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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 (A)He made the altar of burnt offering of acacia wood. Five cubits[a] was its length, and five cubits its breadth. It was square, and three cubits was its height. He made horns for it on its four corners. Its horns were of one piece with it, and he overlaid it with bronze. And he made all the utensils of the altar, the pots, the shovels, the basins, the forks, and the fire pans. He made all its utensils of bronze. And he made for the altar a grating, a network of bronze, under its ledge, extending halfway down. He cast four rings on the four corners of the bronze grating as holders for the poles. He made the poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with bronze. And he put the poles through the rings on the sides of the altar to carry it with them. He made it hollow, with boards.

Making the Bronze Basin

(B)He made the basin of bronze and its stand of bronze, from the mirrors of the (C)ministering women who ministered in the entrance of the tent of meeting.

Making the Court

(D)And he made the court. For the south side the hangings of the court were of fine twined linen, a hundred cubits; 10 their twenty pillars and their twenty bases were of bronze, but the hooks of the pillars and their fillets were of silver. 11 And for the north side there were hangings of a hundred cubits; their twenty pillars and their twenty bases were of bronze, but the hooks of the pillars and their fillets were of silver. 12 And for the west side were hangings of fifty cubits, their ten pillars, and their ten bases; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets were of silver. 13 And for the front to the east, fifty cubits. 14 The hangings for one side of the gate were fifteen cubits, with their three pillars and three bases. 15 And so for the other side. On both sides of the gate of the court were hangings of fifteen cubits, with their three pillars and their three bases. 16 All the hangings around the court were of fine twined linen. 17 And the bases for the pillars were of bronze, but the hooks of the pillars and their fillets were of silver. The overlaying of their capitals was also of silver, and all the pillars of the court were filleted with silver. 18 And the screen for the gate of the court was embroidered with needlework in blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen. It was twenty cubits long and five cubits high in its breadth, corresponding to the hangings of the court. 19 And their pillars were four in number. Their four bases were of bronze, their hooks of silver, and the overlaying of their capitals and their fillets of silver. 20 And all the pegs for the tabernacle and for the court all around were of bronze.

Materials for the Tabernacle

21 These are the records of the tabernacle, (E)the tabernacle of the testimony, as they were recorded at the commandment of Moses, the responsibility of the Levites (F)under the direction of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest. 22 (G)Bezalel the son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, made all that the Lord commanded Moses; 23 and with him was (H)Oholiab the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, an engraver and designer and embroiderer in blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen.

24 All the gold that was used for the work, in all the construction of the sanctuary, the gold from the offering, was twenty-nine talents and 730 shekels,[b] by (I)the shekel of the sanctuary. 25 The silver from those of the congregation who were recorded was a hundred talents and 1,775 shekels, by the shekel of the sanctuary: 26 a (J)beka[c] a head (that is, half a shekel, by the shekel of the sanctuary), for everyone who was listed in the records, from twenty years old and upward, for (K)603,550 men. 27 The hundred talents of silver were for casting the (L)bases of the sanctuary and the bases of the veil; a hundred bases for the hundred talents, a talent a base. 28 And of the 1,775 shekels he made hooks for the pillars and overlaid their capitals and made fillets for them. 29 The bronze that was offered was seventy talents and 2,400 shekels; 30 with it he made the (M)bases for the entrance of the tent of meeting, (N)the bronze altar and the bronze grating for it and all the utensils of the altar, 31 the (O)bases around the court, and the (P)bases of the gate of the court, all the (Q)pegs of the tabernacle, and all the pegs around the court.

Footnotes

  1. Exodus 38:1 A cubit was about 18 inches or 45 centimeters
  2. Exodus 38:24 A talent was about 75 pounds or 34 kilograms; a shekel was about 2/5 ounce or 11 grams
  3. Exodus 38:26 A beka was about 1/5 ounce or 5.5 grams