Chronological
Incense Altar
30 “You are to make an altar of acacia wood for burning incense. 2 It is to be square—one cubit in length, one cubit wide, and two cubits high. The horns must be of one piece with it. 3 You are to overlay it with pure gold on top, all around the sides and over the horns. Also you are to make a crown of gold for it all around. 4 Make two golden rings for it under the crown on the two sides, and they will be holders for poles to carry it. 5 Make the poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold. 6 You are to set it in front of the curtain that is in front of the Ark of the Testimony, in front of the atonement cover that is over the Testimony, where I will meet with you.
7 “Aaron must burn sweet spices of incense there every morning. When he attends to the lamps, he is to burn it. 8 Also when Aaron keeps the lamps lit at dusk he must burn it. There must be incense continually before Adonai, throughout your generations. 9 You must not offer up unauthorized incense on it. Nor should any burnt offering or grain offering be there, nor should you pour any drink offering there. 10 Aaron is to make atonement upon the horns once a year with the blood of the sin offering throughout your generations. It is most holy to Adonai.”
Parashat Ki Tisa
Census and Ransom Money
11 Then Adonai spoke to Moses saying, 12 “When you tally the sum of Bnei-Yisrael by numbering them, then every man must pay a ransom for his soul to Adonai when you count them, so that no plague will fall on them. 13 Everyone among them who crosses over must give half a shekel according to the Sanctuary shekel (which is 20 gerahs): half a shekel as an offering to Adonai. 14 Everyone who crosses over among them who is counted, from 20 years old and upward, is to give the offering to Adonai. 15 The rich are not to give more and the poor are not to give less than the half shekel, when they present the offering of Adonai to make atonement for your souls. 16 You are to take the atonement money from Bnei-Yisrael and give it for the service of the Tent of Meeting, so that it may be a memorial for Bnei-Yisrael before Adonai, to make atonement for your souls.”
Basin for Washing
17 Adonai spoke to Moses saying, 18 “You will also make a basin of bronze with a bronze stand for washing. You are to place it between the Tent of Meeting and the altar and put water in it. 19 Aaron and his sons are to wash their hands and their feet there. 20 Whenever they go into the Tent of Meeting or come near to the altar to minister, to present an offering made by fire in smoke to Adonai, they are to wash with water so that they do not die. 21 They are to wash their hands and their feet, so that they do not die. It is to be an eternal statute for them, to him and to his offspring throughout their generations.”
Holy Anointing Oil
22 Moreover Adonai spoke to Moses saying, 23 “Now take for yourself the best spices: 500 shekels of flowing myrrh, half as much sweet cinnamon (250), also 250 shekels of sweet calamus, 24 500 of cassia, after the Sanctuary shekel, plus a hin[a] of olive oil. 25 You are to make holy anointing oil from it, a fragrant mixture, blended as the work of a perfumer. It will be holy anointing oil. 26 You are to anoint the Tent of Meeting with it, the Ark of the Testimony, 27 as well as the table and all its articles, the menorah and its articles, the altar of incense, 28 the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils, and the basin along with its stand. 29 You are to consecrate them so that they will be most holy. Whatever touches them will become holy.
30 “You are to anoint Aaron and his sons and consecrate them, so that they may minister to Me as kohanim. 31 Speak to Bnei-Yisrael saying, ‘This is to be a holy anointing oil to Me throughout your generations. 32 It must not be poured on human flesh, nor are you to make any like it, with its formula. It is holy and it must be holy to you. 33 Whoever mixes any like it, or whoever puts any of it on anyone unauthorized, will be cut off from his people.’”
34 Then Adonai said to Moses, “Take the sweet spices—stacte, onycha and galbanum. The spices and pure frankincense are to be in equal measures. 35 Make a fragrant mixture from them, a blend like the work of the perfumer, seasoned with salt, pure and holy. 36 You are to beat some of it into powder, and set it before the Testimony in the Tent of Meeting, where I will meet with you. It is to be most holy to you. 37 But the incense which you make, with its formula, you are not to make for yourselves. It is to be holy to you, for Adonai. 38 Whoever makes any like it, to breathe in its smell, will be cut off from his people.”
Ruach-filled Craftsmen
31 Then Adonai spoke to Moses saying, 2 “See, I have called by name Bezalel son of Uri son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, 3 and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, understanding and knowledge in all kinds of craftsmanship, 4 to make ingenious designs, to forge with gold, silver and bronze, 5 as well as cutting stones for setting and carving wood, to work in all manner of craftsmanship. 6 Also look, I Myself have appointed with him Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan. Within the hearts of all who are wise-hearted I have placed skill, so that they may make everything that I have commanded you: 7 the Tent of Meeting, the Ark of the Testimony, the atonement cover that is to be on it, all the furnishings of the Tabernacle, 8 the table and its utensils, the menorah of pure gold with all of its utensils, the altar of incense, 9 the altar of burnt offering with all of its utensils, the basin and its stand, 10 the woven garments, the holy garments for Aaron the kohen, the garments for his sons to minister as kohanim, 11 the anointing oil, and the incense of sweet spices for the holy place. They are to make them just as how I commanded you.”
