Exodus 36
Easy-to-Read Version
36 “So Bezalel, Oholiab, and all the other skilled men must do the work the Lord has commanded. The Lord has given these men the wisdom and understanding to do all the skilled work needed to build this holy place.”
2 Then Moses called Bezalel, Oholiab, and all the other skilled men who the Lord had given special skills to. And they came because they wanted to help with the work. 3 Moses gave them everything the Israelites had brought as gifts, and they used these things to build the holy place. The people continued to bring gifts each morning. 4 Finally, all the skilled workers left the work they were doing on the holy place, and they went to speak to Moses. They said, 5 “The people have brought too much. We have more than we need to finish the work the Lord told us to do.”
6 Then Moses sent this message throughout the camp: “No man or woman should make anything else as a gift for the holy place.” So the people were forced to stop giving more. 7 The people had brought more than enough things to finish the work of building God’s holy place.
The Holy Tent
8 Then the skilled workers began making the Holy Tent. They made the ten curtains from fine linen and blue, purple, and red yarn. And they sewed pictures of Cherub angels with wings into the curtains. 9 Each curtain was the same size—28 cubits[a] long and 4 cubits[b] wide. 10 The workers joined the curtains together into two groups of curtains. They joined five curtains together to make one group and five curtains together to make the other group. 11 Then they used blue cloth to make loops along the edge of the end curtain of one group. And they did the same on the end curtain in the other group. 12 There were 50 loops on the end curtain in one group and 50 loops on the end curtain in the other group. The loops were opposite each other. 13 Then they made 50 gold rings to join the two curtains together. So the Holy Tent was joined together into one piece.
14 Then the workers made another tent to cover the Holy Tent. They used goat hair to make eleven curtains. 15 All the curtains were the same size—30 cubits[c] long and 4 cubits wide. 16 The workers joined five curtains together into one group and six curtains together into another group. 17 They put 50 loops along the edge of the end curtain of one group. And they did the same on the end curtain of the other group. 18 The workers made 50 bronze rings to join the two groups of curtains together to form one tent. 19 Then they made two more coverings for the Holy Tent. One covering was made from ram skins dyed red. The other covering was made from fine leather.
20 Then the workers made frames from acacia wood to support the Holy Tent. 21 Each frame was 10 cubits[d] long and 1 1/2 cubits[e] wide. 22 There were two side poles joined together with cross pieces to make each frame. Every frame for the Holy Tent was made the same. 23 They made 20 frames for the south side of the Holy Tent. 24 Then they made 40 silver bases for the frames. There were two bases for each frame—one base for each side pole. 25 They also made 20 frames for the other side (the north side) of the Holy Tent. 26 They made 40 silver bases for the frames—two bases for each frame. 27 They made six more frames for the back (the west side) of the Holy Tent. 28 They also made two frames for the corners at the back of the Holy Tent. 29 These frames were joined together at the bottom. And at the top a ring held the corner frames together. They did the same for both corners. 30 There were eight frames for the west side of the Holy Tent. And there were 16 silver bases—two bases for each frame.
31 Then the workers used acacia wood to make the braces for the frames—five braces for the first side of the Holy Tent, 32 five braces for the other side, and five braces for the back of the Holy Tent (that is, the west side). 33 They made the middle brace so that it passed through the frames from one end to the other. 34 They covered these frames with gold. Then they used gold to make the rings to hold the braces, and they covered the braces with gold.
35 They used fine linen and blue, purple, and red yarn to make the special curtain for the entrance to the Most Holy Place. And they sewed pictures of Cherub angels into the curtain. 36 They made four posts using acacia wood, and they covered the posts with gold. Then they made gold hooks for the posts and four silver bases for the posts. 37 Then they made the curtain to cover the entrance to the Tent. They used blue, purple, and red yarn and fine linen to make this curtain. And they wove pictures into it. 38 Then they made the five posts and the hooks for this curtain over the entrance. They covered the tops of the posts and the curtain rods[f] with gold. And they made the five bronze bases for the posts.
Footnotes
- Exodus 36:9 28 cubits 47' 7 3/8" (14.5 m).
- Exodus 36:9 4 cubits 6' 9 5/8" (2.1 m). Also in verse 15.
- Exodus 36:15 30 cubits 51' 3/16" (15.55 m).
- Exodus 36:21 10 cubits 17' 1/16" (5.18 m).
