Exodus 38
Common English Bible
Making the altar for entirely burned offerings
38 He made the altar for entirely burned offerings out of acacia wood. The altar was square, seven and a half feet long and seven and a half feet wide. It was four and a half feet high. 2 He made horns for it, one horn on each of its four corners. Its horns were attached to the altar, and he covered it with copper. 3 He made all the altar’s equipment: the pails, the shovels, the bowls, the meat forks, and the trays. He made all its equipment out of copper. 4 He made a grate for the altar of copper mesh underneath its bottom edge and extending halfway up to the middle of the altar. 5 He made four rings for each of the four corners of the copper grate to house the poles. 6 He made the poles out of acacia wood, and he covered them with copper. 7 He put the poles through the rings so that the poles were on the two sides of the altar when it was carried. He made the altar with planks but hollow inside.
8 He made the copper washbasin with its copper stand from the copper mirrors among the ranks of women assigned to the meeting tent’s entrance.
Constructing the dwelling’s plaza
9 He also set up the courtyard. The courtyard’s south side had drapes of fine twisted linen stretching one hundred fifty feet 10 with twenty posts, twenty copper bases, and silver hooks and bands for the posts. 11 Likewise the north side stretched one hundred fifty feet, with twenty posts, twenty copper bases, and silver hooks and bands for the posts. 12 On the west side the drapes stretched seventy-five feet, with their ten posts, their ten bases, and silver hooks and bands for the posts. 13 The front side facing east was seventy-five feet. 14 There were twenty-two and a half feet of drapes on one side with three posts and three bases for them. 15 Likewise, there were twenty-two and a half feet of drapes on the other side of the plaza’s gate with three posts and three bases for them. 16 All the drapes around the courtyard were made of fine twisted linen. 17 The bases for the posts were made of copper, but the hooks for the posts and their bands were made of silver. The tops of the posts were covered with silver, and all the posts surrounding the courtyard had silver bands. 18 The screen for the gate into the courtyard was made with blue, purple, and deep red yarns and fine twisted linen, decorated with needlework. It was thirty feet long and, along the width of it, seven and a half feet high, corresponding to the courtyard’s drapes. 19 It had four posts, their four copper bases, their silver hooks, and their tops and bands covered with silver. 20 All the tent pegs for the dwelling and for the courtyard all around were made of copper.
A listing of materials used
21 These are the accounts of the dwelling, the covenant dwelling, that were recorded at Moses’ instructions. They are the work of the Levites, under the direction of Ithamar, Aaron the priest’s son. 22 Bezalel, Uri’s son and Hur’s grandson from the tribe of Judah, made everything that the Lord had commanded Moses to make. 23 Working with Bezalel was Oholiab, Ahisamach’s son from the tribe of Dan, who was a gem cutter, a designer, and a needleworker in blue, purple, and deep red yarns and in fine linen.
24 The total amount of the gold that was used for construction of the whole sanctuary, gold from the uplifted offerings, was twenty-nine kikkars and seven hundred thirty shekels in weight, measured by the sanctuary shekel. 25 The silver from the community census totaled one hundred kikkars and one thousand seven hundred seventy-five shekels in weight, measured by the sanctuary shekel. 26 They gave a beqa per person (that is, half a shekel, measured by the sanctuary shekel) for everyone who was counted in the census, 20 years old and above, 603,550 men. 27 One hundred kikkars of silver were used to cast the bases for the sanctuary and the bases for the veil, one hundred bases from one hundred kikkars of silver, one kikkar for every base. 28 He used one thousand seven hundred seventy-five shekels of silver[a] to make the hooks for the posts, cover their tops, and make bands for them. 29 The amount of copper from the uplifted offering was seventy kikkars and two thousand four hundred shekels in weight. 30 He used it to make the bases for the meeting tent’s entrance, the copper altar, its copper grate, and all the altar’s equipment, 31 the bases all around the courtyard, and the bases for the courtyard’s gate, all the dwelling’s tent pegs, and all the tent pegs used around the courtyard.
Footnotes
- Exodus 38:28 Heb lacks shekels of silver.
