Exodus 35–39

THE SABBATH COMMAND

35Moses assembled the entire Israelite community and said to them, “These are the things that the Lord has commanded you to do:^{v 2}For six days work is to be done, but on the seventh day you are to have a holy day, a Sabbath^w of complete rest to the Lord. Anyone who does work on it must be executed. ³Do not light a fire in any of your homes on the Sabbath day.”^x

BUILDING THE TABERNACLE

⁴Then Moses said to the entire Israelite community, “This is what the Lord has commanded: ⁵Take^a up an offering among you for the Lord. Let everyone whose heart is willing bring this as the Lord’s offering: gold, silver, and bronze; ⁶blue, purple, and scarlet yarn; fine linen and goat hair; ⁷ram skins dyed red and fine leather;^A acacia wood; ⁸oil for the light; spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense; ⁹and onyx with gemstones to mount on the ephod and breastpiece.

¹⁰“Let all the skilled artisans^B among you come and make everything that the Lord has commanded:^{b 11}the tabernacle—its tent and covering, its clasps and supports, its crossbars, its pillars and bases; ¹²the ark with its poles, the mercy seat, and the curtain for the screen; ¹³the table with its poles, all its utensils, and the Bread of the Presence; ¹⁴the lampstand for light with its utensils and lamps as well as the oil for the light; ¹⁵the altar of incense with its poles; the anointing oil and the fragrant incense; the entryway screen for the entrance to the tabernacle; ¹⁶the altar of burnt offering with its bronze grate, its poles, and all its utensils; the basin with its stand; ¹⁷the hangings of the courtyard, its posts and bases, and the screen for the gate of the courtyard; ¹⁸the tent pegs for the tabernacle and the tent pegs for the courtyard, along with their ropes; ¹⁹and the specially woven^A garments for ministering in the sanctuary—the holy garments for the priest Aaron and the garments for his sons to serve as priests.”^c

²⁰Then the entire Israelite community left Moses’s presence. ²¹Everyone whose heart was moved and whose spirit prompted him came and brought an offering to the Lord for the work on the tent of meeting, for all its services, and for the holy garments.^{d 22}Both men and women came; all who had willing hearts brought brooches, earrings, rings, necklaces, and all kinds of gold jewelry—everyone who presented a presentation offering of gold to the Lord. ²³Everyone who possessed blue, purple, or scarlet yarn,^e fine linen or goat hair, ram skins dyed red or fine leather,^A brought them. ²⁴Everyone making an offering of silver or bronze brought it as a contribution to the Lord. Everyone who possessed acacia wood useful for any task in the work brought it. ²⁵Every skilled^C woman^f spun yarn with her hands and brought it: blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, and fine linen. ²⁶And all the women whose hearts were moved spun the goat hair by virtue of their skill. ²⁷The leaders^g brought onyx and gemstones to mount on the ephod and breastpiece, ²⁸as well as the spice^h and oil for the light, for the anointing oil, and for the fragrant incense. ²⁹So the Israelites brought a freewill offering to the Lord, all the men and women whose hearts prompted them to bring something for all the work that the Lord, through Moses, had commanded to be done.ⁱ

BEZALEL AND OHOLIAB

³⁰Moses^j then said to the Israelites, “Look, the Lord has appointed by name Bezalel son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. ³¹He has filled him with God’s Spirit, with wisdom, understanding, and ability in every kind of craft ³²to design artistic works in gold, silver, and bronze, ³³to cut gemstones for mounting, and to carve wood for work in every kind of artistic craft. ³⁴He has also given^A both him and Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, the ability to teach others. ³⁵He has filled them with skill^B to do all the work^k of a gem cutter; a designer; an embroiderer^C in blue, purple, and scarlet yarn and fine linen; and a weaver. They can do every kind of craft and design artistic designs. 36Bezalel, Oholiab, and all the skilled people are to work based on everything the Lord has commanded. The Lord has given them wisdom and understanding to know how to do all the work of constructing the sanctuary.”^l

²So Moses summoned Bezalel, Oholiab, and every skilled person in whose heart the Lord had placed wisdom, all whose hearts moved them,^m to come to the work and do it. ³They took from Moses’s presence all the contributions that the Israelites had brought for the task of making the sanctuary. Meanwhile, the people continued to bring freewill offerings morning after morning.

⁴Then all the artisans who were doing all the work for the sanctuary came one by one from the work they were doing ⁵and said to Moses, “The people are bringing more than is neededⁿ for the construction of the work the Lord commanded to be done.”

