Beginning
The Altar for Burning Incense
30 “Make an altar out of acacia wood for burning incense. 2 Make it square—18 inches long and 18 inches wide. It must be 36 inches high. Make the corners stick out like horns. These must be one piece with the altar. 3 Cover its top, its sides and its corners with pure gold. And put a gold strip all around the altar. 4 Make two gold rings beneath the gold strip on opposite sides of the altar. Slide poles through these gold rings to carry the altar. 5 Make the poles from acacia wood and cover them with gold. 6 Put the altar of incense in front of the curtain. This curtain is in front of the Ark of the Covenant. Put the altar in front of the lid that covers that Ark of the Covenant. There I will meet with you.
7 “Aaron must burn sweet-smelling incense on the altar every morning. He will do this when he comes to take care of the oil lamps. 8 He must burn incense again in the evening when he lights the lamps. So incense will burn before the Lord every day from now on. 9 Do not use this altar for offering any other incense or burnt offering. Do not use this altar to offer any kind of grain offering or drink offering. 10 Once a year Aaron must make the altar ready for service to God. He will do it by putting blood on its corners. This is blood of the animal offered to remove sins. He is to do this once a year from now on. This altar belongs completely to God’s service.”
The Tax for the Meeting Tent
11 The Lord said to Moses, 12 “Count the people of Israel. At that time every person must pay to buy back his life from the Lord. Then no terrible things will happen to the people when you number them. 13 Every person who is counted must pay one-fifth of an ounce of silver. This is set by the Holy Place measure, which weighs two-fifths of an ounce. This amount is a gift to the Lord. 14 Every person who is counted and is 20 years old or older must give this amount to the Lord. 15 A rich person must not give more than one-fifth of an ounce. And a poor person must not give less than one-fifth of an ounce. You are paying this to the Lord to buy back your lives. 16 Gather from the people of Israel this money paid to buy back their lives. Spend it to buy things for the service in the Meeting Tent. This payment will remind the Lord that the Israelites’ lives have been bought back.”
The Bronze Bowl
17 The Lord said to Moses, 18 “Make a bronze bowl for washing. Build it on a bronze stand. Put the bowl and stand between the Meeting Tent and the altar. Put water in the bowl. 19 Aaron and his sons must wash their hands and feet with the water from this bowl. 20 Each time, before they enter the Meeting Tent, they must wash with water. This way they will not die. They approach the altar to serve as priests. They offer a sacrifice to the Lord by fire. 21 Each time they do this, they must wash their hands and their feet so they will not die. This is a rule which Aaron and his descendants are to keep from now on.”
Oil for Appointing
22 Then the Lord said to Moses, 23 “Take the finest spices: 12 pounds of liquid myrrh, half that amount (that is, 6 pounds) of sweet-smelling cinnamon, 6 pounds of sweet-smelling cane 24 and 12 pounds of cassia. Weigh all these by the Holy Place measure. Also take 4 quarts of olive oil. 25 Mix all these things like a perfume to make a holy olive oil. This special oil must be put on people and things. Do this to make them ready for service to God. 26 Put this oil on the Meeting Tent and the Ark of the Covenant with my laws in it. 27 Put this oil on the table and all its dishes. And put this oil on the lampstand and all its tools. Put the oil on the incense altar. 28 Also, put the oil on the altar for burning offerings and all its tools. Put this oil on the bowl and the stand under the bowl. Put oil on all these things to prepare them for service to God. 29 You will give these things for service to God. They will be very holy. Anything that touches these things must also be holy.
30 “Put the oil on Aaron and his sons to make them priests. Give them for service to me. Then they may serve me as priests. 31 Tell the Israelites, ‘This is to be my holy olive oil from now on. It is to be put on people and things to make them ready for service to God. 32 Do not pour it on the bodies of ordinary people. Do not make perfume the same way you make this oil. It is holy, and you must treat it as holy. 33 Someone might make perfume like it. Or he might put it on someone who is not a priest. Then that person must be separated from his people.’”
Incense
34 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Take these sweet-smelling spices: resin, onycha, galbanum and pure frankincense. Be sure that you have equal amounts of each. 35 You must make incense as a man who makes perfume would do. Add salt to it to keep it pure and holy. 36 Beat some of the incense into a fine powder. Put some of it in front of the Ark of the Covenant in the Meeting Tent. There I will meet with you. You must use this incense powder only for its very special purpose. 37 Do not make incense for yourselves the same way you make this incense. Treat it as holy to the Lord. 38 Whoever makes incense like this to use as perfume must be separated from his people.”
Bezalel and Oholiab
31 Then the Lord said to Moses, 2 “See, I have chosen Bezalel son of Uri from the tribe of Judah. Uri was the son of Hur. 3 I have filled Bezalel with the Spirit of God. I have given him the skill, ability and knowledge to do all kinds of work. 4 He is able to design pieces to be made from gold, silver and bronze. 5 He is able to cut jewels and put them in metal. And he can carve wood. Bezalel can do all kinds of work. 6 I have also chosen Oholiab son of Ahisamach from the tribe of Dan. Oholiab will work with Bezalel. I have given skills to all skilled craftsmen. They will be able to make all these things I have commanded you: 7 the Meeting Tent, the Ark of the Covenant, the lid that covers the Ark of the Covenant and everything in the Tent. 8 This includes the table and everything on it, the pure gold lampstand and everything with it and the altar of incense. 9 It also includes the altar for burnt offerings and everything used with it, the bowl and the stand under it. 10 They will make the woven clothes and the holy clothes for Aaron and the clothes for his sons to wear when they serve as priests. 11 They will also make the special olive oil used in appointing people and things to the service of the Lord, and the sweet-smelling incense for the Holy Place.
