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36 “The Lord has gifted Bezalel, Oholiab, and the other skilled craftsmen with wisdom and ability to perform any task involved in building the sanctuary. Let them construct and furnish the Tabernacle, just as the Lord has commanded.”

So Moses summoned Bezalel and Oholiab and all the others who were specially gifted by the Lord and were eager to get to work. Moses gave them the materials donated by the people of Israel as sacred offerings for the completion of the sanctuary. But the people continued to bring additional gifts each morning. Finally the craftsmen who were working on the sanctuary left their work. They went to Moses and reported, “The people have given more than enough materials to complete the job the Lord has commanded us to do!”

So Moses gave the command, and this message was sent throughout the camp: “Men and women, don’t prepare any more gifts for the sanctuary. We have enough!” So the people stopped bringing their sacred offerings. Their contributions were more than enough to complete the whole project.

Building the Tabernacle

The skilled craftsmen made ten curtains of finely woven linen for the Tabernacle. Then Bezalel[a] decorated the curtains with blue, purple, and scarlet thread and with skillfully embroidered cherubim. All ten curtains were exactly the same size—42 feet long and 6 feet wide.[b] 10 Five of these curtains were joined together to make one long curtain, and the other five were joined to make a second long curtain. 11 He made fifty loops of blue yarn and put them along the edge of the last curtain in each set. 12 The fifty loops along the edge of one curtain matched the fifty loops along the edge of the other curtain. 13 Then he made fifty gold clasps and fastened the long curtains together with the clasps. In this way, the Tabernacle was made of one continuous piece.

14 He made eleven curtains of goat-hair cloth to serve as a tent covering for the Tabernacle. 15 These eleven curtains were all exactly the same size—45 feet long and 6 feet wide.[c] 16 Bezalel joined five of these curtains together to make one long curtain, and the other six were joined to make a second long curtain. 17 He made fifty loops for the edge of each large curtain. 18 He also made fifty bronze clasps to fasten the long curtains together. In this way, the tent covering was made of one continuous piece. 19 He completed the tent covering with a layer of tanned ram skins and a layer of fine goatskin leather.

20 For the framework of the Tabernacle, Bezalel constructed frames of acacia wood. 21 Each frame was 15 feet high and 27 inches wide,[d] 22 with two pegs under each frame. All the frames were identical. 23 He made twenty of these frames to support the curtains on the south side of the Tabernacle. 24 He also made forty silver bases—two bases under each frame, with the pegs fitting securely into the bases. 25 For the north side of the Tabernacle, he made another twenty frames, 26 with their forty silver bases, two bases under each frame. 27 He made six frames for the rear—the west side of the Tabernacle— 28 along with two additional frames to reinforce the rear corners of the Tabernacle. 29 These corner frames were matched at the bottom and firmly attached at the top with a single ring, forming a single corner unit. Both of these corner units were made the same way. 30 So there were eight frames at the rear of the Tabernacle, set in sixteen silver bases—two bases under each frame.

31 Then he made crossbars of acacia wood to link the frames, five crossbars for the north side of the Tabernacle 32 and five for the south side. He also made five crossbars for the rear of the Tabernacle, which faced west. 33 He made the middle crossbar to attach halfway up the frames; it ran all the way from one end of the Tabernacle to the other. 34 He overlaid the frames with gold and made gold rings to hold the crossbars. Then he overlaid the crossbars with gold as well.

35 For the inside of the Tabernacle, Bezalel made a special curtain of finely woven linen. He decorated it with blue, purple, and scarlet thread and with skillfully embroidered cherubim. 36 For the curtain, he made four posts of acacia wood and four gold hooks. He overlaid the posts with gold and set them in four silver bases.

37 Then he made another curtain for the entrance to the sacred tent. He made it of finely woven linen and embroidered it with exquisite designs using blue, purple, and scarlet thread. 38 This curtain was hung on gold hooks attached to five posts. The posts with their decorated tops and hooks were overlaid with gold, and the five bases were cast from bronze.

Footnotes

  1. 36:8 Hebrew he; also in 36:16, 20, 35. See 37:1.
  2. 36:9 Hebrew 28 cubits [12.9 meters] long and 4 cubits [1.8 meters] wide.
  3. 36:15 Hebrew 30 cubits [13.8 meters] long and 4 cubits [1.8 meters] wide.
  4. 36:21 Hebrew 10 cubits [4.6 meters] high and 1.5 cubits [69 centimeters] wide.

36 Bezalel and Oholiab and all the skilled craftsmen to whom the Lord gave wisdom and understanding to know how to do all the work in constructing[a] the sanctuary are to do everything that the Lord has commanded.”

Contributions for Building the Tent

Then Moses summoned Bezalel, Oholiab, and all the skilled[b] people to whom the Lord had given ability,[c] including everyone whose hearts stirred them to come forward to do the work. They received from Moses all the offerings that the Israelis had brought for doing the work of constructing[d] the sanctuary, and the people[e] continued to bring freewill offerings every morning. All the craftsmen who were doing all the work on the sanctuary left the work they were doing and told Moses, “The people are bringing much more than enough for the work that the Lord has commanded us to do.” Then Moses issued an order, and the message was taken throughout the camp, “Men and women, don’t bring any more offerings for the sanctuary.” The people were restrained from bringing any more,[f] since the material was more than sufficient for doing all the work.

