Beginning
The Altar for Incense
30 You shall make an altar on which to burn incense. Make it of acacia wood. 2 It is to be eighteen inches long and eighteen inches wide. It is to be square, and three feet high. Its horns are to be one piece with it. 3 Overlay it with pure gold—its top, all its sides, and its horns. Make a gold border[a] around it. 4 Make two gold rings to place under its border. Make them for each of its two opposite sides. They will serve as holders for poles with which to carry it. 5 Make the poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold.
6 Put the altar in front of the veil that hides the Ark of the Testimony, in front of the atonement seat that is above the Testimony, where I will meet with you. 7 Aaron shall burn incense made of fragrant spices on it every morning. When he tends the lamps, he shall burn the incense. 8 When Aaron lights the lamps at twilight, he shall burn it as the regular incense before the Lord throughout your generations. 9 You shall offer no other incense on it, no burnt offering, and no grain offering, and you shall pour no drink offering on it. 10 Aaron shall make atonement on its horns once a year. With the blood of the sin offering for atonement, once a year he shall make atonement for it throughout your generations. It is most holy to the Lord.
The Redemption Price
11 The Lord spoke to Moses. He said, 12 “When you count[b] the men of Israel to register them, each man shall give to the Lord a redemption price[c] for his life as you register him, so that there is no plague among them as you register them. 13 Each one shall give this redemption as he passes over to the group which has already been registered—half a shekel according to the shekel of the sanctuary (the shekel is twenty gerahs),[d] half a shekel for an offering to the Lord. 14 Everyone who passes over to the group that has already been registered, those twenty years old and older, shall give the special elevated offering to the Lord. 15 The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less than the half shekel when you give the elevated offering for the Lord to redeem your lives. 16 You shall take the redemption money from the people of Israel, and you shall designate it for the work of the Tent of Meeting so that it may be a memorial for the people of Israel before the Lord, to redeem your lives.”
The Bronze Basin
17 The Lord spoke to Moses. He said, 18 “You shall also make a large bronze basin in which to wash. Its pedestal shall also be bronze. Put it between the Tent of Meeting and the altar, and put water in it. 19 Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet with water from it. 20 When they go into the Tent of Meeting, they must wash with water so that they will not die. They shall wash whenever they come near the altar to minister, to burn an offering made by fire to the Lord. 21 They shall wash their hands and their feet so that they do not die. This shall be a permanent regulation for them, for Aaron and for his descendants throughout their generations.”
Spices and Incense
22 The Lord spoke to Moses again. He said, 23 “Take fine spices: twelve and a half pounds[e] of liquid myrrh, half as much (six and a quarter pounds) of fragrant cinnamon, six and a quarter pounds of fragrant cane, 24 twelve and a half pounds of cassia (weighed by the shekel of the sanctuary), and one gallon[f] of olive oil. 25 Make it into a holy anointing oil, a perfume mixed with the skill of a perfume maker. It will be a holy anointing oil. 26 Use it to anoint the Tent of Meeting, the Ark of the Testimony, 27 the table and all its utensils, the lampstand and its utensils, the altar for incense, 28 the altar for burnt offering with all its utensils, and the basin with its pedestal. 29 You shall consecrate them so that they may be most holy. Whatever touches them will be holy. 30 You shall anoint Aaron and his sons and set them apart, so that they may minister to me in the priest’s office. 31 Speak to the people of Israel. Tell them, ‘This shall be a holy anointing oil for me throughout your generations. 32 Do not pour it on the flesh of anyone who is not a priest. Do not make any other perfume like it with the same ingredients. It is holy. It shall be holy to you. 33 Whoever mixes any perfume like it or whoever puts any of it on anyone who is not a priest shall be cut off from his people.’”
34 The Lord said to Moses, “Take fragrant spices, gum resin, shechelet, and helbanum,[g] fragrant spices with pure frankincense. Use an equal weight of each ingredient, 35 and make incense from it, a blend made with the skill of a perfume maker, seasoned with salt, pure and holy. 36 Grind some of it very fine, and put some of it in front of the Testimony in the Tent of Meeting where I will make myself known to you. It shall be most holy to you. 37 When you make incense for yourselves, you shall not make any with this recipe. You shall regard it as holy to the Lord. 38 Whoever makes any fragrance like that for himself shall be cut off from his people.”
The Craftsmen
31 The Lord spoke to Moses: 2 “Look, here is Bezalel, the son of Uri, the son of Hur, from the tribe of Judah. I have called him by name. 3 I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, understanding, and knowledge, and with skill in all kinds of crafts. 4 He has the ability to create designs. He works with gold, silver, and bronze. 5 He is able to cut and engrave precious stones and mount them. He can also carve wood. He works skillfully in all kinds of crafts.
