Exodus 25-31

Common English Bible

Gifts offered for the dwelling

25 The Lord said to Moses: ² Tell the Israelites to collect gift offerings for me. Receive my gift offerings from everyone who freely wants to give. ³ These are the gift offerings that you should receive from them: gold, silver, and copper; ⁴ blue, purple, and deep red yarns; fine linen; goats’ hair; ⁵ rams’ skins dyed red; beaded leather;^[a] acacia wood; ⁶ oil for the lamps; spices for the anointing oil and for the sweet-smelling incense; ⁷ gemstones; and gems for setting in the priest’s vest^[b] and chest piece. ⁸ They should make me a sanctuary so I can be present among them. ⁹ You should follow the blueprints that I will show you for the dwelling and for all its equipment.

Instructions for building the chest containing the covenant

¹⁰ Have them make an acacia-wood chest. It should be forty-five inches long, twenty-seven inches wide, and twenty-seven inches high. ¹¹ Cover it with pure gold, inside and out, and make a gold molding all around it. ¹² Cast four gold rings for it and put them on its four feet, two rings on one side and two rings on the other. ¹³ Make acacia-wood poles and cover them with gold. ¹⁴ Then put the poles into the rings on the chest’s sides and use them to carry the chest. ¹⁵ The poles should stay in the chest’s rings. They shouldn’t be taken out of them. ¹⁶ Put the covenant document that I will give you into the chest.

¹⁷ Then make a cover of pure gold, forty-five inches long and twenty-seven inches wide. ¹⁸ Make two winged heavenly creatures of hammered gold, one for each end of the cover. ¹⁹ Put one winged heavenly creature at one end and one winged heavenly creature at the other. Place the winged heavenly creatures at the cover’s two ends. ²⁰ The heavenly creatures should have their wings spread out above, shielding the cover with their wings. The winged heavenly creatures should face each other toward the cover’s center. ²¹ Put the gold cover on top of the chest and put the covenant document that I will give you inside the chest. ²² There I will meet with you. From there above the cover, from between the two winged heavenly creatures that are on top of the chest containing the covenant, I will deliver to you all that I command you concerning the Israelites.

Instructions for the table

²³ Make an acacia-wood table, three feet long, eighteen inches wide, and twenty-seven inches high. ²⁴ Cover it with pure gold and make a gold molding all around it. ²⁵ Make a frame around it that is four inches wide and a gold molding around the frame. ²⁶ Make four gold rings for the table. Fasten the rings to the four corners at its four legs. ²⁷ The rings that house the poles used for carrying the table should be close to the frame. ²⁸ Make the poles from acacia wood and cover them with gold. The table should be carried with these poles. ²⁹ Make its plates, dishes, jars, and bowls for pouring drink offerings. Make them of pure gold. ³⁰ Set the bread of the presence on the table so it is always in front of me.

Instructions for the lampstand

³¹ Make a lampstand of pure hammered gold. The lampstand’s base, branches, cups, flowers, and petals should all be attached to it. ³² It should have six branches growing out from its sides, three branches on one side of the lampstand and three branches on the other side of the lampstand. ³³ One branch will have three cups shaped like almond blossoms, each with a flower and petals, and the next branch will also have three cups shaped like almond blossoms, each with a flower and petals. So it will be for the six branches that grow out of the lampstand. ³⁴ In addition, on the lampstand itself there will be four cups shaped like almond blossoms, each with its flower and petals. ³⁵ There will be a flower attached under the first pair of branches, a flower attached under the next pair of branches, and a flower attached under the last pair of branches. So it will be for the six branches that grow out of the lampstand. ³⁶ Their flowers and their branches will be permanently attached to it. The whole lampstand should be one piece of pure hammered gold. ³⁷ Make its seven lamps and set up its lamps so that they direct their light in front of the lampstand. ³⁸ You should also make its tongs and fire pans out of pure gold. ³⁹ All these items should be made from pure gold weighing one kikkar. ⁴⁰ See to it that you make them according to the blueprint for them that you were shown on the mountain.

