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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”

The Altar of Burnt Offering(A)

38 They[a] built the altar of burnt offering of acacia wood, three cubits[b] high; it was square, five cubits long and five cubits wide.[c] They made a horn at each of the four corners, so that the horns and the altar were of one piece, and they overlaid the altar with bronze.(B) They made all its utensils(C) of bronze—its pots, shovels, sprinkling bowls, meat forks and firepans. They made a grating for the altar, a bronze network, to be under its ledge, halfway up the altar. They cast bronze rings to hold the poles for the four corners of the bronze grating. They made the poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with bronze. They inserted the poles into the rings so they would be on the sides of the altar for carrying it. They made it hollow, out of boards.

The Basin for Washing

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

The Courtyard(F)

Next they made the courtyard. The south side was a hundred cubits[d] long and had curtains of finely twisted linen, 10 with twenty posts and twenty bronze bases, and with silver hooks and bands on the posts. 11 The north side was also a hundred cubits long and had twenty posts and twenty bronze bases, with silver hooks and bands on the posts.

12 The west end was fifty cubits[e] wide and had curtains, with ten posts and ten bases, with silver hooks and bands on the posts. 13 The east end, toward the sunrise, was also fifty cubits wide. 14 Curtains fifteen cubits[f] long were on one side of the entrance, with three posts and three bases, 15 and curtains fifteen cubits long were on the other side of the entrance to the courtyard, with three posts and three bases. 16 All the curtains around the courtyard were of finely twisted linen. 17 The bases for the posts were bronze. The hooks and bands on the posts were silver, and their tops were overlaid with silver; so all the posts of the courtyard had silver bands.

18 The curtain for the entrance to the courtyard was made of blue, purple and scarlet yarn and finely twisted linen—the work of an embroiderer. It was twenty cubits[g] long and, like the curtains of the courtyard, five cubits[h] high, 19 with four posts and four bronze bases. Their hooks and bands were silver, and their tops were overlaid with silver. 20 All the tent pegs(G) of the tabernacle and of the surrounding courtyard were bronze.

The Materials Used

21 These are the amounts of the materials used for the tabernacle, the tabernacle of the covenant law,(H) which were recorded at Moses’ command by the Levites under the direction of Ithamar(I) son of Aaron, the priest. 22 (Bezalel(J) son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, made everything the Lord commanded Moses; 23 with him was Oholiab(K) son of Ahisamak, of the tribe of Dan—an engraver and designer, and an embroiderer in blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen.) 24 The total amount of the gold from the wave offering used for all the work on the sanctuary(L) was 29 talents and 730 shekels,[i] according to the sanctuary shekel.(M)

25 The silver obtained from those of the community who were counted in the census(N) was 100 talents[j] and 1,775 shekels,[k] according to the sanctuary shekel— 26 one beka per person,(O) that is, half a shekel,[l] according to the sanctuary shekel,(P) from everyone who had crossed over to those counted, twenty years old or more,(Q) a total of 603,550 men.(R) 27 The 100 talents of silver were used to cast the bases(S) for the sanctuary and for the curtain—100 bases from the 100 talents, one talent for each base. 28 They used the 1,775 shekels to make the hooks for the posts, to overlay the tops of the posts, and to make their bands.

29 The bronze from the wave offering was 70 talents and 2,400 shekels.[m] 30 They used it to make the bases for the entrance to the tent of meeting, the bronze altar with its bronze grating and all its utensils, 31 the bases for the surrounding courtyard and those for its entrance and all the tent pegs for the tabernacle and those for the surrounding courtyard.

Footnotes

  1. Exodus 38:1 Or He; also in verses 2-9
  2. Exodus 38:1 That is, about 4 1/2 feet or about 1.4 meters
  3. Exodus 38:1 That is, about 7 1/2 feet or about 2.3 meters long and wide
  4. Exodus 38:9 That is, about 150 feet or about 45 meters
  5. Exodus 38:12 That is, about 75 feet or about 23 meters
  6. Exodus 38:14 That is, about 22 feet or about 6.8 meters
  7. Exodus 38:18 That is, about 30 feet or about 9 meters
  8. Exodus 38:18 That is, about 7 1/2 feet or about 2.3 meters
  9. Exodus 38:24 The weight of the gold was a little over a ton or about 1 metric ton.
  10. Exodus 38:25 That is, about 3 3/4 tons or about 3.4 metric tons; also in verse 27
  11. Exodus 38:25 That is, about 44 pounds or about 20 kilograms; also in verse 28
  12. Exodus 38:26 That is, about 1/5 ounce or about 5.7 grams
  13. Exodus 38:29 The weight of the bronze was about 2 1/2 tons or about 2.4 metric tons.