Beginning
Chapter 30
The Altar of Incense. 1 “You shall build an altar upon which to burn incense. Make it of acacia wood, 2 one cubit long and one cubit wide. It shall be square, and two cubits high; and its horns shall all be one piece with it. 3 Cover its top, its sides, and its horns with pure gold, and make a gold molding around it. 4 You shall also make two golden rings below its molding on its two sides. Place them on opposite sides. They shall be used to insert poles with which to carry it. 5 You shall make the poles out of acacia wood and cover them with gold. 6 And you shall place the altar in front of the veil that hides the Ark of Testimony, in front of the seat of atonement that is upon it, where I will meet you.
7 “Aaron shall burn fragrant incense upon the altar. He shall burn it each morning when he trims the lamps, 8 and also in the evening when he refills the lamps. There shall be perpetual incense before the Lord throughout all your generations. 9 Do not offer any unholy incense upon it, nor burnt offerings nor sacrifices nor libations. 10 Once a year Aaron shall perform an atonement ritual upon it, upon its horns. He shall make atonement upon it with the blood of your sin offering once a year throughout all your generations. It is something most holy to the Lord.”
11 The Temple Tax. The Lord spoke to Moses and said, 12 “When you take a census of the number of the children of Israel, each man will offer a ransom for his life to the Lord, when you number them, lest there be a plague among them when you number them. 13 Each person counted in the census will give half a shekel according to the measure of the shekel of the sanctuary (a shekel is twenty gerahs). The half shekel will be an offering to the Lord. 14 Everyone who is counted in the census, from twenty years old and up, will give the Lord’s offering. 15 The rich will not give more and the poor will not give less than half a shekel, when you give the Lord’s offering, in order to ransom your life. 16 You shall take the money of this ransom of the children of Israel and designate it for the needs of the meeting tent. It shall be a memorial before the Lord for the children of Israel, for the ransom of your lives.”
17 The Basin for Washing. The Lord said to Moses, 18 “You shall make a basin out of bronze, with a base of bronze, for ablutions. Place it between the meeting tent and the altar and fill it with water. 19 Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet in it.[a] 20 When they enter the meeting tent, they shall perform an ablution with water, lest they die. Thus, whenever they approach the altar to minister, to burn an offering unto the Lord with fire, 21 they shall wash their hands and their feet so that they might not die. This shall be a perpetual statute for him and his sons, for all their generations.”
22 The Anointing Oil. The Lord said to Moses, 23 “Take the finest spices: five hundred shekels of flowing myrrh, half that amount of sweet-smelling cinnamon, namely two hundred and fifty shekels of it, two hundred and fifty shekels of aromatic cane, 24 five hundred shekels of cassia, all according to the shekel of the sanctuary, and a hin of olive oil. 25 Make a holy anointing oil out of them using the craft of the perfumer who blends oils. It shall be a holy anointing oil. 26 With it you are to anoint the meeting tent, the Ark of Testimony, 27 the table and all its accessories, the lampstand and its accessories, the altar of incense, 28 the altar of burnt offerings and all of its accessories, and the basin and its base. 29 You shall consecrate these things, and they shall become most holy. Whatever touches them will be holy.
30 “You shall also anoint Aaron and his sons and consecrate them so that they may serve me as priests. 31 Say to the children of Israel: ‘This shall be my holy anointing oil for all your generations. 32 You shall not pour it out on anyone’s body, nor shall you make anything else like it. It is holy, and it shall be holy to you.’
33 “Anyone who makes anything like it, or who pours it on an outsider, shall be cut off from his people.”
34 The Incense. The Lord said to Moses, “Gather sweet spices, gum of stacte, onycha, resin of galbanum, equal measures of sweet spices and pure frankincense, 35 and make an incense using the skill of the perfumer. It is to be salted, pure and holy. 36 Beat some of it very fine and put it before the Testimony in the meeting tent where I shall meet with you. It shall be most holy to you.
37 “You shall not make for yourselves anything like this incense according to its composition. You shall consider it to be holy to the Lord. 38 Whoever makes anything like it to use for its sweet odor shall be cut off from his people.”
Chapter 31
The Choice of Craftsmen for the Tabernacle. 1 The Lord spoke to Moses and said to him, 2 “Behold, I have chosen Bezalel, the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. 3 I have filled him with the Spirit of God[b] so that he possesses wisdom, understanding, knowledge, and is expert in every kind of craft 4 to design artistic works in gold, silver, and bronze, 5 to know how to cut stones for settings and how to carve wood. He is expert in every craft. 6 And behold, I have sent Oholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan to him. I have also given all skillful men their ability, so that they may make all that I have commanded you to make: 7 the meeting tent, the Ark of Testimony, the seat of atonement over it, and all the accessories of the tent, 8 the table with its accessories, the pure lampstand and its accessories, the altar of incense, 9 the altar of burnt offerings with all of its accessories, the basin and its base, 10 the finely crafted vestments, the sacred vestments for Aaron and the vestments for his sons, for their priestly ministry, 11 the oil of anointing, and the fragrant incense for the sanctuary. They shall produce all that I have commanded you.”
