Exodus 34-36

Holman Christian Standard Bible

New Stone Tablets

34 The Lord said to Moses, “Cut two stone tablets like the first ones, and I will write on them the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke.^{(A) 2} Be prepared by morning. Come up Mount Sinai in the morning and stand before Me on the mountaintop. ³ No one may go up with you; in fact, no one must be seen anywhere on the mountain. Even the flocks and herds are not to graze in front of that mountain.”^(B)

⁴ Moses cut two stone tablets like the first ones. He got up early in the morning, and taking the two stone tablets in his hand, he climbed Mount Sinai, just as the Lord had commanded him.

⁵ The Lord came down in a cloud, stood with him there, and proclaimed His name Yahweh. ⁶ Then the Lord passed in front of him and proclaimed:

⁸ Moses immediately bowed down to the ground and worshiped. ⁹ Then he said, “My Lord, if I have indeed found favor in Your sight, my Lord, please go with us. Even though this is a stiff-necked people, forgive our wrongdoing and sin, and accept us as Your own possession.”^(F)

Covenant Obligations

¹⁰ And the Lord responded: “Look, I am making a covenant. I will perform wonders in the presence of all your people^[a] that have never been done^[b] in all the earth or in any nation. All the people you live among will see the Lord’s work, for what I am doing with you is awe-inspiring.^{(G) 11} Observe what I command you today. I am going to drive out before you the Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites,^[c] and Jebusites. ¹² Be careful not to make a treaty with the inhabitants of the land that you are going to enter; otherwise, they will become a snare among you.^{(H) 13} Instead, you must tear down their altars, smash their sacred pillars, and chop down their Asherah poles.^{(I) 14} You are never to bow down to another god because Yahweh, being jealous^(J) by nature,^[d] is a jealous God.

¹⁵ “Do not make a treaty with the inhabitants of the land, or else when they prostitute themselves with their gods and sacrifice to their gods, they will invite you, and you will eat their sacrifices.^{(K) 16} Then you will take some of their daughters as brides for your sons. Their daughters will prostitute themselves with their gods and cause your sons to prostitute themselves with their gods.^(L)

¹⁷ “Do not make cast images^(M) of gods for yourselves.

¹⁸ “Observe the Festival of Unleavened Bread. You are to eat unleavened bread for seven days at the appointed time in the month of Abib^[e] as I commanded you. For you came out of Egypt in the month of Abib.^(N)

¹⁹ “The firstborn^(O) male from every womb belongs to Me, including all your male^[f][g] livestock, the firstborn of cattle or sheep. ²⁰ You must redeem the firstborn of a donkey with a sheep, but if you do not redeem it, break its neck.^(P) You must redeem all the firstborn of your sons. No one is to appear before Me empty-handed.

²¹ “You are to labor six days but you must rest^(Q) on the seventh day; you must even rest during plowing and harvesting times.

²² “Observe the Festival of Weeks with the firstfruits of the wheat harvest, and the Festival of Ingathering^[h] at the turn of the agricultural year. ²³ Three times a year^(R) all your males are to appear before the Lord God, the God of Israel. ²⁴ For I will drive out nations^(S) before you and enlarge your territory.^(T) No one will covet your land when you go up three times a year to appear before the Lord your God.

²⁵ “Do not present^[i] the blood for My sacrifice with anything leavened. The sacrifice of the Passover Festival must not remain until morning.^(U)

²⁶ “Bring the best firstfruits^(V) of your land to the house of the Lord your God.

“You must not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.”

²⁷ The Lord also said to Moses, “Write^(W) down these words, for I have made a covenant with you and with Israel based on these words.”

²⁸ Moses was there with the Lord 40 days and 40 nights; he did not eat bread or drink water. He wrote the Ten Commandments,^(X) the words of the covenant, on the tablets.

Moses’ Radiant Face

²⁹ As Moses descended from Mount Sinai—with the two tablets of the testimony in his hands as he descended the mountain—he did not realize that the skin of his face shone as a result of his speaking with the Lord.^{[j](Y) 30} When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, the skin of his face shone!^(Z) They were afraid to come near him. ³¹ But Moses called out to them, so Aaron and all the leaders of the community returned to him, and Moses spoke to them. ³² Afterward all the Israelites came near, and he commanded them to do everything the Lord had told him on Mount Sinai. ³³ When Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face. ³⁴ But whenever Moses went before the Lord to speak with Him, he would remove the veil until he came out. After he came out, he would tell the Israelites what he had been commanded,^{(AA) 35} and the Israelites would see that Moses’ face^[k] was radiant. Then Moses would put the veil over his face again until he went to speak with the Lord.

