Beginning
The Altar of Incense(A)
30 Also, you must make an altar for burning incense. You must make it of acacia wood. 2 It must be a cubit in length, and its width a cubit. It will be square. Its height will be two cubits;[a] the horns shall be of one piece with it. 3 You must overlay it with pure gold, its top, its sides all around, and its horns; and you must make a molding of gold all around it. 4 You must make two golden rings for it under its molding. You must make them on its two sides, on opposite sides of it, and they will be holders for the poles with which to carry it. 5 Then you must make the poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold. 6 You must put it before the veil that is by the ark of the testimony, in front of the mercy seat that is over the testimony, where I will meet with you.
7 Aaron must burn sweet incense on it. Every morning, when he trims the lamps, he must burn incense. 8 When Aaron lights the lamps at sundown, he must burn incense on it. It is to be a perpetual incense before the Lord throughout your generations. 9 You must offer no strange incense on it, nor burnt sacrifice, nor grain offering, and you must not pour out a drink offering on it. 10 Aaron must make atonement on its horns once a year with the blood of the sin offering of atonement. Once a year he must make atonement on it throughout your generations. It is most holy to the Lord.
The Atonement Money
11 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 12 When you take the census of the children of Israel according to their number, then each man is to pay a ransom for his life to the Lord when you count them, so that there be no plague among them when you number them. 13 This is what everyone who is counted must give: half a shekel according to the shekel of the sanctuary[b] (a shekel is twenty gerahs). The half shekel will be the offering to the Lord. 14 Everyone who is counted, from twenty years old and above, must give an offering to the Lord. 15 The rich must not give more and the poor must not give less than half a shekel when they give the offering to the Lord, to make atonement for your lives. 16 You must take the atonement money of the children of Israel and give it for the service of the tent of meeting, so that it may be a memorial to the children of Israel before the Lord, to make atonement for your lives.
The Bronze Basin
17 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 18 You must also make a basin of bronze, with its base also of bronze, for washing, and you must put it between the tent of meeting and the altar, and you must put water in it. 19 For Aaron and his sons must wash their hands and their feet from it. 20 When they go into the tent of meeting, or when they come near the altar to minister by burning incense as an offering made by fire to the Lord, they must wash with water so that they will not die. 21 So they must wash their hands and their feet, so that they will not die. And it will be a perpetual statute for them, even to him and to his seed throughout their generations.
The Anointing Oil
22 Moreover the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 23 Take for yourself choice spices: five hundred shekels[c] of pure myrrh, half as much sweet-smelling cinnamon (two hundred and fifty shekels[d]), two hundred and fifty shekels of sweet-smelling cane, 24 five hundred shekels of cassia, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, and a hin[e] of olive oil. 25 And you must make with it a holy anointing oil, a perfumed compound, the work of a perfumer. It will be a holy anointing oil. 26 And you must anoint the tent of meeting with it, along with the ark of the testimony, 27 and the table 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 and its stand. 29 You must consecrate them, so that they may be most holy. Whatever touches them must be holy.
30 You must anoint Aaron and his sons and consecrate them, so that they may minister as priests to Me. 31 You must speak to the children of Israel, saying, “This will be a holy anointing oil to Me throughout your generations. 32 It must not be poured out on anyone’s body, nor shall you make any other like it in composition. It is holy, and it will be holy to you. 33 Whoever makes anything like it or whoever puts any of it on a layman will be cut off from his people.”
The Incense
34 Then the Lord said to Moses: Take for yourself sweet spices, stacte and onycha and galbanum, sweet spices with pure frankincense of equal amounts. 35 You shall make of these an incense, a compound expertly blended, mingled with salt, pure and holy. 36 You must beat some of it very fine and put part of it before the testimony in the tent of meeting where I will meet with you. It will be most holy to you. 37 As for the perfume which you will make, you may not make it for yourselves using the same recipe. It must be holy for the Lord to you. 38 Whoever makes anything like it in order to use it as perfume must be cut off from his people.
The Tabernacle Artisans(B)
31 Now the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 2 See, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. 3 I have filled him with the Spirit of God in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all manner of craftsmanship 4 to devise artistic works for work with gold, with silver, and with bronze, 5 and in the cutting of stones for settings, and in carving of wood, to work in all manner of craftsmanship. 6 I, indeed, I have given him Oholiab, the son of Ahisamak, of the tribe of Dan, and I have given skill to all who are specially skilled, that they may make everything that I have commanded you: 7 the tent of meeting, the ark of the testimony, and the mercy seat that is on it, and all the furniture of the tent, 8 the table and its utensils, and the pure lampstand with all its utensils, and the altar of incense, 9 the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils, and the basin and its stand, 10 the woven garments, the holy garments for Aaron the priest and the garments of his sons, to minister as priests, 11 the anointing oil and sweet incense for the holy place. They must make them according to all that I have commanded you.
