Exodus 30-32

Amplified Bible

The Altar of Incense

30 “You shall make an altar upon which to burn incense; you shall make it of acacia wood. ² It shall be a cubit long and a cubit wide. It shall be square and it shall be two cubits high. Its horns of one piece with it. ³ You shall overlay it with pure gold, its top and its sides all around, and its horns; and you shall make a gold molding all around it. ⁴ You shall make two gold rings under its molding, make them on the two side walls—on opposite sides—they shall be holders for the poles with which to carry it. ⁵ You shall make the poles of acacia wood overlaid with gold. ⁶ You shall put the altar of incense [in the Holy Place] in front and outside of the veil that screens the ark of the ^[a]Testimony, before the mercy seat that is over the Testimony, where I will meet with you. ⁷ Aaron shall burn sweet and fragrant incense on it; he shall burn it every morning when he trims and tends the lamps.^{(A) 8} When Aaron sets up the lamps at twilight, he shall burn incense, a perpetual incense before the Lord throughout your generations. ⁹ You shall not offer any strange incense on this altar, or burnt offering or meal offering; you shall not pour out a drink offering on it. ¹⁰ Once a year Aaron shall make atonement [for sin] on its horns. He shall make atonement on it with the blood of the sin offering of atonement once a year throughout your generations. It is most holy to the Lord.”

The Ransom Money

¹¹ Then the Lord said to Moses, ¹² “When you take the census of the Israelites, each one shall give a ransom for himself to the Lord when you count them, so that no plague will come on them when you number them.^{(B) 13} This is what everyone who is counted shall give [as he joins those already counted]: a half shekel, according to the sanctuary shekel (the shekel is twenty gerahs); a half shekel as a contribution to the Lord. ¹⁴ Everyone who is counted, from twenty years old and over, [as he joins those already counted], shall give this contribution to the Lord.^{(C) 15} The rich shall not give more and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel, when you give this contribution to the Lord to make atonement for yourselves. ¹⁶ You shall take the atonement money from the Israelites and use it [exclusively] for the service of the Tent of Meeting, so that it may be a memorial for the Israelites before the Lord, to make atonement for yourselves.”

The Bronze Basin

¹⁷ Then the Lord said to Moses, ¹⁸ “You shall also make a basin of bronze, with a base of bronze, for washing. You shall put it [outside in the court] between the Tent of Meeting and the altar [of burnt offering], and you shall put water in it. ¹⁹ Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet. ²⁰ When they enter the Tent of Meeting, they shall wash with water, so that they will not die. Also, when they approach the altar to minister, to burn an offering in the fire to the Lord [they shall do the same].^{(D) 21} They shall wash their hands and their feet, so that they will not die; it shall be a perpetual statute for them, for Aaron and his descendants throughout their generations.”

The Anointing Oil

²² Moreover, the Lord said to Moses, ²³ “Take for yourself the best spices: five hundred shekels of liquid myrrh, half as much—two hundred and fifty—of sweet-scented cinnamon, and two hundred and fifty of fragrant cane, ²⁴ and five hundred shekels of cinnamon blossom according to the sanctuary shekel, and a hin of olive oil. ²⁵ You shall make of these a holy anointing oil, a perfume mixture, the work of a perfumer; it shall be a sacred anointing oil. ²⁶ You shall anoint the Tent of Meeting with it, and the ark of the Testimony, ²⁷ and the table [for the bread] and all its utensils, and the lampstand and its utensils, and the altar of incense, ²⁸ and the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils, and the basin [for cleansing] and its base. ²⁹ You shall consecrate them, that they may be most holy; whatever touches them must be holy (set apart for God). ³⁰ You shall anoint Aaron and his sons, and consecrate them, that they may serve as priests to Me. ³¹ You shall say to the Israelites, ‘This shall be a holy and sacred anointing oil, to Me [alone] throughout your generations.^{(E) 32} It shall not be poured on anyone’s body, nor shall you make any like it in the same composition. It is holy, and it shall be sacred to you. ³³ Whoever prepares any like it or puts any of it on a layman shall be cut off from his people [excluding him from the atonement made for them].’”

The Incense

³⁴ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Take sweet and fragrant spices—stacte, onycha, and galbanum, sweet and fragrant spices with pure frankincense; there shall be an equal amount of each— ³⁵ and make incense with it, a perfume, the work of a perfumer, salted, pure and sacred. ³⁶ You shall crush some of it [into a] very fine [powder], and put some of it before the Testimony in the Tent of Meeting, where I will meet with you; it shall be most holy to you. ³⁷ The incense which you shall make, you shall not make in the same proportions for yourselves; it shall be holy to you for the Lord. ³⁸ Whoever makes any like it, to use as perfume shall be cut off from his people [excluding him from the atonement made for them].”

The Skilled Craftsmen

31 Now the Lord said to Moses, ² “See, I have called by name Bezalel, son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. ³ I have filled him with the Spirit of God in wisdom and skill, in understanding and intelligence, in knowledge, and in all kinds of craftsmanship, ⁴ to make artistic designs for work in gold, in silver, and in bronze, ⁵ and in the cutting of stones for settings, and in the carving of wood, to work in all kinds of craftsmanship. ⁶ And behold, I Myself have appointed with him Oholiab, son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan; to all who are wise-hearted I have given the skill and ability to make everything that I have commanded you: ⁷ the Tent of Meeting, the ark of the Testimony, the mercy seat that is upon it, all the furnishings of the tent— ⁸ the table [for the bread] and its utensils, the pure gold lampstand with all its utensils, the [golden] altar of incense, ⁹ the [bronze] altar of burnt offering with all its utensils, the basin and its base— ¹⁰ the finely worked garments, the holy garments for Aaron the [high] priest and the garments for his sons to minister as priests, ¹¹ and the anointing oil and the sweet and fragrant incense for the Holy Place. They are to make them according to all that I have commanded you.”