- Exodus 36:21 1 1/2 cubits 30 5/8" (77.75 cm). Also in 37:1.
- Exodus 36:38 curtain rods Or “fasteners.”
Exodus 36
New King James Version
Building the Tabernacle
36 “And Bezalel and Aholiab, and every (A)gifted artisan in whom the Lord has put wisdom and understanding, to know how to do all manner of work for the service of the (B)sanctuary,[a] shall do according to all that the Lord has commanded.”
The People Give More than Enough
2 Then Moses called Bezalel and Aholiab, and every gifted artisan in whose heart the Lord had put wisdom, everyone (C)whose heart [b]was stirred, to come and do the work. 3 And they received from Moses all the (D)offering which the children of Israel (E)had brought for the work of the service of making the sanctuary. So they continued bringing to him freewill offerings every morning. 4 Then all the craftsmen who were doing all the work of the sanctuary came, each from the work he was doing, 5 and they spoke to Moses, saying, (F)“The people bring much more than enough for the service of the work which the Lord commanded us to do.”
6 So Moses gave a commandment, and they caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp, saying, “Let neither man nor woman do any more work for the offering of the sanctuary.” And the people were restrained from bringing, 7 for the material they had was sufficient for all the work to be done—indeed too (G)much.
Building the Tabernacle(H)
8 (I)Then all the gifted artisans among them who worked on the tabernacle made ten curtains woven of fine linen, and of blue, purple, and scarlet thread; with artistic designs of cherubim they made them. 9 The length of each curtain was twenty-eight cubits, and the width of each curtain four cubits; the curtains were all the same size. 10 And he coupled five curtains to one another, and the other five curtains he coupled to one another. 11 He made loops of blue yarn on the edge of the curtain on the selvedge of one set; likewise he did on the outer edge of the other curtain of the second set. 12 (J)Fifty loops he made on one curtain, and fifty loops he made on the edge of the curtain on the end of the second set; the loops held one curtain to another. 13 And he made fifty clasps of gold, and coupled the curtains to one another with the clasps, that it might be one tabernacle.
14 (K)He made curtains of goats’ hair for the tent over the tabernacle; he made eleven curtains. 15 The length of each curtain was thirty cubits, and the width of each curtain four cubits; the eleven curtains were the same size. 16 He coupled five curtains by themselves and six curtains by themselves. 17 And he made fifty loops on the edge of the curtain that is outermost in one set, and fifty loops he made on the edge of the curtain of the second set. 18 He also made fifty bronze clasps to couple the tent together, that it might be one. 19 (L)Then he made a covering for the tent of ram skins dyed red, and a covering of [c]badger skins above that.
20 For the tabernacle (M)he made boards of acacia wood, standing upright. 21 The length of each board was ten cubits, and the width of each board a cubit and a half. 22 Each board had two [d]tenons (N)for binding one to another. Thus he made for all the boards of the tabernacle. 23 And he made boards for the tabernacle, twenty boards for the south side. 24 Forty sockets of silver he made to go under the twenty boards: two sockets under each of the boards for its two tenons. 25 And for the other side of the tabernacle, the north side, he made twenty boards 26 and their forty sockets of silver: two sockets under each of the boards. 27 For the west side of the tabernacle he made six boards. 28 He also made two boards for the two back corners of the tabernacle. 29 And they were coupled at the bottom and [e]coupled together at the top by one ring. Thus he made both of them for the two corners. 30 So there were eight boards and their sockets—sixteen sockets of silver—two sockets under each of the boards.
31 And he made (O)bars of acacia wood: five for the boards on one side of the tabernacle, 32 five bars for the boards on the other side of the tabernacle, and five bars for the boards of the tabernacle on the far side westward. 33 And he made the middle bar to pass through the boards from one end to the other. 34 He overlaid the boards with gold, made their rings of gold to be holders for the bars, and overlaid the bars with gold.
35 And he made (P)a veil of blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and fine woven linen; it was worked with an artistic design of cherubim. 36 He made for it four pillars of acacia wood, and overlaid them with gold, with their hooks of gold; and he cast four sockets of silver for them.
37 He also made a (Q)screen for the tabernacle door, of blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and fine woven linen, made by a [f]weaver, 38 and its five pillars with their hooks. And he overlaid their capitals and their rings with gold, but their five sockets were bronze.