12 The Sabbath.[c] The Lord said to Moses, 13 “Say to the children of Israel, ‘You shall observe my Sabbaths, for the Sabbath is a sign between me and you for all your generations, so that you may know that I am the Lord, who makes you holy.
14 “ ‘Therefore, you shall observe the Sabbath, for it is holy to you. Whoever profanes it shall be put to death. Whoever works on that day shall be cut off from his people. 15 Six days you shall work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of sacred rest for you, holy to the Lord. Whoever works on the Sabbath shall be put to death. 16 The children of Israel shall observe the Sabbath, celebrating the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant. 17 This is a perpetual sign between me and the children of Israel, for the Lord made the heavens and the earth in six days, but on the seventh he ceased and rested.’ ”
18 Moses Receives the Tablets of the Law. When the Lord had finished speaking with Moses on Mount Sinai, he gave him the two tablets of Testimony, the stone tablets, written with the finger of God.
The Golden Calf and the Renewal of the Covenant
Chapter 32
The Golden Calf. 1 When the people saw that Moses delayed coming down the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and told him, “Make a god to walk before us, because we do not know what has happened to Moses, the one who brought us out of the land of Egypt.”
2 Aaron answered them, “Take the gold earrings off your wives and sons and daughters and bring them to me.” 3 All the people took off their gold earrings and brought them to Aaron. 4 He took the gold from their hands and fashioned it with a chisel and made a molten calf.[d] They said, “Behold your God, O Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.” 5 Seeing this, Aaron built an altar before the calf and proclaimed, “Tomorrow shall be a feast in honor of the Lord.” 6 The following day they rose early, offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings. The people sat down and ate and drank. They then rose to divert themselves.
7 The Lord said to Moses, “Leave, go down, because your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt, have become perverse. 8 They have quickly departed from the way that I have commanded them. They have made a molten calf for themselves, and have bowed down before it. They have offered sacrifices and said, ‘Behold your God, Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.’ ”
9 The Lord also said to Moses, “I have observed this people, and I have seen that it is a stubborn people. 10 Now let me be, so that my rage can blaze out against them and destroy them. I will then make you a great nation.”
11 The Prayer of Moses. But Moses entreated the Lord, his God, and said, “Why, O Lord, will you let your rage blaze out against your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand? 12 Why should the Egyptians be able to say about them, ‘He brought them out for evil purposes, to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn back your wrath and change your mind about harming your people. 13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by yourself and said, ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars of the heavens. All this land, of which I have spoken, I will give to your descendants as their possession forever.’ ” 14 Then the Lord changed his mind and decided not to harm his people.
15 Moses Shatters the Tablets of the Law. Moses left and went down the mountain with the two tablets of Testimony in his hands, tablets written on both sides. They were written on one side and the other. 16 The tablets were made by God, and the writing on them was God’s writing.
17 Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, and he cried out to Moses, “There are battle sounds coming from the camp!” 18 But Moses answered, “It is not the shout of victory, nor the sound of defeat. It is the sound of singing that I hear.”
19 When they drew near the camp, he saw the calf and the dancing. Moses became very angry. He flung down the tablets, breaking them to pieces at the foot of the mountain. 20 He then seized the calf that they had made and burned it with fire. He ground it down until it was a powder and scattered it on water that he made the children of Israel drink.
21 The Zeal of the Levites. Moses said to Aaron, “What has this people done to you that you have brought such a great sin upon them?” 22 But Aaron answered, “Let my lord not be angry, for you know this people and that they are set on evil. 23 They said to me, ‘Make a god to walk before us, because we do not know what has happened to Moses, the man who brought us out of the land of Egypt.’ 24 I said to them, ‘Whoever has gold, take it off.’ They gave it to me, and I threw it in the fire, and out came this calf.”
25 Moses saw that the people had lost control of themselves (for Aaron had let them run so wild that their enemies mocked them). 26 So he stood at the gate to the camp and said, “Whoever is for the Lord, come to me!” All the sons of Levi gathered around him. 27 He cried out to them, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Each man strap a sword to his side. Then pass back and forth in the camp from one gate to another and slay your brother, your companion, and your neighbor.”
28 The sons of Levi did as Moses had commanded them. On that day three thousand men from among the people perished. 29 Moses then said, “Today you have consecrated yourself to the service of the Lord, each one at the cost of his son or his brother, that he might bestow a blessing upon you this day.”
30 Moses Intercedes for His People. The next day Moses said to the people, “You have committed a great sin. Today I will climb up to the Lord. Perhaps I will obtain pardon for your sin.”
31 Moses returned to the Lord and said, “This people has committed a great sin. They made a god out of gold for themselves.[e] 32 But now, if you will, pardon their sin—if not, I pray, blot me out of the book that you have written.”[f]
33 The Lord said to Moses, “I will blot out of my book only him who has sinned against me. 34 Now go, lead the people to the place about which I told you. Behold, my angel will go before you. But on the day of reckoning, I will punish them for their sin.”
35 The Lord smote his people because they had made the calf that Aaron had fashioned.
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