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Exodus 38
Contemporary English Version
Exodus 38
Contemporary English Version
The Altar for Offering Sacrifices
(Exodus 27.1-8)
38 Bezalel built an altar of acacia wood for offering sacrifices. It was 2.25 meters square and 1.34 meters high 2 with each of its four corners sticking up like the horn of a bull, and it was completely covered with bronze. 3 The equipment for the altar was also made of bronze—the pans for the hot ashes, the shovels, the bowls, the meat forks, and the fire pans. 4 About halfway up the altar he built a ledge around it and covered the bottom half of the altar with a decorative bronze grating. 5 Then he attached a bronze ring beneath the ledge at the four corners to put the poles through. 6 He covered two acacia wood poles with bronze and 7 put them through the rings for carrying the altar, which was shaped like an open box.
The Large Bronze Bowl
(Exodus 30.18-21)
8 (A) Bezalel made a large bowl and a stand out of bronze from the mirrors of the women who helped at the entrance to the sacred tent.
The Courtyard around the Sacred Tent
(Exodus 27.9-19)
9-17 Around the sacred tent Bezalel built a courtyard 44 meters long on the south and north and 22 meters wide on the east and west. He used 20 bronze posts on bronze stands for the south and north and 10 for the west. Then he hung a curtain of fine linen on the posts along each of these three sides by using silver hooks and rods. He placed three bronze posts on each side of the entrance at the east and hung a curtain 6.67 meters wide on each set of posts.
18-19 For the entrance to the courtyard, Bezalel made a curtain nine meters long, which he hung on four bronze posts that were set on bronze stands. This curtain was 2.25 meters high, the same height as the one for the rest of the courtyard, and was made of fine linen embroidered and woven with blue, purple, and red wool. He hung the curtain on the four posts, using silver hooks and rods. 20 The pegs for the tent and for the curtain around the tent were made of bronze.
The Sacred Tent
21-23 Bezalel had worked closely with Oholiab,[a] who was an expert at designing and engraving, and at embroidering blue, purple, and red wool. The two of them completed the work that the Lord had commanded to be done.
Moses put Aaron's son Ithamar in charge of the Levites who kept record of the metals used for the sacred tent. 24 According to the official weights, the amount of gold given was a ton, 25 (B) and the silver that was collected when the people were counted[b] came to 3.4 tons. 26 (C) Everyone who was counted paid the required amount, and there was a total of 603,550 men who were 20 years old or older.
27 Thirty-four kilograms of the silver were used to make each of the 100 stands for the sacred tent and the curtain. 28 The remaining 30 kilograms of silver were used for the hooks and rods and for covering the tops of the posts.
29 Two thousand four hundred and twenty-five kilograms of bronze were given. 30 And it was used to make the stands for the entrance to the tent, the altar and its grating, the equipment for the altar, 31 the stands for the posts that surrounded the courtyard, including those at the entrance to the courtyard, and the pegs for the tent and the courtyard.
Exodus 38
Common English Bible
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
New King James Version
Exodus 38
New King James Version
Making the Altar of Burnt Offering(A)
38 He made (B)the altar of burnt offering of acacia wood; five cubits was its length and five cubits its width—it was square—and its height was three cubits. 2 He made its horns 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: the pans, the shovels, the basins, the forks, and the firepans; all its utensils he made of bronze. 4 And he made a grate of bronze network for the altar, under its rim, midway from the bottom. 5 He cast four rings for the four corners of the bronze grating, as holders for the poles. 6 And he made the poles of acacia wood, and overlaid them with bronze. 7 Then he put the poles into the rings on the sides of the altar, with which to bear it. He made the altar hollow with boards.
Making the Bronze Laver
8 He made (C)the laver of bronze and its base of bronze, from the bronze mirrors of the serving women who assembled at the door of the tabernacle of meeting.