The Sabbath Command

35 Moses assembled the entire Israelite community and said to them, “These are the things that the Lord has commanded you to do:^{(AB) 2} For six days work is to be done, but on the seventh day you are to have a holy day, a Sabbath^(AC) of complete rest to the Lord. Anyone who does work on it must be executed. ³ Do not light a fire in any of your homes on the Sabbath day.”^(AD)

Building the Tabernacle

⁴ Then Moses said to the entire Israelite community, “This is what the Lord has commanded: ⁵ Take^(AE) up an offering among you for the Lord. Let everyone whose heart is willing bring this as the Lord’s offering: gold, silver, and bronze; ⁶ blue, purple, and scarlet yarn; fine linen and goat hair; ⁷ ram skins dyed red and manatee skins;^[l] acacia wood; ⁸ oil for the light; spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense; ⁹ and onyx with gemstones to mount on the ephod and breastpiece.

¹⁰ “Let all the skilled craftsmen^[m] among you come and make everything that the Lord has commanded:^{(AF) 11} the tabernacle—its tent and covering, its clasps and planks, its crossbars, its posts and bases; ¹² the ark with its poles, the mercy seat, and the veil for the screen; ¹³ the table with its poles, all its utensils, and the bread of the Presence; ¹⁴ the lampstand for light with its utensils and lamps as well as the oil for the light; ¹⁵ the altar of incense with its poles; the anointing oil and the fragrant incense; the entryway screen for the entrance to the tabernacle; ¹⁶ the altar of burnt offering with its bronze grate, its poles, and all its utensils; the basin with its stand; ¹⁷ the hangings of the courtyard, its posts and bases, and the screen for the gate of the courtyard; ¹⁸ the tent pegs for the tabernacle and the tent pegs for the courtyard, along with their ropes; ¹⁹ and the specially woven^[n] garments for ministering in the sanctuary—the holy garments for Aaron the priest and the garments for his sons to serve as priests.”^(AG)

²⁰ Then the entire Israelite community left Moses’ presence. ²¹ Everyone whose heart was moved and whose spirit prompted him came and brought an offering to the Lord for the work on the tent of meeting, for all its services, and for the holy garments.^{(AH) 22} Both men and women came; all who had willing hearts brought brooches, earrings, rings, necklaces, and all kinds of gold jewelry—everyone who waved a presentation offering of gold to the Lord. ²³ Everyone who had in his possession blue, purple, or scarlet yarn,^(AI) fine linen or goat hair, ram skins dyed red or manatee skins,^[o] brought them. ²⁴ Everyone making an offering of silver or bronze brought it as a contribution to the Lord. Everyone who possessed acacia wood useful for any task in the work brought it. ²⁵ Every skilled^[p] woman^(AJ) spun yarn with her hands and brought it: blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, and fine linen. ²⁶ And all the women whose hearts were moved spun the goat hair by virtue of their skill. ²⁷ The leaders^(AK) brought onyx and gemstones to mount on the ephod and breastpiece, ²⁸ as well as the spice^(AL) and oil for the light, for the anointing oil, and for the fragrant incense. ²⁹ So the Israelites brought a freewill offering to the Lord, all the men and women whose hearts prompted them to bring something for all the work that the Lord, through Moses, had commanded to be done.^(AM)

Bezalel and Oholiab

³⁰ Moses^(AN) then said to the Israelites: “Look, the Lord has appointed by name Bezalel son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. ³¹ He has filled him with God’s Spirit, with wisdom, understanding, and ability in every kind of craft ³² to design artistic works in gold, silver, and bronze, ³³ to cut gemstones for mounting, and to carve wood for work in every kind of artistic craft. ³⁴ He has also given both him and Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, the ability to teach others. ³⁵ He has filled them with skill^[q] to do all the work^(AO) of a gem cutter; a designer; an embroiderer in blue, purple, and scarlet yarn and fine linen; and a weaver. They can do every kind of craft and design artistic designs. 36 ¹ Bezalel, Oholiab, and all the skilled^[r] people are to work based on everything the Lord has commanded. The Lord has given them wisdom and understanding to know how to do all the work of constructing the sanctuary.”^(AP)

² So Moses summoned Bezalel, Oholiab, and every skilled^[s] person in whose heart the Lord had placed wisdom, everyone whose heart moved him,^(AQ) to come to the work and do it. ³ They took from Moses’ presence all the contributions that the Israelites had brought for the task of making the sanctuary. Meanwhile, the people continued to bring freewill offerings morning after morning.