6 “Not only that, but I have also appointed Oholiab son of Ahisamak, from the tribe of Dan, to work with him. I have put wisdom into the heart of all the skilled craftsmen, so that they may make everything that I have commanded you: 7 the Tent of Meeting, the Ark of the Testimony, the atonement seat that is on it, all the furnishings for the tent, 8 the table and its vessels and accessories, the pure gold lampstand with all its utensils, the altar for incense, 9 the altar for burnt offerings with all its utensils, the basin and its pedestal, 10 the finely woven garments (the holy garments for Aaron the priest), the garments for his sons to minister in the priest’s office, 11 the anointing oil, and the incense made of fragrant spices for the Holy Place. The skilled craftsmen shall do everything just as I commanded.”
The Sabbath
12 The Lord spoke to Moses. He said, 13 “Speak to the people of Israel. Tell them, ‘You must observe my Sabbaths diligently, because the Sabbath is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, so that you may know that I am the Lord, who sets you apart as holy. 14 So you shall observe the Sabbath, for it is holy to you. Everyone who profanes it must certainly be put to death, for if anyone does any work on the Sabbath, his life shall be cut off from among his people. 15 On six days work may be done, but the seventh day is a sabbath of complete rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day must certainly be put to death. 16 Therefore the people of Israel shall observe the Sabbath by keeping the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant. 17 It is a permanent sign between me and the people of Israel, for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.’”
18 When the Lord had finished speaking with Moses on Mount Sinai, he gave him the two tablets of the Testimony, stone tablets, written with God’s finger.
The Gold Calf
32 When the people saw that it took so long for Moses to come down from the mountain, the people gathered around Aaron and said to him, “Get up, make a god[h] for us, who will go before us, because 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, “Pull off the gold earrings from your wives and sons and daughters and bring them to me.”
3 All the people pulled off their gold earrings and brought them to Aaron. 4 He took what they handed him and shaped it with an engraving tool and made it into a bull calf cast out of metal. Then they said, “This is your god, Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt.”[i]
5 When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of it, and Aaron made a proclamation. He said, “Tomorrow shall be a festival to the Lord.”
6 They got up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought fellowship offerings. Then the people sat down to eat and to drink and got up to celebrate wildly.
7 The Lord spoke to Moses: “Hurry down, because your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves! 8 They have quickly turned from the way which I commanded them. They have made a calf for themselves out of metal and have worshipped it. They have sacrificed to it and said, ‘This is your god, Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt.’”
9 The Lord said to Moses, “I have seen these people, and they certainly are a stiff-necked people.[j] 10 So now leave me alone, so that my anger can burn hot against them, so that I may consume them and make you into a great nation.”
11 Moses begged the Lord his God and said, “O Lord, why does your anger burn against your people, whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? 12 Why should the Egyptians say, ‘He brought them out for an evil purpose, to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn back from your fierce anger and change your mind about inflicting disaster on your people. 13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self. You said to them, ‘I will multiply your seed[k] like the stars of the sky, and I will give all this land that I have spoken about to your seed, and they shall inherit it forever.’”
14 Then the Lord changed his mind about the disaster which he said he would inflict on his people.
15 Moses turned and went down the mountain, with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hand—tablets that were written on both sides, written on one side and on the other. 16 The tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets.
17 When Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, “There is the noise of war in the camp.”
18 Moses said, “It is not the sound of people who shout for victory; neither is it the sound of people who cry because of defeat. But I do hear the sound of people who are celebrating.”
19 As soon as Moses came near the camp, he saw the calf and the dancing, and Moses’ anger burned. So he threw the tablets out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain. 20 He took the calf that they had made, burned it with fire, ground it to powder, and scattered it on the water. Then he made the people of Israel drink it.
21 Moses said to Aaron, “What did these people do to you, that you have brought such a great sin on them?”
22 Aaron said, “Do not let the anger of my lord burn. You know these people. They are set on evil, 23 so they said to me, ‘Make a god for us, who will go ahead of us, because this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ 24 So I said to them, ‘Whoever has any gold, pull it off.’ So they gave it to me. I threw it into the fire and out came this calf.”
25 When Moses saw that the people were out of control (for Aaron had let them get so out of control that they were disgraced among their enemies), 26 Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said, “Whoever is on the Lord’s side, come to me!”
All the descendants of Levi gathered themselves together to Moses. 27 He said to them, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says, ‘Every man is to strap his sword on his thigh and go back and forth throughout the camp, from one gate of the camp to the other, and every man is to kill his brother, and every man his friend, and every man his neighbor.’” 28 The Levites did what Moses said, and that day about three thousand men from among the people fell. 29 Moses said, “Begin your service of the Lord today.[l] Yes, because every man among you took a stand against his son and against his brother, the Lord is bestowing a blessing on you today.”
30 On the next day Moses said to the people, “You have committed a very serious sin. Now I will go up to the Lord. Perhaps I can gain atonement for your sin.”
31 Moses returned to the Lord and said, “Yes, this people has committed a very serious sin: They have made a god of gold for themselves. 32 Yet now, if you will, please forgive their sin—and if not, please erase me from your book, which you have written.”
33 The Lord said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me is the one I will erase from my book. 34 Now go, lead the people to the place about which I have spoken to you. Look, my Angel shall go ahead of you. Nevertheless, when the right day comes for me to punish, I will punish them for their sin.” 35 The Lord struck the people with a plague, because of what they had done with the calf that Aaron made.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.