Beginning

The Altar for Special Perfume

30 “Make an altar for burning special perfume. Make it of acacia wood. ² It will be as long and as wide as a man’s arm and as high as a man’s waist. Its horns will be of one piece with it. ³ Cover its top, all its sides and its horns with pure gold. And make a piece of gold to go around it. ⁴ Then make two gold rings for the altar to put under this piece. Put one on each side of the altar so it can hold the long pieces of wood used for carrying it. ⁵ Make the long pieces of acacia wood and cover them with gold. ⁶ Put this altar in front of the curtain that is by the box of the Law, in front of the mercy-seat that is over the box of the Law. There I will meet with you. ⁷ Aaron will burn special perfume on it every morning when he takes care of the lamps. ⁸ And when Aaron takes care of the lamps in the evening, he will burn special perfume. There will be a burning of special perfume before the Lord for all your people for all time. ⁹ Do not give upon this altar any perfume, burnt gift or grain gift that is not holy. And do not pour out a drink gift on it. ¹⁰ Once a year Aaron will give a gift for sin on its horns to take away sin. He will give the blood of the sin gift to make it holy once a year for all your people for all time. It is most holy to the Lord.”

Tax for the Meeting Tent

¹¹ The Lord said to Moses, ¹² “When you number the people of Israel, each one of them will pay a price for his life to the Lord. Then no trouble will come upon them when you number them. ¹³ Every one who is numbered will give one piece of silver, by the weight decided upon for the holy place. One piece of silver will be a gift to the Lord. ¹⁴ Every one who is numbered, twenty years old and older, will give the gift to the Lord. ¹⁵ The rich will not pay more and the poor will not pay less than one piece of silver. It will be a gift to the Lord so you will be forgiven of sin. ¹⁶ Receive this money from the people of Israel and use it for the work of the meeting tent. Then it will be remembered before the Lord that the people of Israel gave a gift to take away their sin of being numbered.”

The Pot of Brass for Washing

¹⁷ The Lord said to Moses, ¹⁸ “Make a pot of brass for washing. Make its base of brass also. Put it between the meeting tent and the altar, and put water in it. ¹⁹ Aaron and his sons will wash their hands and feet with water from it. ²⁰ When they go into the meeting tent, they will wash with water, so they will not die. And they will wash when they go near the altar to give a gift made by fire to the Lord. ²¹ They will wash their hands and their feet, so they will not die. It will always be a law for Aaron and his children forever.”

The Holy Oil for Pouring

²² The Lord said to Moses, ²³ “Take the best spices: a heavy weight of flowing myrrh, half that weight of sweet-smelling cinnamon and of sweet-smelling cane, ²⁴ and a heavy weight of cassia, the weight decided upon by the holy place, and a large jar of olive oil. ²⁵ Mix these to make a holy oil for holy use, mixed like perfume made by an able workman. It will be a holy oil for holy use. ²⁶ Pour it on the meeting tent and the box of the Law, ²⁷ the table and all its objects, the lamp-stand and all its objects, the altar of special perfume, ²⁸ the altar of burnt gifts and all its objects, and the washing pot and its base. ²⁹ Set them apart so they may be most holy. Whatever touches them will be holy. ³⁰ Pour oil on Aaron and his sons. Set them apart so they may serve as religious leaders for Me. ³¹ Say to the people of Israel, ‘This will be a holy oil to Me for all your people for all time. ³² It will not be poured on the flesh of man. And you will not mix any like it. It is holy. It will be holy to you. ³³ Whoever mixes any like it, or puts any of it on a man who is not a religious leader, will be cut off from his people.’”

³⁴ The Lord said to Moses, “Take sweet spices, stacte, onycha and galbanum, spices with pure frankincense. Take the same amount of each. ³⁵ Mix them to make a special perfume, salted, pure and holy, the work of an able workman. ³⁶ Beat some of it very fine. And put some of it in front of the special box of the agreement in the meeting tent, where I will meet with you. It will be most holy to you. ³⁷ Do not mix this special perfume in the same way for yourselves. It will be holy for you to the Lord. ³⁸ Whoever makes any like it to use as perfume will be cut off from his people.”

Builders of the Meeting Tent

31 The Lord said to Moses, ² “See, I have called by name Bezalel, the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the family of Judah. ³ I have filled him with the Spirit of God in wisdom, understanding, much learning, and all kinds of special work. ⁴ He will plan good work in gold, silver and brass, ⁵ in cutting stones to set, and in cutting wood, for all kinds of good work. ⁶ And see, I have given Aholiab the son of Ahisamach, of the family of Dan to help him. I have put wisdom in the hearts of all who are wise, so they may make all that I have told you: ⁷ the meeting tent, the box of the Law, the mercy-seat upon it, and all the objects of the tent, ⁸ the table and its objects, the pure gold lamp-stand with all its objects, the altar of special perfume, ⁹ the altar of burnt gifts with all its objects, the washing pot and its base, ¹⁰ the well-made clothing, the holy clothing for Aaron the religious leader, the clothing for his sons for their work as religious leaders, ¹¹ the oil for holy use, and the sweet-smelling perfume for the holy place. Have them do all I have told you.”