Instructions for building the dwelling

26 Make the dwelling with ten curtains of fine twisted linen and blue, purple, and deep red yarns. Work figures of winged heavenly creatures into their design. ² Each curtain should be forty-two feet long and each curtain six feet wide. All the curtains should be the same size. ³ Five curtains will be joined to each other as one set, while the other five curtains will be joined together as a second set. ⁴ Make loops of blue thread on the edge of the outer curtain in the first set. Do the same on the edge of the outer curtain in the second set. ⁵ Make fifty loops on the one curtain in the first set and fifty loops on the edge of the curtain that is in the second set. The loops should be opposite each other. ⁶ Then make fifty gold clasps. Join the curtains to each other with the clasps so that the dwelling becomes one whole structure.

⁷ You should also make curtains of goats’ hair for a tent over the dwelling. Make eleven curtains. ⁸ Each curtain should be forty-five feet long and each curtain six feet wide. The eleven curtains should all be the same size. ⁹ Join five of the curtains together, and join the six other curtains together. Double over the sixth curtain at the front of the tent. ¹⁰ Make fifty loops on the edge of the outer curtain in one set and fifty loops on the edge of the outer curtain in the second set.

¹¹ Make fifty copper clasps. Put the clasps into the loops and join the tent together so that it becomes one whole structure. ¹² The extra cloth that is left over from the tent curtains, that is, the half curtain that remains, should hang over the back of the dwelling. ¹³ Eighteen inches on one side and eighteen inches on the other side of the leftover length of the tent’s curtains will hang over the two sides of the dwelling to cover it. ¹⁴ Then for the tent, make a covering of rams’ skins dyed red and an outer covering of beaded leather.^[c]

¹⁵ Make acacia-wood boards to stand upright as a frame for the dwelling. ¹⁶ Each board will be fifteen feet long and twenty-seven inches wide. ¹⁷ Put two pegs on each board for joining them to each other. Do this for all the dwelling’s boards. ¹⁸ Make twenty boards for the dwelling’s southern side. ¹⁹ Then make forty silver bases to go under the twenty boards. There will be two bases under the first board for its two pegs, two bases under the next board for its two pegs, and so on. ²⁰ For the dwelling’s other side on the north, make twenty boards ²¹ and their forty silver bases, two bases under the first board, two bases under the next board, and so on. ²² For the back of the dwelling on the west, make six boards. ²³ Make two additional boards for the dwelling’s rear corners. ²⁴ They should be spread out at the bottom but joined together at the top with one ring. In this way, these two boards will form the two corners. ²⁵ And so there will be eight boards with their sixteen silver bases, two bases under the first board, two bases under the next board, and so on.

²⁶ You should also make acacia-wood bars: five for the boards on one side of the dwelling, ²⁷ five bars for the boards on the other side of the dwelling, and five bars for the boards on the back wall of the dwelling on the west. ²⁸ The middle bar, halfway up the boards, should run from one end to the other. ²⁹ Cover the boards with gold. Make gold rings to house the bars. Cover the bars with gold. ³⁰ Then set up the dwelling according to the plan for it that you were shown on the mountain.

³¹ Make a veil of blue, purple, and deep red yarns and of fine twisted linen. Work figures of winged heavenly creatures into its design. ³² Hang it on four acacia-wood posts covered in gold. They should have gold hooks and stand on four silver bases. ³³ Hang the veil under the clasps, and put the chest containing the covenant there behind the veil. The veil will separate for you the holy from the holiest space. ³⁴ Place the gold cover on the chest containing the covenant in the holiest space. ³⁵ Place the table outside the veil, and set the lampstand opposite the table by the south wall of the dwelling. Place the table by the north wall.

³⁶ Make a screen for the tent’s entrance of blue, purple, and deep red yarns and of fine twisted linen, decorated with needlework. ³⁷ Make five acacia-wood posts for the screen. Cover the posts with gold. Their hooks should be gold. Cast five copper bases for the posts.