“These workers will make all these things just as I have commanded you.”
The Day of Rest
12 Then the Lord said to Moses, 13 “Tell the Israelites, ‘You must keep the rules about my Sabbaths. This is because they will be a sign between you and me from now on. In this way you will know that I, the Lord, am making you holy.
14 “‘Make the Sabbath a holy day. If anyone treats the Sabbath like any other day, that person must be put to death. Anyone who works on the Sabbath day must be separated from his people. 15 There are six days for working. But the seventh day is a day of rest. It is a day holy for the Lord. Anyone who works during the Sabbath day must be put to death. 16 The Israelites must remember the Sabbath day. It is an agreement between them and me that will continue from now on. 17 The Sabbath day will be a sign between me and the Israelites forever. This is because in six days I, the Lord, made the sky and the earth. And on the seventh day I did not work. I rested.’”
18 So the Lord finished speaking to Moses on Mount Sinai. Then the Lord gave him the two stone tablets with the agreement written on them. The finger of God wrote the commands on the stones.
The People Make a Gold Calf
32 The people saw that a long time had passed. And Moses had not come down from the mountain. So they gathered around Aaron. They said to him, “Moses led us out of Egypt. But we don’t know what has happened to him. So make us gods who will lead us.”
2 Aaron said to the people, “Take off the gold earrings that your wives, sons and daughters are wearing. Bring them to me.” 3 So all the people took their gold earrings and brought them to Aaron. 4 Aaron took the gold from the people. Then he melted it and made a statue of a calf. He finished it with a tool. Then the people said, “Israel! These are your gods who brought you out of the land of Egypt!”
5 Aaron saw all this, and he built an altar before the calf. Then he made an announcement. He said, “Tomorrow there will be a special feast to honor the Lord.” 6 The people got up early the next morning. They offered whole burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. First the people sat down to eat and drink. Then they got up and had wild parties.
7 And the Lord said to Moses, “Go down from this mountain. Your people, the people you brought out of the land of Egypt, have done a terrible sin. 8 They have quickly turned away from the things I commanded them to do. They have made for themselves a calf of melted gold. They have worshiped that calf and offered sacrifices to it. The people have said, ‘Israel, these are your gods who brought you out of Egypt.’”
9 The Lord said to Moses, “I have seen these people. I know that they are very stubborn people. 10 So now do not stop me. I am so angry with them that I am going to destroy them. Then I will make you and your descendants a great nation.”
11 But Moses begged the Lord his God. Moses said, “Lord, don’t let your anger destroy your people. You brought these people out of Egypt with your great power and strength. 12 Don’t let the people of Egypt say, ‘The Lord brought the Israelites out of Egypt. But he planned to kill them in the mountains and destroy them from the earth.’ So stop being angry. Don’t destroy your people. 13 Remember the men who served you—Abraham, Isaac and Israel. You promised with an oath to them. You said, ‘I will make your descendants as many as the stars in the sky. I will give your descendants all this land that I have promised them. It will be theirs forever.’” 14 So the Lord changed his mind. He did not destroy the people as he had said he might.
15 Then Moses went down the mountain. In his hands he had the two stone tablets with the agreement on them. The commands were written on both sides of each stone, front and back. 16 God himself had made the stones. And God himself had written the commands on the stones.
17 Then Joshua heard the noise of the people shouting. He said to Moses, “It sounds like war down in the camp.”
18 Moses answered:
“It is not an army’s shout of victory.
It is not an army’s cry of defeat.
It is the sound of singing that I hear.”
19 When Moses came close to the camp, he saw the gold calf and the dancing. He became very angry. He threw down the stone tablets which he was carrying. He broke them at the bottom of the mountain. 20 Then he took the calf that the people had made. He melted it in the fire. And he ground the gold until it became powder. He threw the powder into the water. And he forced the Israelites to drink that water.
21 Moses said to Aaron, “What did these people do to you? Why did you cause them to do such a terrible sin?”
22 Aaron answered, “Don’t be angry, master. You know that these people are always ready to do wrong. 23 The people said to me, ‘Moses led us out of Egypt. But we don’t know what has happened to him. So make us gods who will lead us.’ 24 So I told the people, ‘Take off your gold jewelry.’ So they gave me the gold. I threw it into the fire and out came this calf!”
25 Moses saw that the people were acting wildly. He saw that Aaron had let them get out of control. Their enemies would laugh at them. 26 So Moses stood at the entrance to the camp. He said, “Let anyone who wants to follow the Lord come to me.” And all the people from the family of Levi gathered around Moses.
27 Then Moses said to them, “The Lord, the God of Israel, says this: ‘Every man must put on his sword and go through the camp from one end to the other. Each man must kill his brother, his friend and his neighbor.’” 28 The people from the family of Levi obeyed Moses. That day about 3,000 of the people of Israel died. 29 Then Moses said, “Today you have been given for service to the Lord. You were willing to kill your own sons and brothers. And God has blessed you for this.”
30 The next day Moses told the people, “You have done a terrible sin. But now I will go up to the Lord. Maybe I can do something so your sins will be removed. Then you will belong to God again.” 31 So Moses went back to the Lord and said, “How terrible it is! These people have sinned horribly. They have made for themselves gods from gold. 32 Now, forgive them of this sin. If you will not, then erase my name. Erase it from the book in which you have written the names of your people.”
33 But the Lord told Moses, “I will erase from my book the names of the people who sin against me. 34 So now, go. Lead the people where I have told you. My angel will lead you. When the time comes to punish, I will punish them for their sin.”
35 So the Lord caused terrible things to happen to the people. He did this because of what they did with the calf Aaron had made.
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.