, and ^(M)Moses took the blood, and with his finger put it on the horns of the altar around it and purified the altar and poured out the blood at the base of the altar and consecrated it to make atonement for it. ^16 (N)And he took all the fat that was on the entrails and the long lobe of the liver and the two kidneys with their fat, and Moses burned them on the altar. ¹⁷ But ^(O)the bull and its skin and its flesh and its dung he burned up with fire outside the camp, as the Lord commanded Moses.

^18 (P)Then he presented the ram of the burnt offering, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the ram. ¹⁹ And he killed it, and Moses threw the blood against the sides of the altar. ²⁰ He cut the ram into pieces, and Moses burned ^(Q)the head and the pieces and the fat. ²¹ He washed the entrails and the legs with water, and Moses burned the whole ram on the altar. It was a burnt offering with a pleasing aroma, a food offering for the Lord, as the Lord commanded Moses.

²² Then ^(R)he presented the other ram, the ram of ordination, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the ram. ²³ And he killed it, and Moses took some of its blood and ^(S)put it on the lobe of Aaron's right ear and on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot. ²⁴ Then he presented Aaron's sons, and Moses put some of the blood on the lobes of their right ears and on the thumbs of their right hands and on the big toes of their right feet. And Moses threw the blood against the sides of the altar. ²⁵ Then he took the fat and the fat tail and all the fat that was on the entrails and the long lobe of the liver and the two kidneys with their fat and the right thigh, ²⁶ and out of the basket of unleavened bread that was before the Lord he took one unleavened loaf and one loaf of bread with oil and one wafer and placed them on the pieces of fat and on the right thigh. ²⁷ And he put all these in the hands of Aaron and in the hands of his sons and waved them as a wave offering before the Lord. ²⁸ Then Moses took them from their hands and burned them on the altar with the burnt offering. This was an ordination offering with a pleasing aroma, a food offering to the Lord. ²⁹ And Moses took the breast and waved it for a wave offering before the Lord. It was Moses' portion of the ram of ordination, as the Lord commanded Moses.

³⁰ Then ^(T)Moses took some of the anointing oil and of the blood that was on the altar and sprinkled it on Aaron and his garments, and also on his sons and his sons' garments. So he consecrated Aaron and his garments, and his sons and his sons' garments with him.

³¹ And Moses said to Aaron and his sons, “Boil the flesh at the entrance of the tent of meeting, and there eat it and the bread that is in the basket of ordination offerings, as I commanded, saying, ‘Aaron and his sons shall eat it.’ ³² And what remains of the flesh and the bread you shall burn up with fire. ³³ And you shall not go outside the entrance of the tent of meeting for seven days, until the days of your ordination are completed, for it ^(U)will take seven days to ordain you. ³⁴ As has been done today, the Lord has commanded to be done to make atonement for you. ³⁵ At the entrance of the tent of meeting you shall remain day and night for seven days, performing what the Lord has ^(V)charged, so that you do not die, for so I have been commanded.” ³⁶ And Aaron and his sons did all the things that the Lord commanded by Moses.