Instructions for the altar

27 Make an acacia-wood altar. The altar should be square, seven and a half feet long and seven and a half feet wide. It should be four and a half feet high. ² Make horns for the altar and attach them to it, one horn on each of its four corners. Cover it with copper. ³ Make pails for removing its ashes and its shovels, bowls, meat forks, and trays. Make all its equipment out of copper. ⁴ Make for the altar a grate made of copper mesh. Make four copper rings for each of the four corners of the mesh. ⁵ Slide the mesh underneath the bottom edge of the altar and then extend the mesh halfway up to the middle of the altar. ⁶ Make acacia-wood poles for the altar and cover them with copper. ⁷ Put the poles through the rings so that the poles will be on the two sides of the altar when it is carried. ⁸ Make the altar with planks but hollow inside. All these should be made just as you were shown on the mountain.

Instructions for the dwelling’s courtyard

⁹ You should also set up the dwelling’s courtyard. The courtyard’s south side should have drapes of fine twisted linen stretching one hundred fifty feet on that side, ¹⁰ with twenty posts, twenty copper bases, and silver hooks and bands for the posts. ¹¹ Likewise along the north side the drapes should stretch one hundred fifty feet, with twenty posts, twenty copper bases, and silver hooks and bands for the posts. ¹² The courtyard’s width on the west side should consist of seventy-five feet of drapes with their ten posts and their ten bases. ¹³ The courtyard’s width on the front, facing east, should be seventy-five feet. ¹⁴ There should be twenty-two and a half feet of drapes on one side with three posts and three bases for them. ¹⁵ There should be twenty-two and a half feet of drapes on the other side with three posts and three bases for them. ¹⁶ For the gate into the courtyard there will be a screen thirty feet long, made of blue, purple, and deep red yarns and of fine twisted linen, decorated with needlework. It will have four posts with their four bases. ¹⁷ All the posts around the courtyard will have silver bands, silver hooks, and copper bases. ¹⁸ The courtyard will be one hundred fifty feet long and seventy-five feet wide. Its walls’ height will be seven and a half feet of fine twisted linen and its copper bases. ¹⁹ All the dwelling’s equipment for any use and all its tent pegs and all the courtyard’s tent pegs will be made of copper.

Olive oil for the lampstand

²⁰ You must require the Israelites to bring you pure oil of crushed olives for the light so that the lamp may be set up to burn continually. ²¹ In the meeting tent, outside the veil that hangs in front of the covenant document, Aaron and his sons will tend the lamp from evening to morning in the Lord’s presence. It will be a permanent regulation for the Israelites in every generation.

Instructions for the priests’ clothing

28 Summon to you your brother Aaron and his sons from among the Israelites to serve me as priests—Aaron and Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu, and Eleazar and Ithamar. ² Make holy clothing that will give honor and dignity to your brother Aaron. ³ Tell all who are skilled, to whom I have given special abilities, to make clothing for Aaron for his dedication to serve me as a priest. ⁴ These are the articles of clothing that they should make: a chest pendant, a vest, a robe, a woven tunic, a turban, and a sash. When they make this holy clothing for your brother Aaron and his sons to serve me as priests, ⁵ they should use gold, blue, purple, and deep red yarns and fine linen.

Priest’s ornamental vest

⁶ They should make the vest of gold, of blue, purple, and deep red yarns and of fine twisted linen with embroidered designs. ⁷ The vest will have two shoulder pieces attached to its two edges so that they may be joined together. ⁸ The vest’s belt should be attached to it and made in the same way of gold, of blue, purple, and deep red yarns and fine twisted linen. ⁹ Take two gemstones and engrave on them the names of Israel’s sons, ¹⁰ six names on one stone and the other six names on the other stone, in the order of their birth. ¹¹ Like a gem cutter who engraves official seals, you will engrave the two stones with the names of Israel’s sons. Mount them in gold settings. ¹² Attach the two stones to the vest’s shoulder pieces as stones of reminder for the Israelites. Aaron will carry into the Lord’s presence their names on his two shoulders as a reminder. ¹³ Then make gold settings ¹⁴ along with two chains of pure gold, twisted like cords. Attach the corded chains to the gold settings.