Making the Court of the Tabernacle(D)
9 Then he made (E)the court on the south side; the hangings of the court were of fine woven linen, one hundred cubits long. 10 There were twenty pillars for them, with twenty bronze sockets. The hooks of the pillars and their bands were silver. 11 On the north side the hangings were one hundred cubits long, with twenty pillars and their twenty bronze sockets. The hooks of the pillars and their bands were silver. 12 And on the west side there were hangings of fifty cubits, with ten pillars and their ten sockets. The hooks of the pillars and their bands were silver. 13 For the east side the hangings were fifty cubits. 14 The hangings of one side of the gate were fifteen cubits long, with their three pillars and their three sockets, 15 and the same for the other side of the court gate; on this side and that were hangings of fifteen cubits, with their three pillars and their three sockets. 16 All the hangings of the court all around were of fine woven linen. 17 The sockets for the pillars were bronze, the hooks of the pillars and their bands were silver, and the overlay of their capitals was silver; and all the pillars of the court had bands of silver. 18 The screen for the gate of the court was woven of blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and of fine woven linen. The length was twenty cubits, and the height along its width was five cubits, corresponding to the hangings of the court. 19 And there were four pillars with their four sockets of bronze; their hooks were silver, and the overlay of their capitals and their bands was silver. 20 All the (F)pegs of the tabernacle, and of the court all around, were bronze.
Materials of the Tabernacle
21 [a]This is the inventory of the tabernacle, (G)the tabernacle of the Testimony, which was counted according to the commandment of Moses, for the service of the Levites, (H)by the hand of (I)Ithamar, son of Aaron the priest.
22 (J)Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, made all that the Lord had commanded Moses. 23 And with him was (K)Aholiab the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, an engraver and [b]designer, a weaver of blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and of fine linen.
24 All the gold that was used in all the work of the holy place, that is, the gold of the (L)offering, was twenty-nine talents and seven hundred and thirty shekels, according to (M)the shekel of the sanctuary. 25 And the silver from those who were (N)numbered of the congregation was one hundred talents and one thousand seven hundred and seventy-five shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary: 26 (O)a bekah for [c]each man (that is, half a shekel, according to the shekel of the sanctuary), for everyone included in the numbering from twenty years old and above, for (P)six hundred and three thousand, five hundred and fifty men. 27 And from the hundred talents of silver were cast (Q)the sockets of the sanctuary and the bases of the veil: one hundred sockets from the hundred talents, one talent for each socket. 28 Then from the one thousand seven hundred and seventy-five shekels he made hooks for the pillars, overlaid their capitals, and (R)made bands for them.
29 The offering of bronze was seventy talents and two thousand four hundred shekels. 30 And with it he made the sockets for the door of the tabernacle of meeting, the bronze altar, the bronze grating for it, and all the utensils for the altar, 31 the sockets for the court all around, the bases for the court gate, all the pegs for the tabernacle, and all the pegs for the court all around.
Footnotes
- Exodus 38:21 Lit. These are the things appointed for
- Exodus 38:23 skillful workman
- Exodus 38:26 Lit. a head
Exodus 38
New International Version
Exodus 38
New International Version
The Altar of Burnt Offering(A)
38 They[a] built the altar of burnt offering of acacia wood, three cubits[b] high; it was square, five cubits long and five cubits wide.[c] 2 They made a horn at each of the four corners, so that the horns and the altar were of one piece, and they overlaid the altar with bronze.(B) 3 They made all its utensils(C) of bronze—its pots, shovels, sprinkling bowls, meat forks and firepans. 4 They made a grating for the altar, a bronze network, to be under its ledge, halfway up the altar. 5 They cast bronze rings to hold the poles for the four corners of the bronze grating. 6 They made the poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with bronze. 7 They inserted the poles into the rings so they would be on the sides of the altar for carrying it. They made it hollow, out of boards.
The Basin for Washing
8 They made the bronze basin(D) and its bronze stand from the mirrors of the women(E) who served at the entrance to the tent of meeting.