Shabbat: A Perpetual Covenant Sign
12 Then Adonai spoke to Moses saying, 13 “Speak now to Bnei-Yisrael saying, ‘Surely you must keep My Shabbatot, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, so you may know that I am Adonai who sanctifies you. 14 Therefore you are to keep the Shabbat, because it is holy for you. Everyone who profanes it will die, for whoever does any work during Shabbat, that soul will be cut off from the midst of his people. 15 Work is to be done for six days, but on the seventh day is a Shabbat of complete rest, holy to Adonai. Whoever does any work on the Shabbat will surely be put to death. 16 So Bnei-Yisrael is to keep the Shabbat, to observe the Shabbat throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant. 17 It is a sign between Me and Bnei-Yisrael forever, for in six days Adonai made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day He ceased from work and rested.’”
18 When He had finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, He gave the two tablets of the Testimony to Moses—tablets of stone, written by the finger of God.
Molten Calf and Smashing Tablets
32 Now when the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said to him, “Get up, make us gods who will go before us. As for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what’s become of him!”
2 So Aaron said to them, “Break off the golden rings 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 golden rings that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. 4 He received them from their hand, and made a molten calf, fashioned with a chiseling tool.
Then they said, “This is your god, Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt!”
5 When Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it. Then Aaron made a proclamation saying, “Tomorrow will be a feast to Adonai.” 6 They rose up early the next morning, sacrificed burnt offerings and brought fellowship offerings. The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to make merry.
7 Then Adonai said to Moses, “Go down! For your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have become debased. 8 They quickly turned aside from the path that I commanded for them. They have made a molten calf, worshipped it, and sacrificed to it, and said, ‘This is your god, O Israel, that brought you up out of the land of Egypt.’”
9 Adonai said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people. 10 Now therefore, leave Me alone, so My wrath may burn hot against them, and so I may consume them—and make from you a great nation!”
11 Then Moses sought Adonai his God and said, “Adonai, why should Your wrath burn hot against Your people, whom You have brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? 12 Why should the Egyptians say, ‘He brought them out to do evil, to slay them in the mountains, and to annihilate them from the face of the earth?’ Turn from Your fierce wrath, and relent from this destruction against Your people. 13 Remember Abraham, Isaac and Israel, Your servants, to whom You swore by Your own self, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of I will give to your offspring, and they will inherit it forever.’”
14 So Adonai relented from the destruction that He said He would do to His people.
15 Then Moses turned and went down from the mountain, with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hand, tablets that were written on both sides, on one 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 sound of war within the camp.” 18 But Moses said:
“It is not the voice of a shout of victory,
nor is it the voice of crying from defeat,
but I hear the sound of singing.”
19 Then it happened, as soon as Moses came near the camp, he saw the calf and the dancing, and his anger burned hot. So he threw the tablets out of his hands, and smashed them at the foot of the mountain. 20 Then he took the calf that they had made, burned it with fire, ground it to powder, scattered it on the surface of the water and made Bnei-Yisrael drink it.
21 Then Moses said to Aaron, “What did this people do to you, to make you bring such a great sin upon them?”
22 Aaron said, “Don’t be angry, my lord! You know these people yourself, and how they are set on evil. 23 They said to me, ‘Make gods for us, to go before us! As for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we don’t know what happened to him.’ 24 So I said to them, ‘Whoever has any gold, let them break it off.’ So they gave it to me and I threw it into the fire—and out came this calf!”
25 When Moses saw that the people were unrestrained, because Aaron had let them run wild, to become a joke among their enemies, 26 Moses stood at the gate of the camp and said, “Whoever is on Adonai’s side, let him come to me.” Then all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together to him.
27 He said to them, “This is what Adonai, the God of Israel says, ‘Every man put on his sword, and go to and fro, from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay his brother, his friend, and his neighbor.’” 28 So the sons of Levi did as Moses said, and that day from among the people there fell about 3,000 men.
29 Then Moses said, “Consecrate your hands today to Adonai so that He may give you a blessing today, for every man has been against his son and his brother.”
30 So it happened the following day, Moses said to the people, “You have committed a horrendous sin. So now I will go up to Adonai—perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.”
31 Then Moses returned to Adonai and said, “Alas, these people have sinned greatly, and made gods of gold! 32 Yet now, please forgive their sin. But if not, please blot me out of Your book that You have written.”
33 Adonai said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot out of My book. 34 Now go, lead the people to the place that I told you about. My angel will go before you. Nevertheless, on the day when I take account, I will hold them accountable for their sin.”
35 So Adonai struck the people because of what they did with the calf that Aaron had made.
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.