⁴ Then all the craftsmen who were doing all the work for the sanctuary came one by one from the work they were doing ⁵ and said to Moses, “The people are bringing more than is needed^(AR) for the construction of the work the Lord commanded to be done.”

⁶ After Moses gave an order, they sent a proclamation throughout the camp: “Let no man or woman make anything else as an offering for the sanctuary.” So the people stopped. ⁷ The materials were sufficient for them to do all the work. There was more than enough.

Building the Tabernacle

⁸ All^(AS) the skilled craftsmen^[t] among those doing the work made the tabernacle with 10 curtains. Bezalel made them of finely spun linen, as well as blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, with a design of cherubim worked into them. ⁹ The length of each curtain was 42 feet,^[u] and the width of each curtain six feet;^[v] all the curtains had the same measurements. ¹⁰ He joined five of the curtains to each other, and the other five curtains he joined to each other. ¹¹ He made loops of blue yarn on the edge of the last curtain in the first set and did the same on the edge of the outermost curtain in the second set. ¹² He made 50 loops on the one curtain and 50 loops on the edge of the curtain in the second set, so that the loops lined up with each other. ¹³ He also made 50 gold clasps and joined the curtains to each other, so that the tabernacle became a single unit.

¹⁴ He made curtains of goat hair for a tent over the tabernacle; he made 11 of them. ¹⁵ The length of each curtain was 45 feet,^[w] and the width of each curtain six feet.^[x] All 11 curtains had the same measurements. ¹⁶ He joined five of the curtains together, and the other six together. ¹⁷ He made 50 loops on the edge of the outermost curtain in the first set and 50 loops on the edge of the corresponding curtain in the second set. ¹⁸ He made 50 bronze clasps to join the tent together as a single unit. ¹⁹ He also made a covering for the tent from ram skins dyed red and a covering of manatee skins^[y] on top of it.

²⁰ He^(AT) made upright planks^[z] of acacia wood for the tabernacle. ²¹ The length of each plank was 15 feet,^[aa] and the width of each was 27 inches.^{[ab] 22} There were two tenons connected to each other for each plank. He did the same for all the planks of the tabernacle. ²³ He made planks for the tabernacle as follows: 20 for the south side, ²⁴ and he made 40 silver bases to put under the 20 planks, two bases under the first plank for its two tenons, and two bases under each of the following planks for their two tenons; ²⁵ for the second side of the tabernacle, the north side, he made 20 planks, ²⁶ with their 40 silver bases, two bases under the first plank and two bases under each of the following ones; ²⁷ and for the west side of the tabernacle he made six planks. ²⁸ He also made two additional planks for the two back corners of the tabernacle. ²⁹ They were paired at the bottom and joined together^[ac] at the^[ad] top in a single ring. This is what he did with both of them for the two corners. ³⁰ So there were eight planks with their 16 silver bases, two bases under each one.

³¹ He made five crossbars of acacia wood for the planks on one side of the tabernacle, ³² five crossbars for the planks on the other side of the tabernacle, and five crossbars for those at the back of the tabernacle on the west. ³³ He made the central crossbar run through the middle of the planks from one end to the other. ³⁴ He overlaid them with gold and made their rings out of gold as holders for the crossbars. He also overlaid the crossbars with gold.

³⁵ Then^(AU) he made the veil with blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, and finely spun linen. He made it with a design of cherubim worked into it. ³⁶ He made four posts of acacia wood for it and overlaid them with gold; their hooks were of gold. And he cast four silver bases for the posts.

³⁷ He made a screen embroidered with blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, and finely spun linen for the entrance to the tent, ³⁸ together with its five posts and their hooks. He overlaid the tops of the posts and their bands with gold, but their five bases were bronze.