Footnotes
- Exodus 36:1 holy place
- Exodus 36:2 lifted him up
- Exodus 36:19 Or dolphin
- Exodus 36:22 Projections for joining, lit. hands
- Exodus 36:29 Lit. doubled
- Exodus 36:37 Lit. variegator, a weaver in colors
Exodus 36
English Standard Version
36 “Bezalel and Oholiab and (A)every craftsman in whom the Lord has put skill and intelligence to know how to do any work in the construction of the sanctuary shall work in accordance with all that the Lord has commanded.”
2 And Moses called Bezalel and Oholiab and every craftsman in whose mind the Lord had put skill, everyone (B)whose heart stirred him up to come to do the work. 3 And they received from Moses all the (C)contribution that the people of Israel had brought for doing the work on the sanctuary. They still kept bringing him (D)freewill offerings every morning, 4 so that all the craftsmen who were doing every sort of task on the sanctuary came, each from the task that he was doing, 5 and said to Moses, (E)“The people bring much more than enough for doing the work that the Lord has commanded us to do.” 6 So Moses gave command, and word was proclaimed throughout the camp, “Let no man or woman do anything more for the (F)contribution for the sanctuary.” So the people were restrained from bringing, 7 for the material they had was sufficient to do all the work, and more.
8 (G)And all the craftsmen among the workmen made the tabernacle with ten curtains. They were made of fine twined linen and blue and purple and scarlet yarns, with cherubim skillfully worked. 9 The length of each curtain was twenty-eight cubits,[a] and the breadth of each curtain four cubits. All the curtains were the same size.
10 He[b] coupled five curtains to one another, and the other five curtains he coupled to one another. 11 He made loops of blue on the edge of the outermost curtain of the first set. Likewise he made them on the edge of the outermost curtain of the second set. 12 He made fifty loops on the one curtain, and he made fifty loops on the edge of the curtain that was in the second set. The loops were opposite one another. 13 And he made fifty clasps of gold, and coupled the curtains one to the other with clasps. So the tabernacle was a single whole.
14 He also made curtains of goats' hair for a tent over the tabernacle. He made eleven curtains. 15 The length of each curtain was thirty cubits, and the breadth of each curtain four cubits. The eleven curtains were the same size. 16 He coupled five curtains by themselves, and six curtains by themselves. 17 And he made fifty loops on the edge of the outermost curtain of the one set, and fifty loops on the edge of the other connecting curtain. 18 And he made fifty clasps of bronze to couple the tent together that it might be a single whole. 19 And he made for the tent a covering of tanned rams' skins and goatskins.
20 (H)Then he made the upright frames for the tabernacle of (I)acacia wood. 21 Ten cubits was the length of a frame, and a cubit and a half the breadth of each frame. 22 Each frame had two tenons for fitting together. He did this for all the frames of the tabernacle. 23 The frames for the tabernacle he made thus: twenty frames for the south side. 24 And he made forty bases of silver under the twenty frames, two bases under one frame for its two tenons, and two bases under the next frame for its two tenons. 25 For the second side of the tabernacle, on the north side, he made twenty frames 26 and their forty bases of silver, two bases under one frame and two bases under the next frame. 27 For the rear of the tabernacle westward he made six frames. 28 He made two frames for corners of the tabernacle in the rear. 29 And they were separate beneath but joined at the top, at the first ring. He made two of them this way for the two corners. 30 There were eight frames with their bases of silver: sixteen bases, under every frame two bases.
31 He made bars of acacia wood, five for the frames of the one side of the tabernacle, 32 and five bars for the frames of the other side of the tabernacle, and five bars for the frames of the tabernacle at the rear westward. 33 And he made the middle bar to run from end to end halfway up the frames. 34 And he overlaid the frames with gold, and made their rings of gold for holders for the bars, and overlaid the bars with gold.
35 (J)He made the veil of blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen; with cherubim skillfully worked into it he made it. 36 And for it he made four pillars of acacia and overlaid them with gold. Their hooks were of gold, and he cast for them four bases of silver. 37 He also made a screen for the entrance of the tent, of blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen, embroidered with needlework, 38 and its five pillars with their hooks. He overlaid their capitals, and their fillets were of gold, but their five bases were of bronze.
Footnotes
- Exodus 36:9 A cubit was about 18 inches or 45 centimeters
- Exodus 36:10 Probably Bezalel (compare 35:30; 37:1)
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. ESV Text Edition: 2025.