Priest’s chest pendant used for making decisions

¹⁵ Make an embroidered chest pendant used for making decisions. Make it in the style of the vest, using gold, blue and purple and deep red yarns, and fine twisted linen. ¹⁶ It will be square and doubled, nine inches long and nine inches wide. ¹⁷ Set in it four rows of gemstone settings. The first row will be a row of carnelian, topaz, and emerald stones. ¹⁸ The second row will be a turquoise, a sapphire, and a moonstone. ¹⁹ The third row will be a jacinth, an agate, and an amethyst. ²⁰ The fourth row will be a beryl, an onyx, and a jasper. Their settings will be made of decorative gold. ²¹ There will be twelve stones with names corresponding to the names of Israel’s sons. They will be engraved like official seals, each with its name for the twelve tribes.

²² Make chains of pure gold twisted like cords for the chest pendant. ²³ Make two gold rings for the chest pendant and attach the two rings to the two edges of the chest pendant. ²⁴ Attach the two gold cords to the two rings at the edges of the chest pendant. ²⁵ Then fasten the two ends of the cords to the two settings, which you should attach to the vest’s two front shoulder pieces. ²⁶ Make two gold rings and attach them to the two ends of the chest pendant on its inside edge facing the vest. ²⁷ Make two gold rings and fasten them on the front of the lower part of the two shoulder pieces of the vest, at its seam just above the vest’s belt. ²⁸ The chest pendant should be held in place by a blue cord binding its rings to the vest’s rings so that the chest pendant rests on the vest’s belt and won’t come loose from the vest. ²⁹ In this way, Aaron will carry the names of Israel’s sons on the chest pendant for making decisions over his heart when he goes into the sanctuary as a reminder before the Lord at all times. ³⁰ Put into the chest pendant used for making decisions the Urim and the Thummim, so they will be over Aaron’s heart when he goes into the Lord’s presence. In this way, Aaron will carry the means to make decisions for the Israelites over his heart when in the Lord’s presence at all times.

Instructions for other priestly clothing

³¹ You will make the robe for the vest all of blue. ³² The opening for the head should be in the middle of it. The opening should be reinforced by a woven binding, a strong border so that it doesn’t tear. ³³ On its lower hem add pomegranates made of blue, purple, and deep red yarns all around the lower hem, with gold bells between the pomegranates all around it. ³⁴ A gold bell and a pomegranate should alternate all around the lower hem of the robe. ³⁵ Aaron will wear the robe when he ministers as a priest. Its sound will be heard when he goes into the sanctuary in the Lord’s presence and when he comes out, so that he will not die.

³⁶ Make a flower ornament of pure gold and engrave on it like an official seal: “Holy to the Lord.” ³⁷ You should fasten it on the turban with a blue cord. It should be on the front of the turban. ³⁸ It will be on Aaron’s forehead, and Aaron will take on himself any guilt connected with the holy offerings that the Israelites give as their sacred donations. It will always be on his forehead so that the people may be remembered favorably in the Lord’s presence.

³⁹ Weave the tunic out of fine linen. Make the turban out of fine linen. Make a sash decorated with needlework. ⁴⁰ For Aaron’s sons, you should also make tunics, sashes, and turbans to mark their honor and dignity. ⁴¹ Put these garments on your brother Aaron and on his sons with him. Anoint them with oil, ordain them, and make them holy to serve me as priests. ⁴² You should also make linen undergarments for them to cover their naked skin from their hips to their thighs. ⁴³ Aaron and his sons should wear this clothing when they go into the meeting tent or when they approach the altar to minister as priests in the sanctuary. Otherwise, they will bring guilt on themselves and die. This will be a permanent regulation for him and for his descendants after him.

