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Building the Ark of the Covenant

37 Next Bezalel made the Ark of acacia wood—a sacred chest 45 inches long, 27 inches wide, and 27 inches high.[a] He overlaid it inside and outside with pure gold, and he ran a molding of gold all around it. He cast four gold rings and attached them to its four feet, two rings on each side. Then he made poles from acacia wood and overlaid them with gold. He inserted the poles into the rings at the sides of the Ark to carry it.

Then he made the Ark’s cover—the place of atonement—from pure gold. It was 45 inches long and 27 inches wide.[b] He made two cherubim from hammered gold and placed them on the two ends of the atonement cover. He molded the cherubim on each end of the atonement cover, making it all of one piece of gold. The cherubim faced each other and looked down on the atonement cover. With their wings spread above it, they protected it.

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Footnotes

  1. 37:1 Hebrew 2.5 cubits [115 centimeters] long, 1.5 cubits [69 centimeters] wide, and 1.5 cubits high.
  2. 37:6 Hebrew 2.5 cubits [115 centimeters] long and 1.5 cubits [69 centimeters] wide.

Building the chest containing the covenant document

37 Bezalel made the chest of acacia wood. It was forty-five inches long, twenty-seven inches wide, and twenty-seven inches high. He covered the chest with pure gold inside and out, and made a gold molding all around it. He cast four gold rings for it and put them on its four feet, two rings on one side and two rings on the other. He made acacia-wood poles and covered them with gold. He put the poles into the rings on the chest’s sides to use to carry the chest. He made a cover for the chest out of pure gold, forty-five inches long and twenty-seven inches wide. He made two winged heavenly creatures of hammered gold for the two ends of the cover, one winged heavenly creature at one end and one winged heavenly creature at the other. He placed the winged heavenly creatures at the cover’s two ends. The winged heavenly creatures spread out their wings above, shielding the cover with their wings. The winged heavenly creatures faced each other toward the cover’s center.

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