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The tabernacle

26 Make the tabernacle with ten curtains of very good linen. Also use blue, purple and red material. Tell a worker to use special skills to make pictures of cherubs on the curtains. All the curtains must be the same size: 12 metres long and 2 metres wide. Join five of the curtains together. Do the same thing with the other five curtains. Fix rings of blue material along the edge of the last curtain in each set of five curtains. Put 50 rings on the edge of the first set. Put 50 rings on the edge of the other set. Do this so that the rings on one curtain are opposite to the rings on the other curtain. Then use 50 small gold hooks to join the curtains together. In this way, a single piece of curtain will make the whole tabernacle.

Use goats' hair to make 11 curtains. They will cover the tabernacle, like a tent. All the curtains must be the same size: 13.5 metres long and 2 metres wide. Join five of the curtains together to make one set. Fix the other six curtains together to make a second set. Turn the sixth curtain of this set over itself to cover the entrance of the tent. 10 Use material to make 50 rings along the edge of the end curtain in each set. 11 Then make 50 bronze hooks. Use them to join the two sets of curtains together so that it makes a single tent. 12 The curtains for the tent will be longer than the curtains for the tabernacle. The extra half of the curtain for the tent will hang at the back of the tabernacle. 13 The curtains of the tent will be half a metre longer on both sides. The extra material will hang over each side of the tabernacle to cover it completely.

14 Use red leather from sheep's skins to cover the tent. Then use another kind of good leather to cover the red leather.

15 Use acacia wood to make boards to hold up the tabernacle. 16 Each board must be 4 metres high and 65 centimetres wide. 17 Make two wooden pegs on each board, beside each other. Make all the boards of the tabernacle like this. 18 Make 20 boards for the south side of the tabernacle. 19 Then use silver to make 40 heavy bases to hold up the boards. Two bases will hold up each board. The pegs on the boards will fit into holes in the bases. 20 Also make 20 boards for the north side of the tabernacle. 21 Make 40 silver bases, two bases under each board. 22 Make six boards for the west side, at the back of the tabernacle. 23 Then make two boards for the corners at the back of the tabernacle. 24 You must fix the two boards together, from the bottom to the top. Use a ring to fix them together at the top. Make both the corners in the same way. 25 So there will be eight boards at the back of the tabernacle and 16 silver bases, two bases under each board.

26 You must also use acacia wood to make bars to fix across the boards. Make five bars for the south side of the tabernacle, 27 five bars for the north side, and five bars for the west side at the back of the tabernacle. 28 The bar that goes across the centre of the boards must reach from one end of the tabernacle to the other end. 29 Use gold to cover the boards and to make rings for the boards. These rings will hold the bars in place across the boards. Also cover the wooden bars with gold.

30 Make the tabernacle the same as the plan that I showed to you on the mountain.

The curtain inside the tabernacle

31 Use blue, purple and red material and good linen to make a special curtain. A worker must use special skills to make pictures of cherubs on it. 32 Use gold rings to hang the curtain from four poles of acacia wood. Cover these poles with gold. Then fix them on four silver bases. 33 Hang the top of the curtain from the rings. Put the Covenant Box behind the curtain, in the Most Holy Place. The curtain will hang between the Most Holy Place and the Holy Place so that they are separate. 34 Put the special lid on the Covenant Box, in the Most Holy Place.[a] 35 Put the special table in the Holy Place, outside the curtain. It will be on the north side of the tabernacle. Put the lampstand opposite the table, on the south side.

36 Make a curtain for the entrance of the tent. Use blue, purple and red material and good linen to make it. A worker must use special skills to make it so that it looks beautiful. 37 Use acacia wood to make five poles. Cover them with gold. Fix gold rings to the poles. Use bronze to make five bases to hold up the poles. Then hang the curtain from the rings on the poles.

Footnotes

  1. 26:34 The Hebrew name for the special lid shows that it was a place where God would forgive sins.

Instructions for Making the Tabernacle

26 “And the tabernacle you will make with ten curtains; you will make them of finely twisted linen and blue and purple and crimson yarns, with cherubim, the work of a skilled craftsman. The length of the one curtain will be twenty-eight cubits, and the width will be four cubits for the one curtain; one measure will be for all the curtains. Five curtains will be joined to one another,[a] and five curtains joined to one another.[b] And you will make loops of blue on the edge of the one curtain, at the end in the set; and you will do so on the edge of the end curtain in the second set. You will make fifty loops on the one curtain, and you will make fifty loops on the end of the curtain that is in the second set; the loops are to be opposite[c] to one another.[d] And you will make fifty gold clasps and join the curtains to one another[e] with the clasps, so that the tabernacle will be one.

“And you will make curtains of goat hair for a tent over the tabernacle; you will make them eleven curtains. The length of the one curtain will be thirty cubits, and the width will be four cubits for the one curtain; one measure will be for the eleven curtains. And you will join five curtains together and six curtains together, and you will fold double the sixth curtain at the front of the tent. 10 And you will make fifty loops on the edge of the one curtain at the end of the first set and fifty loops on the edge of the curtain in the second set. 11 And you will make fifty bronze clasps, and you will put the clasps in the loops and join the tent, so that it will be one.

12 “And the surplus in the curtains of the tent will be an overhang; the surplus half curtain will hang over the back of the tabernacle. 13 And a cubit from one side[f] and a cubit from the other side[g] in the surplus in the length of the curtains of the tent will be hung over the sides of the tabernacle equally[h] to cover it.