⁶After Moses gave an order, they sent a proclamation throughout the camp: “Let no man or woman make anything else as an offering for the sanctuary.” So the people stopped. ⁷The materials were sufficient for them to do all the work. There was more than enough.

BUILDING THE TABERNACLE

⁸All^a the skilled artisans^E among those doing the work made the tabernacle with ten curtains. Bezalel made them of finely spun linen, as well as blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, with a design of cherubim worked into them. ⁹Each curtain was forty-two feet^F long and six feet wide; all the curtains had the same measurements. ¹⁰He joined five of the curtains to each other, and the other five curtains he joined to each other. ¹¹He made loops of blue yarn on the edge of the last curtain in the first set and did the same on the edge of the outermost curtain in the second set. ¹²He made fifty loops on the one curtain and fifty loops on the edge of the curtain in the second set, so that the loops lined up with each other. ¹³He also made fifty gold clasps and joined the curtains to each other, so that the tabernacle became a single unit.

¹⁴He made curtains of goat hair for a tent over the tabernacle; he made eleven of them. ¹⁵Each curtain was forty-five feet^H long and six feet wide. All eleven curtains had the same measurements. ¹⁶He joined five of the curtains together, and the other six together. ¹⁷He made fifty loops on the edge of the outermost curtain in the first set and fifty loops on the edge of the corresponding curtain in the second set. ¹⁸He made fifty bronze clasps to join the tent together as a single unit. ¹⁹He also made a covering for the tent from ram skins dyed red and a covering of fine leather^A on top of it.

²⁰He^b made upright supports^B of acacia wood for the tabernacle. ²¹Each support was fifteen feet^C long and twenty-seven inches^D wide. ²²Each support had two tenons for joining one to another. He did the same for all the supports of the tabernacle. ²³He made supports for the tabernacle as follows: He made twenty for the south side, ²⁴and he made forty silver bases to put under the twenty supports, two bases under the first support for its two tenons, and two bases under each of the following supports for their two tenons. ²⁵For the second side of the tabernacle, the north side, he made twenty supports, ²⁶with their forty silver bases, two bases under the first support and two bases under each of the following ones. ²⁷And for the back of the tabernacle, on the west side, he made six supports. ²⁸He also made two additional supports for the two back corners of the tabernacle. ²⁹They were paired at the bottom and joined together^E at the^F top in a single ring. This is what he did with both of them for the two corners. ³⁰So there were eight supports with their sixteen silver bases, two bases under each one.

³¹He made five crossbars of acacia wood for the supports on one side of the tabernacle, ³²five crossbars for the supports on the other side of the tabernacle, and five crossbars for those at the back of the tabernacle on the west. ³³He made the central crossbar run through the middle of the supports from one end to the other. ³⁴He overlaid them with gold and made their rings out of gold as holders for the crossbars. He also overlaid the crossbars with gold.

³⁵Then^c he made the curtain with blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, and finely spun linen. He made it with a design of cherubim worked into it. ³⁶He made four pillars of acacia wood for it and overlaid them with gold; their hooks were of gold. And he cast four silver bases for the pillars.

³⁷He made a screen embroidered^G with blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, and finely spun linen for the entrance to the tent, ³⁸together with its five pillars and their hooks. He overlaid the tops of the pillars and their bands with gold, but their five bases were bronze.

MAKING THE ARK

37Bezalel^d made the ark of acacia wood, forty-five inches long, twenty-seven inches wide, and twenty-seven inches high.^{H 2}He overlaid it with pure gold inside and out and made a gold molding all around it. ³He cast four gold rings for it, for its four feet, two rings on one side and two rings on the other side. ⁴He made poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with gold. ⁵He inserted the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark for carrying the ark.

⁶He made a mercy seat of pure gold, forty-five inches long and twenty-seven inches wide.^{A 7}He made two cherubim of gold; he made them of hammered work at the two ends of the mercy seat, ⁸one cherub at one end and one cherub at the other end. At each end, he made a cherub of one piece with the mercy seat. ⁹They had wings spread out. They faced each other and covered the mercy seat with their wings. The faces of the cherubim were looking toward the mercy seat.

MAKING THE TABLE

¹⁰He^a constructed the table of acacia wood, thirty-six inches long, eighteen inches wide, and twenty-seven inches high.^{B 11}He overlaid it with pure gold and made a gold molding all around it. ¹²He made a three-inch^C frame all around it and made a gold…