Instructions for the priests’ ordination

29 Now this is what you should do to make them holy in order to serve me as priests. Take a young bull and two flawless rams. ² Take unleavened bread, unleavened flatbread made with oil, and unleavened wafers spread with oil. Make them out of high-quality wheat flour. ³ Put them all in one basket and present them in the basket along with the bull and the two rams. ⁴ Present Aaron and his sons at the entrance to the meeting tent and wash them with water. ⁵ Then take the priestly clothes and put them on Aaron: the tunic, the vest’s robe, the vest itself, and the chest pendant. Put the vest on him with the vest’s belt. ⁶ Set the turban on his head and place the holy crown on the turban. ⁷ Take the anointing oil and pour it on his head to anoint him. ⁸ Then present his sons and put the tunics on them. ⁹ Tighten the sashes on them, on both Aaron and his sons. Wrap the turbans on their heads. It will be a permanent regulation that the duties of priesthood belong to them. In this way, you will ordain Aaron and his sons.

¹⁰ Present the bull at the front of the meeting tent. Aaron and his sons will lay their hands on the bull’s head. ¹¹ Then slaughter the bull in the Lord’s presence at the meeting tent’s entrance. ¹² Take some of the bull’s blood and smear it on the altar’s horns with your finger. Pour out the rest of the blood at the altar’s base. ¹³ Then take all the fat that covers the inner organs, the lobe of the liver, and the two kidneys along with the fat that is on them, and burn them up in smoke on the altar. ¹⁴ Burn the rest of the meat of the bull, its hide, and the intestines with their contents with a fire outside the camp. It is a purification offering.

¹⁵ Choose one of the rams, and have Aaron and his sons lay their hands on the ram’s head. ¹⁶ Then slaughter the ram. Take its blood and throw it against all the altar’s sides. ¹⁷ Cut up the ram into parts. Wash its inner organs and legs, and put them together with its parts and its head. ¹⁸ Then turn the entire ram into smoke by burning it on the altar. It is an entirely burned offering for the Lord, a soothing smell, a food gift for the Lord.

¹⁹ Take the second ram, and have Aaron and his sons lay their hands on the ram’s head. ²⁰ Slaughter the ram. Take some of its blood and smear it on the right earlobes of Aaron and his sons, on the thumbs of their right hands, and on the big toes of their right feet. Throw the rest of the blood against all the altar’s sides. ²¹ Then take some of the blood on the altar and some of the anointing oil and sprinkle them on Aaron and on his clothes and on his sons and on his sons’ clothes. In this way, Aaron, his sons, and all their priestly garments will be holy.

²² Take the fatty parts of the ram: the fat tail, the fat around the inner organs, the lobe of the liver, the two kidneys with the fat around them, and the right thigh (because it is a ram for ordination). ²³ Add one loaf of bread, one flatbread made with oil, and one wafer from the basket of unleavened bread that was presented to the Lord. ²⁴ Place all of these in the hands of Aaron and his sons, and lift them as an uplifted offering in the Lord’s presence. ²⁵ Then take them from their hands and turn them into smoke by burning them on the altar with the entirely burned offering as a soothing smell in the Lord’s presence. It is a food gift for the Lord.

²⁶ Take the breast of the ram for Aaron’s ordination and lift it as an uplifted offering in the Lord’s presence. It will be your portion. ²⁷ Make holy the breast that was lifted for the uplifted offering and the thigh that was raised for the gift offering from the ram for the ordination. They belong to Aaron and his sons. ²⁸ Those parts will be given to Aaron and his sons from the Israelites as a permanent provision, because they are a gift offering. They will be a gift offering from the Israelites, their gift offering to the Lord from their well-being sacrifices.

²⁹ Aaron’s holy clothes should be passed on to his sons after him. His sons should be anointed in them and ordained in them. ³⁰ The son who is priest in his place should wear them seven days when he comes into the meeting tent to minister in the sanctuary.