The Day of Rest

¹² The Lord said to Moses, ¹³ “Say to the people of Israel, ‘Keep My Days of Rest. For this is something special between Me and you for all your people forever. So you may know that I am the Lord Who sets you apart for Myself. ¹⁴ You will keep the Day of Rest, for it is holy to you. Every one who does what is sinful on this day will be put to death for sure. Whoever does any work on this day will be cut off from among his people. ¹⁵ Work may be done for six days. But the seventh day is a Day of Rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on the Day of Rest will be put to death for sure. ¹⁶ So the people of Israel will keep the Day of Rest as a special day for all their people for all time, as an agreement forever.’ ¹⁷ It is something special between Me and the people of Israel forever. For the Lord made heaven and earth in six days. But He stopped working and rested on the seventh day.”

¹⁸ When the Lord had finished speaking with Moses on Mount Sinai, He gave him the two stone writings of the Law, pieces of stone written on by the finger of God.

The Gold Calf

32 When the people saw that Moses was staying a long time before coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron, and said, “Come, make a god for us who will go in front of us. For we do not know what has become of Moses, the man who brought us out of the land of Egypt.” ² Aaron said to them, “Take the objects of gold from the ears of your wives, your sons and your daughters, and bring them to me.” ³ So all the people took the gold objects from their ears and brought them to Aaron. ⁴ He took the gold from their hands, worked on it with a sharp tool, and by melting it, made it into a calf. Then they said, “This is your god, O Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.” ⁵ When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of it. Aaron said to all the people, “Tomorrow will be a special supper to the Lord.” ⁶ So the next day they got up early and gave burnt gifts and peace gifts. The people sat down to eat and drink, and got up to play.

⁷ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go down. For your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt, have turned to sin. ⁸ They have been quick to turn aside from the way I have told them. They have melted gold and made a calf for themselves. They have worshiped it, have given gifts to it, and have said, ‘This is your god, O Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt!’” ⁹ The Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and see, they are a strong-willed people. ¹⁰ Now let Me alone, so My anger may be against them and I may destroy them. But I will make you into a great nation.”

¹¹ Then Moses begged the Lord his God, saying, “O Lord, why are you very angry against Your people whom You brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and a strong hand? ¹² Why should the Egyptians say, ‘He brought them out to kill them in the mountains and destroy them from the earth’? Turn from Your anger and change Your mind about destroying Your people. ¹³ Remember Abraham, Isaac and Israel, who were your servants. You promised them by Yourself, saying, ‘I will make your children become as many as the stars of the heavens. And I will give all this land I have spoken about to your children. It will be theirs forever.’” ¹⁴ So the Lord changed His mind about the things He said He would do to His people.

¹⁵ Then Moses turned and went down from the mountain with the two stone writings of the Law in his hand. The stones were written on both sides, on one side and the other. ¹⁶ The stone writings were God’s work. The writing was God’s writing cut into the stones. ¹⁷ When Joshua heard the sound of the people as they made noise, he said to Moses, “There is a sound of war at the tents.” ¹⁸ But Moses said, “It is not the sound of winning, or the sound of losing. It is the sound of singing I hear.” ¹⁹ As soon as Moses came near the tents, he saw the calf and the dancing. Moses became very angry. He threw the stone writings from his hands and broke them at the base of the mountain. ²⁰ And he took the calf they had made and burned it with fire, ground it to dust, spread it over the top of the water, and made the people of Israel drink it.

²¹ Then Moses said to Aaron, “What did this people do to you to make you bring such great sin upon them?” ²² Aaron said, “Do not let my lord be angry. You know the people yourself and how sinful they are.

²³ They said to me, ‘Make a god for us who will go in front of us. For we do not know what has become of Moses, the man who brought us out of the land of Egypt.’ ²⁴ And I said to them, ‘Whoever has any gold, let them take it off.’ So they gave it to me. I threw it into the fire and out came this calf.”

²⁵ Moses saw that Aaron had let the people go wild and become a shame to those who hated them. ²⁶ So Moses stood in the gate of the place where they had set up their tents and said, “Whoever is for the Lord, come to me!” And all the sons of Levi came together around him. ²⁷ He said to them, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Every man put his sword on his thigh. And go from one end of the tents to the other, and each one kill his brother, his friend, and his neighbor.’” ²⁸ So the sons of Levi did as Moses said. About 3,000 men fell that day. ²⁹ Then Moses said, “Today you have set yourselves apart for the Lord. For each man has been against his son and against his brother, so the Lord may bring good to you today.”

³⁰ The next day Moses said to the people, “You have sinned. Now I am going up to the Lord. It might be that I can have your sin forgiven.” ³¹ Then Moses returned to the Lord and said, “O, this people have sinned. They have made a god of gold for themselves. ³² But now, if You will, forgive their sin. If not, then take my name out of Your book which You have written.” ³³ The Lord said to Moses, “I will put out of My book whoever has sinned against Me. ³⁴ But go now. Lead the people where I told you. See, My angel will go before you. But in the day when I punish, I will punish them for their sin.” ³⁵ Then the Lord sent trouble upon the people, because of what they did with the calf Aaron had made.