14 “And you will make a covering for the tent of red-dyed ram skins and a covering of fine leather to go above.

15 “And you will make the frames[i] for the tabernacle of acacia wood as uprights.[j] 16 The length of the frame[k] will be ten cubits, and the width of the one frame[l] will be one and a half cubits. 17 You will make two pegs[m] for the one frame[n] for joining each to another[o] and likewise for all the frames[p] of the tabernacle. 18 And you will make the frames[q] for the tabernacle with twenty frames[r] for the south[s] side. 19 And you will make forty silver bases under the twenty frames,[t] with two bases under the one frame[u] for its two pegs[v] and two bases under the next[w] frame[x] for its two pegs.[y] 20 And for the second side of the tabernacle, the north side, there will be twenty frames[z] 21 and their forty silver bases, with two bases under the one frame[aa] and two bases under the next[ab] frame.[ac]

22 “And for the rear of the tabernacle on the west[ad] you will make six frames.[ae] 23 And you will make two frames[af] for the tabernacle corners at the rear. 24 They will be double at the bottom, and they will be completely together on its top to the one ring; it will be likewise for the two of them; they will be for the two corners. 25 And there will be eight frames[ag] and their silver bases, sixteen bases, with two bases under the one frame[ah] and two bases under the next[ai] frame.[aj]

26 “You will make five bars of acacia wood for the frames[ak] on the one side of the tabernacle, 27 and five bars for the frames[al] on the second side of the tabernacle, and five bars for the frames[am] on the side of the tabernacle at the rear on the west.[an] 28 And the bar in the middle, in the midst of the frames[ao] will run from end to end. 29 And you will overlay the frames[ap] with gold, and you will make their rings of gold as holders[aq] for the bars, and you will overlay the bars with gold. 30 And you will erect the tabernacle according to its plan, which you have been shown on the mountain.

31 “And you will make a curtain of blue and purple and crimson yarns and finely twisted linen, the work of a skilled craftsman; he will make it with cherubim. 32 And you will put it on four acacia pillars overlaid with gold with their gold hooks on four silver bases. 33 And you will put the curtain under the clasps, and you will bring the ark of the testimony there inside the curtain, and the curtain will separate for you between the holy and the most holy place.[ar] 34 And you will put the atonement cover on the ark of the testimony in the most holy place.[as] 35 And you will place the table outside the curtain and the lampstand opposite the table on the south side of the tabernacle, and you will put the table on the north side.

36 “And you will make for the entrance of the tent a screen of blue and purple and crimson yarns and finely twisted linen, the work of an embroiderer. 37 And you will make for the screen five acacia pillars, and you will overlay them with gold with their gold hooks, and you will cast for them five bronze bases.

Footnotes

  1. Exodus 26:3 Literally “a woman to her sister”
  2. Exodus 26:3 Literally “a woman to her sister”
  3. Exodus 26:5 Or “interlinked” or “matching”
  4. Exodus 26:5 Literally “a woman to her sister”
  5. Exodus 26:6 Literally “a woman to her sister”
  6. Exodus 26:13 Literally “from this”
  7. Exodus 26:13 Literally “from this”
  8. Exodus 26:13 Literally “from this and from this”
  9. Exodus 26:15 Or “boards” or “planks”
  10. Exodus 26:15 Literally “standing”
  11. Exodus 26:16 Or “board” or “plank”
  12. Exodus 26:16 Or “board” or “plank”
  13. Exodus 26:17 Literally “hands”
  14. Exodus 26:17 Or “board” or “plank”
  15. Exodus 26:17 Literally “a woman to her sister”
  16. Exodus 26:17 Or “boards” or “planks”
  17. Exodus 26:18 Or “boards” or “planks”
  18. Exodus 26:18 Or “boards” or “planks”
  19. Exodus 26:18 Literally “south southward”
  20. Exodus 26:19 Or “boards” or “planks”
  21. Exodus 26:19 Or “board” or “plank”
  22. Exodus 26:19 Literally “hands”
  23. Exodus 26:19 Literally “one”
  24. Exodus 26:19 Or “board” or “plank”
  25. Exodus 26:19 Literally “hands”
  26. Exodus 26:20 Or “boards” or “planks”
  27. Exodus 26:21 Or “board” or “plank”
  28. Exodus 26:21 Literally “one”
  29. Exodus 26:21 Or “board” or “plank”
  30. Exodus 26:22 Or “westward,” literally “seaward,” toward the Mediterranean Sea
  31. Exodus 26:22 Or “boards” or “planks”
  32. Exodus 26:23 Or “boards” or “planks”
  33. Exodus 26:25 Or “boards” or “planks”
  34. Exodus 26:25 Or “board” or “plank”
  35. Exodus 26:25 Literally “one”
  36. Exodus 26:25 Or “board” or “plank”
  37. Exodus 26:26 Or “boards” or “planks”
  38. Exodus 26:27 Or “boards” or “planks”
  39. Exodus 26:27 Or “boards” or “planks”
  40. Exodus 26:27 Or “westward,” literally “seaward,” toward the Mediterranean Sea
  41. Exodus 26:28 Or “boards” or “planks”
  42. Exodus 26:29 Or “boards” or “planks”
  43. Exodus 26:29 Literally “houses”
  44. Exodus 26:33 Literally “holy place of the holiness”
  45. Exodus 26:34 Literally “holy place of the holiness”