The Sabbath Law
12 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 13 Speak also to the children of Israel, saying, “You must surely keep My Sabbaths, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the Lord who sanctifies you.
14 “You shall keep the Sabbath, for it is holy to you. Everyone who defiles it will surely be put to death. For whoever does any work on it, that person will be cut off from among his people. 15 Six days may work be done, but on the seventh is the Sabbath of complete rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day will surely be put to death. 16 Therefore the children of Israel must keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. 17 It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever, for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, but on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.”
18 When He had made an end of communing with him on Mount Sinai, He gave Moses the two tablets of 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, the people gathered themselves together around Aaron and said to him, “Come, make us gods which will go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.”
2 Aaron said to them, “Break off the gold earrings that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” 3 So all the people broke off the gold earrings that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. 4 He received them from their hand, and fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made it into a molded calf. Then they said, “This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.”
5 When Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow will be a feast to the Lord.” 6 So they rose up early on the next day, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.
7 The Lord spoke to Moses, “Go, and get down, for your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. 8 They have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them. They have made for themselves a molded calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed to it, and said, ‘This is your god, O Israel, which has brought you up from the land of Egypt.’ ”
9 Then the Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and certainly, it is a stiff-necked people. 10 Now therefore let Me alone, so that My wrath may burn against them and I may destroy them. And I will make of you a great nation.”
11 But Moses sought the favor of the Lord his God, and said, “Lord, why does Your wrath burn against Your people, whom You have brought forth from the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? 12 Why should the Egyptians speak, saying, ‘With evil intent He brought them out, to kill them in the mountains and to destroy them from the face of the earth’? Turn from Your fierce wrath and relent of this harm against Your people. 13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants, to whom You swore by Yourself, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heavens, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give to your descendants, and they will inherit it forever.’ ” 14 Then the Lord relented of the harm which He said He would do to His people.
15 Moses turned and went down from the mountain with the two tablets of testimony in his hand. The tablets were written on both their sides. They were written on one side and on the other. 16 The tablets were God’s work, and the writing was God’s writing, engraved on the tablets.
17 When Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, “There is a sound of war in the camp.”
18 But he said:
“It is not the sound of those who shout for victory,
nor is it the sound of those who cry because of being overcome,
but I hear the sound of singing.”
19 As soon as he came near the camp, he saw the calf and the dancing, and Moses’ anger burned, so he threw the tablets from his hands and shattered them at the bottom of the mountain. 20 Then he took the calf which they had made and burned it in the fire, ground it to powder, and scattered it on the water, and made the children of Israel drink it.
21 Moses said to Aaron, “What did this people do to you, that you have brought so great a sin upon them?”
22 Aaron said, “Do not let the anger of my lord burn. You know that the people are set on evil. 23 For they said to me, ‘Make a god for us which will go before us, for this Moses, the man that brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ 24 I said to them, ‘Whoever has any gold, let them break it off.’ So they gave it to me, and then I threw it into the fire, and this calf came out.’ ”
25 Now when Moses saw the people were in a frenzy, for Aaron had let them get completely out of control, causing derision from 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 Levites gathered themselves together around him.
27 He said to them, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Every man fasten his sword on his side, and go back and forth from gate to gate throughout the camp, and let every man kill his brother, and every man his friend, and every man his neighbor.’ ” 28 The Levites did according to the word of Moses, and about three thousand men of the people died that day. 29 For Moses had said, “Consecrate yourselves today to the Lord, that He may bestow a blessing on you this day, for every man opposes his son and his brother.”
30 On the next day Moses said to the people, “You have committed a great sin, and now I will go up to the Lord. Perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.”
31 Then Moses returned to the Lord and said, “Oh, this people has committed a great sin and have made a god of gold for themselves. 32 Yet now, if You will, forgive their sin, but if not, I pray, blot me out of Your book which You have written.”
33 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot him out of My book. 34 So go now, lead the people to the place of which I have spoken to you. Indeed, My angel will go before you. Nevertheless in the day when I punish, I will indeed punish them for their sin.”
35 And the Lord plagued the people because they had made the calf, the one that Aaron made.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.