The Courtyard(F)
9 Next they made the courtyard. The south side was a hundred cubits[d] long and had curtains of finely twisted linen, 10 with twenty posts and twenty bronze bases, and with silver hooks and bands on the posts. 11 The north side was also a hundred cubits long and had twenty posts and twenty bronze bases, with silver hooks and bands on the posts.
12 The west end was fifty cubits[e] wide and had curtains, with ten posts and ten bases, with silver hooks and bands on the posts. 13 The east end, toward the sunrise, was also fifty cubits wide. 14 Curtains fifteen cubits[f] long were on one side of the entrance, with three posts and three bases, 15 and curtains fifteen cubits long were on the other side of the entrance to the courtyard, with three posts and three bases. 16 All the curtains around the courtyard were of finely twisted linen. 17 The bases for the posts were bronze. The hooks and bands on the posts were silver, and their tops were overlaid with silver; so all the posts of the courtyard had silver bands.
18 The curtain for the entrance to the courtyard was made of blue, purple and scarlet yarn and finely twisted linen—the work of an embroiderer. It was twenty cubits[g] long and, like the curtains of the courtyard, five cubits[h] high, 19 with four posts and four bronze bases. Their hooks and bands were silver, and their tops were overlaid with silver. 20 All the tent pegs(G) of the tabernacle and of the surrounding courtyard were bronze.
The Materials Used
21 These are the amounts of the materials used for the tabernacle, the tabernacle of the covenant law,(H) which were recorded at Moses’ command by the Levites under the direction of Ithamar(I) son of Aaron, the priest. 22 (Bezalel(J) son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, made everything the Lord commanded Moses; 23 with him was Oholiab(K) son of Ahisamak, of the tribe of Dan—an engraver and designer, and an embroiderer in blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen.) 24 The total amount of the gold from the wave offering used for all the work on the sanctuary(L) was 29 talents and 730 shekels,[i] according to the sanctuary shekel.(M)
25 The silver obtained from those of the community who were counted in the census(N) was 100 talents[j] and 1,775 shekels,[k] according to the sanctuary shekel— 26 one beka per person,(O) that is, half a shekel,[l] according to the sanctuary shekel,(P) from everyone who had crossed over to those counted, twenty years old or more,(Q) a total of 603,550 men.(R) 27 The 100 talents of silver were used to cast the bases(S) for the sanctuary and for the curtain—100 bases from the 100 talents, one talent for each base. 28 They used the 1,775 shekels to make the hooks for the posts, to overlay the tops of the posts, and to make their bands.
29 The bronze from the wave offering was 70 talents and 2,400 shekels.[m] 30 They used it to make the bases for the entrance to the tent of meeting, the bronze altar with its bronze grating and all its utensils, 31 the bases for the surrounding courtyard and those for its entrance and all the tent pegs for the tabernacle and those for the surrounding courtyard.
Footnotes
- Exodus 38:1 Or He; also in verses 2-9
- Exodus 38:1 That is, about 4 1/2 feet or about 1.4 meters
- Exodus 38:1 That is, about 7 1/2 feet or about 2.3 meters long and wide
- Exodus 38:9 That is, about 150 feet or about 45 meters
- Exodus 38:12 That is, about 75 feet or about 23 meters
- Exodus 38:14 That is, about 22 feet or about 6.8 meters
- Exodus 38:18 That is, about 30 feet or about 9 meters
- Exodus 38:18 That is, about 7 1/2 feet or about 2.3 meters
- Exodus 38:24 The weight of the gold was a little over a ton or about 1 metric ton.
- Exodus 38:25 That is, about 3 3/4 tons or about 3.4 metric tons; also in verse 27
- Exodus 38:25 That is, about 44 pounds or about 20 kilograms; also in verse 28
- Exodus 38:26 That is, about 1/5 ounce or about 5.7 grams
- Exodus 38:29 The weight of the bronze was about 2 1/2 tons or about 2.4 metric tons.
Contemporary English Version (CEV) 
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Common English Bible (CEB)
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible
New King James Version (NKJV) 
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
New International Version (NIV) 
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NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.