³¹ Take the ram for the ordination and boil its meat in a holy place. ³² Aaron and his sons will eat the ram’s meat and the bread that is in the basket at the meeting tent’s entrance. ³³ They alone should eat the food that was used to purify them, to ordain them, and to make them holy. No one else should eat it because it is holy. ³⁴ If any meat for the ordination or any of the bread is left over until morning, then you should burn the leftovers with fire. It shouldn’t be eaten because it’s holy.

³⁵ Treat Aaron and his sons just as I have commanded you. Ordain them for seven days. ³⁶ Every day you should offer a bull as a purification offering for reconciliation. You should remove the sin from the altar through a ritual of reconciliation, and you should anoint the altar to make it holy. ³⁷ Seven days you should perform the ritual of reconciliation for the altar and make it holy. In this way, the altar will become most holy, and whatever touches the altar will also become holy.

Instructions for daily entirely burned offerings

³⁸ Now this is what you should offer on the altar: two one-year-old lambs regularly every day. ³⁹ Offer one lamb in the morning and offer the other lamb at twilight. ⁴⁰ With the first lamb, add one-tenth of a measure of the high-quality flour mixed with a quarter of a hin^[d] of oil from crushed olives and a quarter of a hin of wine for a drink offering. ⁴¹ With the second lamb offered at twilight, again include a grain offering and its drink offering as in the morning as a soothing smell, a gift offering for the Lord. ⁴² This should be the regular entirely burned offering in every generation at the meeting tent’s entrance in the Lord’s presence. There I will meet with you, and there I will speak to you. ⁴³ I will meet with the Israelites there, and it will be made holy by my glorious presence. ⁴⁴ I will make the meeting tent and the altar holy. Likewise, I will make Aaron and his sons holy to serve me as priests. ⁴⁵ I will be at home among the Israelites, and I will be their God. ⁴⁶ They will know that I am the Lord their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt so that I could make a home among them. I am the Lord their God.

Instructions for the incense altar

30 Make an acacia-wood altar for burning incense. ² The altar should be square, eighteen inches long and eighteen inches wide. It should be three feet high. Its horns should be permanently attached. ³ Cover the altar with pure gold, including its top, all its sides, and its horns. You should also make a gold molding all around it. ⁴ Make two gold rings and attach them under the molding on two opposite sides of the altar. They will house the poles used to carry the altar. ⁵ Make acacia-wood poles and cover them with gold. ⁶ Place the incense altar in front of the veil that hangs before the chest containing the covenant, in front of the cover that is on top of the covenant document where I will meet with you. ⁷ Aaron will burn sweet-smelling incense on the incense altar every morning when he takes care of the lamps. ⁸ And again when Aaron lights the lamps at twilight, he will burn incense. It should be a regular incense offering in the Lord’s presence in every generation. ⁹ Don’t offer the wrong incense on the altar or an entirely burned offering or a grain offering. Don’t pour a drink offering on it. ¹⁰ Once a year Aaron should perform a ritual of reconciliation on its horns with the blood of the purification offering for reconciliation. Once a year in every generation he should perform a ritual of reconciliation at the altar. It is most holy to the Lord.

Census and compensation

¹¹ The Lord spoke to Moses: ¹² When you take a census of the Israelites to count them, each of them should pay compensation for their life to the Lord when they are counted. Then no plague will descend on them when they are counted. ¹³ Every one who is counted should pay a half shekel according to the official shekel of the sanctuary (the shekel is twenty gerahs). The half shekel is a gift offering to the Lord. ¹⁴ Every one who is counted, from 20 years old and above, should present a gift offering to the Lord. ¹⁵ When you bring this gift offering to the Lord to pay compensation for your lives, the rich shouldn’t give more and the poor shouldn’t give less than the half shekel. ¹⁶ Take the compensation money from the Israelites and use it to support the service of the meeting tent. It will serve for the Israelites as a reminder in the Lord’s presence of the compensation paid for your lives.