Exodus 38
Complete Jewish Bible
38 (RY: iv, LY: vii) He made the altar for burnt offerings of acacia-wood, seven-and-a-half feet long and seven-and-a-half feet wide — it was square — and four-and-a-half feet high. 2 He made horns for it on its four corners, the horns were of one piece with it, and he overlaid it with bronze.
3 He made all the utensils for the altar — its pots, shovels, basins, meat-hooks and fire pans; all its utensils he made of bronze. 4 He made for the altar a grate of bronze netting, under its rim, reaching halfway up the altar. 5 He cast four rings for the four ends of the bronze grate to hold the poles. 6 He made the poles of acacia-wood and overlaid them with bronze. 7 He put the carrying-poles into the rings on the sides of the altar; he made it of planks and hollow inside.
8 He made the basin of bronze with its base of bronze from the mirrors of the women serving at the entrance to the tent of meeting.
9 He made the courtyard. On the south side, facing southward, the tapestries for the courtyard were made of finely woven linen, 150 feet long, 10 supported on twenty posts in twenty bronze sockets; the hooks on the posts and the attached rings for hanging were of silver. 11 On the north side they were 150 feet long, hung on twenty posts in twenty bronze sockets, with the hooks on the posts and their rings of silver. 12 On the west side were tapestries seventy-five feet long, hung on ten posts in ten sockets, with the hooks on the posts and their rings of silver. 13 On the east side were tapestries seventy-five feet long. 14 The tapestries for the one side [of the gateway] were twenty-two-and-a-half feet long, hung on three posts in three sockets; 15 likewise for the other side — on either side [of the gate] were tapestries twenty-two-and-a-half feet long on three posts in three sockets. 16 All the tapestries for the courtyard, all the way around, were of finely woven linen; 17 the sockets for the posts were of bronze; the hooks on the posts and their rings were of silver; the capitals of the posts were overlaid with silver; and all the posts of the courtyard were banded with silver.
(LY: Maftir) 18 The screen for the gateway to the courtyard was the work of a weaver in colors, of blue, purple and scarlet yarn and finely woven linen. Its length was thirty feet and its height seven-and-a-half feet all the way along, like the tapestries of the courtyard. 19 It had four posts in four bronze sockets, with silver hooks, capitals overlaid with silver and silver fasteners.
20 The tent pegs for the tabernacle and for the courtyard around it were of bronze.
Haftarah Vayak’hel: M’lakhim Alef (1 Kings) 7:40–50 (A); 7:13–26 (S)
B’rit Hadashah suggested readings for Parashah Vayak’hel: 2 Corinthians 9:1–15; Messianic Jews (Hebrews) 9:1–14; Revelation 11:1–13
Parashah 23: P’kudei (Accounts) 38:21–40:38
[In regular years read with Parashah 22, in leap years read separately]
21 These are the accounts of the tabernacle, the tabernacle of the testimony, recorded, as Moshe ordered, by the L’vi’im under the direction of Itamar the son of Aharon, the cohen.
22 B’tzal’el the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Y’hudah, made everything that Adonai ordered Moshe to make. 23 Assisting him was Oholi’av the son of Achisamakh, of the tribe of Dan, who was an engraver, a designer and a weaver in colors — in blue, purple and scarlet yarn and in fine linen.
24 All the gold used for the work in everything needed for the sanctuary, the gold of the offering, weighed 29 talents 730 shekels [1,930 pounds], using the sanctuary shekel.
25 The silver given by the community weighed 100 talents 1,775 shekels [6,650 pounds], using the sanctuary shekel. 26 This was a beka per person, that is, half a shekel [one-fifth of an ounce], using the sanctuary shekel, for everyone twenty years old or older counted in the census, 603,550 men. 27 The hundred talents of silver were used to cast the sockets for the sanctuary and the sockets for the curtain — one hundred sockets made from the hundred talents, one talent [sixty-six pounds] per socket. 28 The 1,775 shekels [fifty pounds] he used to make hooks for the posts, to overlay their capitals and to make fasteners for them.
29 The bronze in the offering came to 4,680 pounds. 30 He used it to make the sockets for the entrance to the tent of meeting, the bronze altar, its bronze grate, all the utensils for the altar, 31 the sockets for the courtyard around it, the sockets for the gateway to the courtyard, all the tent pegs for the tabernacle and all the tent pegs for the courtyard around it.
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible
Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.