All the skilled craftsmen among the workers made the tent with ten curtains of fine woven[g] linen, blue, purple, and scarlet material.[h] He[i] made them with cherubim skillfully worked into them. The length of each curtain was 28 cubits,[j] and the width of each curtain two cubits.[k] All the curtains had the same measurements.[l] 10 He joined five of the curtains together, and the other five curtains he joined together. 11 He made loops of blue material[m] along the edge of the outermost curtain in the first set, and likewise, he made loops along the edge of the outermost curtain in the second set. 12 He made 50 loops in the one curtain, and he made 50 loops along the edge of the curtain that is in the second set, with the loops opposite each other. 13 Then he made 50 gold clasps, and joined the curtains to each other with the clasps so the tent was one piece.

14 He made curtains of goat hair for a tent over the tent; he made 11 curtains. 15 The length of each curtain was 30 cubits,[n] and the width of each curtain was two cubits;[o] the measurements of each of the eleven curtains was the same.[p] 16 He joined five curtains by themselves, and six curtains by themselves. 17 He made 50 loops along the edge of the outermost curtain in the first set, and 50 loops along the edge of the curtain of the other set. 18 He made 50 bronze clasps to join the tent together so it would be one piece. 19 Then he made a cover for the tent of ram skins dyed red[q] and a covering of dolphin[r] skins above that.

20 Then he made upright boards of acacia wood for the tent. 21 Each[s] board was ten cubits[t] long, and one and a half cubits[u] wide. 22 Each board had two pegs, joined to one another, and he did this for all the boards of the tent. 23 He made the boards for the tent: 20 boards for the south side.[v] 24 He made 40 silver sockets under the 20 boards: two sockets under one board for its two pegs and two sockets[w] under the next[x] board for its two pegs. 25 For the second side of the tent to the north he made 20 boards,[y] 26 and 40 silver sockets for them, two sockets under one board and two sockets under the next[z] board. 27 For the rear of the tent on the west he made six boards, 28 and he made two boards for the rear corners of the tent. 29 They were joined together[aa] at the bottom and they were connected[ab] on top, by one ring. He did this for the two of them, and they were the two corners. 30 There were eight boards with their sixteen silver sockets, two sockets under each board.

31 Then he made bars of acacia wood, five for the boards on one side of the tent, 32 five bars for the boards on the second side of the tent, and five bars for the boards on the back side of the tent to the west. 33 He made the middle bar in the center of the boards pass through from end to end. 34 He overlaid the boards with gold, and made gold rings for them as holders for the bars, and he overlaid the bars with gold.

35 He made a curtain of blue, purple, and scarlet material, and fine woven linen. He made it with cherubim skillfully worked into it. 36 He made four pillars of acacia for it and overlaid them with gold, along with their gold hooks, and he cast four silver sockets for them. 37 For the doorway of the tent, he made a screen of blue, purple, and scarlet material and fine woven linen, the work of an embroiderer, 38 and five pillars of acacia along with their hooks. He overlaid their tops and their bands[ac] with gold. Their five sockets were made of bronze.

Footnotes

  1. Exodus 36:1 Lit. for the service of
  2. Exodus 36:2 Lit. wise of heart
  3. Exodus 36:2 Lit. wisdom in his heart
  4. Exodus 36:3 Lit. for the service of
  5. Exodus 36:3 Lit. they
  6. Exodus 36:6 The Heb. lacks any more
  7. Exodus 36:8 Or twisted
  8. Exodus 36:8 The Heb. lacks material
  9. Exodus 36:8 Perhaps Bezalel as the head of the skilled workers; and so through the rest of the book
  10. Exodus 36:9 I.e. about 42 feet
  11. Exodus 36:9 I.e. about six feet
  12. Exodus 36:9 Lit. the measure of one for every curtain
  13. Exodus 36:11 The Heb. lacks material
  14. Exodus 36:15 I.e. about 45 feet
  15. Exodus 36:15 I.e. about six feet
  16. Exodus 36:15 Lit. the measure of one for the eleven curtains
  17. Exodus 36:19 Or tanned
  18. Exodus 36:19 Or dugong, a marine animal resembling a walrus or manatee
  19. Exodus 36:21 Lit. the one
  20. Exodus 36:21 I.e. about 15 feet
  21. Exodus 36:21 I.e. about 27 inches
  22. Exodus 36:23 Lit. toward the Negev (south), toward Teman (a city to the south)
  23. Exodus 36:24 Or bases
  24. Exodus 36:24 Lit. the one
  25. Exodus 36:25 The Heb. lacks he made
  26. Exodus 36:26 Lit. the one
  27. Exodus 36:29 Lit. twins; i.e. perhaps designed with interlocking pieces
  28. Exodus 36:29 Lit. complete; i.e.. perhaps the tops were joined together by a metal ring
  29. Exodus 36:38 Perhaps a kind of connecting rod joining the pillars together