Instructions for the washbasin

¹⁷ The Lord spoke to Moses: ¹⁸ Make a copper basin for washing along with its copper stand. Put it between the meeting tent and the altar, and put water in it. ¹⁹ Aaron and his sons will use it to wash their hands and their feet. ²⁰ When they go into the meeting tent or approach the altar to minister and to offer a food gift to the Lord, they must wash with water so that they don’t die. ²¹ They must wash their hands and their feet so that they don’t die. This will be a permanent regulation for them, for Aaron and his descendants in every generation.

Instructions for oil and incense

²² The Lord spoke to Moses: ²³ Now take for yourself high-quality spices: five hundred weight of solid myrrh; half as much of sweet-smelling cinnamon, that is, two hundred fifty; two hundred fifty weight of sweet-smelling cane; ²⁴ five hundred of cassia—measured by the sanctuary shekel—and a hin^[e] of olive oil. ²⁵ Prepare a holy anointing oil, blending them like a skilled perfume maker to produce the holy anointing oil. ²⁶ Use it to anoint the meeting tent, the chest containing the covenant, ²⁷ the table and all its equipment, the lampstand and its equipment, the incense altar, ²⁸ the altar for entirely burned offerings and all its equipment, and the washbasin with its stand. ²⁹ Make them holy so that they may be perfectly holy. Whatever touches them will become holy. ³⁰ Then anoint Aaron and his sons and make them holy to serve me as priests. ³¹ Say to the Israelites: This will be my holy anointing oil in every generation. ³² Don’t allow anyone else to use this oil. Don’t make another oil like it by using the same formula. This oil is holy, and you should regard it as holy. ³³ Whoever blends an oil like it or whoever uses the oil on someone else will be cut off from the people.

³⁴ The Lord said to Moses: Take an equal amount of each of these spices: gum resin, onycha, galbanum, and pure frankincense. ³⁵ Like a skilled perfume maker, carefully blend them together and make incense, seasoned with salt, pure and holy. ³⁶ Beat some of it into a fine powder and put part of it in front of the covenant document in the meeting tent where I will meet with you. You should regard it as perfectly holy. ³⁷ When you make incense according to this formula, you shouldn’t make any of it for your own use. You should regard it as holy to the Lord. ³⁸ Whoever makes incense with this same formula to enjoy its fragrance will be cut off from the people.

Construction leaders: Bezalel and Oholiab

31 The Lord spoke to Moses: ² Look, I have chosen Bezalel, Uri’s son and Hur’s grandson from the tribe of Judah. ³ I have filled him with the divine spirit, with skill, ability, and knowledge for every kind of work. ⁴ He will be able to create designs; do metalwork in gold, silver, and copper; ⁵ cut stones for setting; carve wood; and do every kind of work. ⁶ I have also appointed with him Oholiab, Ahisamach’s son from the tribe of Dan. To all who are skillful, I have given the skill to make everything that I have commanded you: ⁷ the meeting tent, the chest containing the covenant, the cover that is on top of it, all the tent’s furnishings, ⁸ the table and its equipment, the pure lampstand with all its equipment, the incense altar, ⁹ the altar for entirely burned offerings with all its equipment, the washbasin with its stand, ¹⁰ the woven clothing, the holy clothes for Aaron the priest and for his sons for their service as priests, ¹¹ the anointing oil, and the sweet-smelling incense for the sanctuary. They will do just as I have commanded you.

Instructions for keeping the Sabbath

¹² The Lord said to Moses: ¹³ Tell the Israelites: “Be sure to keep my sabbaths, because the Sabbath is a sign between me and you in every generation so you will know that I am the Lord who makes you holy. ¹⁴ Keep the Sabbath, because it is holy for you. Everyone who violates the Sabbath will be put to death. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath, that person will be cut off from the people. ¹⁵ Do your work for six days. But the seventh day is a Sabbath of complete rest that is holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day will be put to death. ¹⁶ The Israelites should keep the Sabbath. They should observe the Sabbath in every generation as a covenant for all time. ¹⁷ It is a sign forever between me and the Israelites that in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day the Lord rested and was refreshed.”

¹⁸ When God finished speaking with Moses on Mount Sinai, God gave him the two covenant tablets, the stone tablets written by God’s finger.