The Sign of the Sabbath

¹² And the Lord said to Moses, ¹³ “But as for you, say to the Israelites, ‘You shall most certainly observe My Sabbaths, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, so that you may know [without any doubt] and acknowledge that I am the Lord who sanctifies you and sets you apart [for Myself]. ¹⁴ Therefore, you shall keep the Sabbath, for it is holy to you. Everyone who profanes it must be put to death; for whoever does work on the Sabbath, that person (soul) shall be cut off from among his people [excluding him from the atonement made for them]. ¹⁵ For six days work may be done, but the seventh is the Sabbath of complete rest, sacred to the Lord; whoever does work on the Sabbath day must be put to death. ¹⁶ So the Israelites shall observe the Sabbath, to celebrate the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant.’ ¹⁷ It is a sign between Me and the Israelites forever; for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He ceased and was refreshed.”

¹⁸ When He had finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, He gave Moses the two tablets of the Testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God.

The Golden Calf

32 Now when the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, they gathered together before Aaron and said to him, “Come, make us a ^[b]god who will go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” ² So Aaron replied to them, “Take off the gold rings that are in the ears of your wives, your sons and daughters, and bring them to me.” ³ So all the people took off the gold rings that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. ⁴ And he took the gold from their hands, and fashioned it with an engraving tool and made it into a molten ^[c]calf; and they said, “This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.” ⁵ Now when Aaron saw the molten calf, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made a proclamation, and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord!” ⁶ So they got up early the next day and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; then the people sat down to eat and drink, and got up to play [shamefully—without moral restraint].

⁷ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go down at once, for your people, whom you brought up from the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. ⁸ They have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them. They have made themselves a molten calf, and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it, and said, ‘This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!’” ⁹ The Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, they are a stiff-necked (stubborn, rebellious) people. ¹⁰ Now therefore, let Me alone and do not interfere, so that My anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them; and I will make of you (your descendants) a great nation.”

Moses’ Entreaty

¹¹ But Moses appeased and entreated the Lord his God, and said, “Lord, why does Your anger burn against Your people whom You have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand? ¹² Why should the Egyptians say, ‘With evil [intent] their God brought them out to kill them in the mountains and destroy them from the face of the earth’? Turn away from Your burning anger and change Your mind about harming Your people. ¹³ Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel (Jacob), Your servants to whom You swore [an oath] by Yourself, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heavens, and all this land of which I have spoken I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.’” ¹⁴ So the Lord changed His mind about the harm which He had said He would do to His people.

¹⁵ Then Moses turned and went down from the mountain with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hand; tablets that were written on both sides—they were written on one side and on the other. ¹⁶ The tablets were the work of God; the writing was the writing of God engraved on the tablets. ¹⁷ Now when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, “There is a sound of battle in the camp.” ¹⁸ But Moses said,

Moses’ Anger

¹⁹ And as soon as he approached the camp and he saw the calf and the dancing, Moses’ anger burned; and he threw the tablets from his hands and smashed them at the foot of the mountain. ²⁰ Then Moses took the calf they had made and burned it in the fire, and ground it to powder, and scattered it on the surface of the water and made the Israelites drink it.

²¹ Then Moses said to Aaron, “What did this people do to you, that you have brought so great a sin on them?” ²² Aaron said, “Do not let the anger of my lord burn; you know the people yourself, that they are prone to evil. ²³ For they said to me, ‘Make us a god who will go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ ²⁴ I said to them, ‘Let whoever has gold [jewelry], take it off.’ So they gave it to me; then I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf.”

²⁵ Now when Moses saw that the people were out of control—for Aaron had let them get out of control to the point of being an object of mockery among their enemies— ²⁶ then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, “Whoever is on the Lord’s side, come to me!” And all the sons of Levi [the priestly tribe] gathered together to him. ²⁷ He said to them, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘Every man strap his sword on his thigh and go back and forth from gate to gate throughout the camp, and every man kill his brother, and every man his friend, and every man his neighbor [all who continue pagan worship].’” ²⁸ So the sons of Levi did as Moses instructed, and about three thousand men of the people [of Israel] were killed that day. ²⁹ Then Moses said [to the Levites], “Dedicate yourselves today to the Lord—for each man has been against his own son and his own brother [in his attempt to escape execution]—so that He may restore and bestow His blessing on you this day.”

³⁰ Then the next day Moses said to the people, “You have committed a great sin. Now I will go up to the Lord; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.” ³¹ So Moses returned to the Lord, and said, “Oh, these people have committed a great sin [against You], and have made themselves a god of gold. ³² Yet now, if You will, forgive their sin—and if not, please blot me out of Your book which You have written (kill me)!” ³³ But the Lord said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot him out of My book [not you].^{(F) 34} But now go, lead the people [to the place] where I have told you. Behold, My ^[d]Angel shall go before you; nevertheless, in the day when I punish, I will punish them for their sin!”^{(G) 35} So the Lord struck the people with a plague, because of what they had done with the calf which Aaron had made [for them].