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Making the Bronze Altar and the Basin

38 And he made the burnt-offering altar of acacia wood; its length was five cubits, and its width was five cubits—it was square—and its height was three cubits. And he made its horns on its four corners; its horns were of one piece with it;[a] and he overlaid it with bronze. And he made all the equipment of the altar—the pots and the shovels and the sprinkling bowls and the forks[b] and the fire pans—all its equipment he made with bronze. And he made for the altar a grating, a work of bronze network under its ledge, below, up to its middle. And he cast four rings on the four ends of the bronze grating as holders[c] for the poles. And he made the poles of acacia wood, and he overlaid them with bronze. And he put the poles into the rings on the sides of the altar to carry it with them. He made it hollow with boards.

And he made the basin of bronze and its stand of bronze from the mirrors of the serving women who served at the entrance of the tent of assembly.

Making the Courtyard

And he made the courtyard; for the south[d] side were the hangings of the court of finely twisted linen, one hundred cubits, 10 with their twenty pillars and their twenty bases of bronze and with the hooks of the pillars and their bands of silver. 11 And for the north side the hangings were one hundred cubits with their twenty pillars and their twenty bases of bronze and with the hooks of the pillars and their bands of silver. 12 And for the west[e] side fifty cubits of hangings with their ten pillars and their ten bases and with the hooks of the pillars and their bands of silver. 13 And for the eastward side, toward sunrise, fifty cubits; 14 fifteen cubits of hangings were to the shoulder,[f] with their three pillars and their three bases, 15 and for the second shoulder[g] on each side[h] of the gate of the courtyard were fifteen cubits of hangings, with their three pillars and their three bases. 16 All the hangings of the courtyard all around were finely twisted linen, 17 and the bases for the pillars were bronze, the hooks of the pillars and their bands were silver, and the overlay of their tops was silver, and all the pillars of the courtyard were banded with silver.

18 And the screen of the gate of the courtyard was the work of an embroiderer, with blue and purple and crimson yarns and finely twisted linen; it was twenty cubits long and five cubits high,[i] like the hangings of the courtyard, 19 and with their four pillars and their four bases of bronze, with their silver hooks and with their tops and their bands of silver. 20 And all the pegs[j] for the tabernacle and for the courtyard all around were bronze.

Amounts of Gold, Silver, and Bronze Used

21 These are the records of the tabernacle, the tabernacle of the testimony, which were recorded at the command of[k] Moses, the work of the Levites, in the hand of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest. 22 And Bezalel the son of Uri the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, did all that Yahweh commanded Moses. 23 And with him was Oholiab the son of Ahisamach of the tribe of Dan, a skilled craftsman and a designer and an embroiderer with the blue and with the purple and with the crimson yarns and with the linen.

24 And all the gold used for the work, in the work of the sanctuary, it was the gold of the wave offering—twenty-nine talents and seven hundred and thirty shekels, according to the sanctuary shekel.

25 And the silver recorded from the community was a hundred talents and a thousand seven hundred and seventy-five shekels, according to the sanctuary shekel. 26 It was a bekah for the individual, the half shekel according to the sanctuary shekel, for everyone who was counted,[l] from twenty years old[m] and above, for six hundred and three thousand five hundred and fifty. 27 And it was one hundred talents of the silver to cast the bases of the sanctuary and the bases of the curtain—one hundred bases for one hundred talents of silver, a talent for each base. 28 And from the thousand seven hundred and seventy-five shekels he made hooks for the pillars, and he overlaid their tops, and he made bands for them.

29 And the bronze of the wave offering was seventy talents and two thousand four hundred shekels. 30 And he made with it the bases of the entrance of the tent of assembly and the bronze altar and the bronze grating that belonged to it and all the equipment of the altar 31 and the bases of the courtyard all around and the bases of the gate of the courtyard and all the pegs[n] of the tabernacle and all the pegs[o] of the courtyard all around.

Footnotes

  1. Exodus 38:2 Literally “from it”
  2. Exodus 38:3 1 Samuel 2:13 mentions a fork with “three teeth” used by priests
  3. Exodus 38:5 Literally “houses”
  4. Exodus 38:9 Or “southward southward”
  5. Exodus 38:12 Literally “sea”
  6. Exodus 38:14 Or “side,” referring to the span on one side of the courtyard’s entry
  7. Exodus 38:15 Or “side,” referring to the span on one side of the courtyard’s entry
  8. Exodus 38:15 Literally “from this and from this”
  9. Exodus 38:18 Literally “height in width”
  10. Exodus 38:20 Literally “hands”
  11. Exodus 38:21 Literally “mouth of”
  12. Exodus 38:26 Literally “all of the going over to the being counted”
  13. Exodus 38:26 Literally “a son of twenty years”
  14. Exodus 38:31 Literally “hands”
  15. Exodus 38:31 Literally “hands”

Making the Altar of Burnt Offering

38 Bezalel(A) constructed the altar of burnt offering from acacia wood. It was square, 7½ feet long and 7½ feet wide,[a] and was 4½ feet[b] high. He made horns for it on its four corners; the horns were of one piece with it. Then he overlaid it with bronze.

He made all the altar’s utensils: the pots, shovels, basins, meat forks, and firepans; he made all its utensils of bronze. He constructed for the altar a grate of bronze mesh under its ledge,[c] halfway up from the bottom. He cast four rings at the four corners of the bronze grate as holders for the poles. He made the poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with bronze. Then he inserted the poles into the rings on the sides of the altar in order to carry it with them. He constructed the altar with boards so that it was hollow.

Making the Bronze Basin

He made the bronze basin and its stand from the bronze mirrors of the women who served at the entrance to the tent of meeting.(B)

Making the Courtyard

Then(C) he made the courtyard. The hangings on the south side of the courtyard were of finely spun linen, 150 feet[d] long, 10 including their twenty posts and their twenty bronze bases, with silver hooks and silver bands[e] for the posts. 11 The hangings on the north side were also 150 feet long, including their twenty posts and twenty bronze bases. The hooks and bands of the posts were silver. 12 The hangings on the west side were 75 feet[f] long, including their ten posts and their ten bases, with silver hooks and silver bands for the posts. 13 And for the east side toward the sunrise, 75 feet long, 14 the hangings on one side of the gate were 22½ feet,[g] including their three posts and their three bases. 15 It was the same for the other side of the courtyard gate. The hangings were 22½ feet, including their three posts and their three bases. 16 All the hangings around the courtyard were of finely spun linen. 17 The bases for the posts were bronze; the hooks and bands of the posts were silver; and the plating for the tops of the posts was silver. All the posts of the courtyard were banded with silver.

18 The screen for the gate of the courtyard was made of finely spun linen, expertly embroidered[h] with blue, purple, and scarlet yarn. It was 30 feet[i] long, and like the hangings of the courtyard, 7½ feet[j] high.[k] 19 It had four posts with their four bronze bases. Their hooks were silver, and their top plating and their bands were silver. 20 All the tent pegs for the tabernacle and for the surrounding courtyard were bronze.

Inventory of Materials

21 This is the inventory for the tabernacle, the tabernacle of the testimony,(D) that was recorded at Moses’s command. It was the work of the Levites under the direction of[l] Ithamar son of Aaron the priest.(E) 22 Bezalel son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, made everything that the Lord commanded Moses. 23 With him was Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, a gem cutter, a designer, and an embroiderer with blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, and fine linen.

24 All the gold of the presentation offering that was used for the project in all the work on the sanctuary, was 2,193 pounds,[m] according to the sanctuary shekel.(F) 25 The silver from those of the community who were registered was 7,544 pounds,[n] according to the sanctuary shekel— 26 one-fifth of an ounce[o] per man, that is, half a shekel according to the sanctuary shekel, from everyone twenty years old or more who had crossed over to the registered group, 603,550 men. 27 There were 7,500 pounds[p] of silver used to cast the bases of the sanctuary and the bases of the curtain—one hundred bases from 7,500 pounds, 75 pounds[q] for each base.(G) 28 With the remaining 44 pounds[r] he made the hooks for the posts, overlaid their tops, and supplied bands for them.

29 The bronze of the presentation offering totaled 5,310 pounds.[s] 30 He made with it the bases for the entrance to the tent of meeting, the bronze altar and its bronze grate, all the utensils for the altar, 31 the bases for the surrounding courtyard, the bases for the gate of the courtyard, all the tent pegs for the tabernacle, and all the tent pegs for the surrounding courtyard.

Footnotes

  1. 38:1 Lit five cubits its length and five cubits its width
  2. 38:1 Lit three cubits
  3. 38:4 Or rim
  4. 38:9 Lit 100 cubits, also in v. 11
  5. 38:10 Or connecting rods, also in vv. 11,17,19,28
  6. 38:12 Lit 50 cubits, also in v. 13
  7. 38:14 Lit 15 cubits, also in v. 15
  8. 38:18 Or woven
  9. 38:18 Lit 20 cubits
  10. 38:18 Lit five cubits
  11. 38:18 Lit high in width
  12. 38:21 Lit Levites by the hand of
  13. 38:24 Lit 29 talents and 730 shekels
  14. 38:25 Lit 100 talents and 1,775 shekels
  15. 38:26 Lit a beka
  16. 38:27 Lit 100 talents
  17. 38:27 Lit one talent
  18. 38:28 Lit 1,775 (shekels)
  19. 38:29 Lit 70 talents and 2,400 shekels