Exodus 39:32–40:38

The Tent Is Brought to Moses

³²So all the work on the inner tent (the tent of meeting) was now done. The Israelites followed all the Lord’s instructions to Moses. ³³Then they brought everything to Moses—the inner tent, the outer tent and all its furnishings, the fasteners, frames, crossbars, posts, sockets, ³⁴the cover made of rams’ skins dyed red, the cover made of fine leather,the canopy over ⸤the ark⸥, ³⁵the ark containing the words of God’s promise with its poles and the throne of mercy, ³⁶the table with all the dishes, the bread of the presence, ³⁷the pure ⸤gold⸥ lamp stand with its lamps in a row and all its utensils, the olive oil for the lamps, ³⁸the gold altar, the anointing oil, the sweet-smelling incense, the screen for the entrance to the tent, ³⁹the bronze altar with its bronze grate, its poles, and all its accessories, the basin with its stand, ⁴⁰the curtains for the courtyard, the posts, bases, and screen for the entrance to the courtyard, the ropes and pegs—all the equipment needed for the service of the inner tent (the tent of meeting)—⁴¹the special clothes worn when serving as priests in the holy place—both the holy clothes for the priest Aaron and the clothes for his sons when serving as priests. ⁴²The Israelites had done all the work following the Lord’s instructions to Moses. 

⁴³Moses inspected all the work and saw that they had followed the Lord’s instructions. So Moses blessed them. 

40TH CHAPTER

Instructions for Setting Up the Tent

¹Then the Lord said to Moses, ²“Set up the tent (the tent of meeting) on the first day of the first month of the year. ³Place the ark containing the words of my promise inside it, and hang the canopy over the ark. ⁴Bring in the table, and arrange everything on it. Bring in the lamp stand, and set up the lamps. ⁵Put the gold altar for incense in front of the ark. Put up the screen at the entrance to the tent. 

⁶“Put the altar for burnt offerings in front of the entrance to the tent of meeting. ⁷Put the basin between the tent of meeting and the altar, and put water in it. ⁸Set up the surrounding courtyard, and put up the screen at the entrance to the courtyard. ⁹Take the anointing oil, and anoint the tent and everything in it. In this way you will dedicate it and all its furnishings. Then it will be holy. ¹⁰Anoint the altar for burnt offerings and all the utensils. In this way you will dedicate the altar, and it will be most holy. ¹¹Anoint the basin and stand, and they will be dedicated. 

¹²“Bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance of the tent of meeting, and wash them. ¹³Then dress Aaron in the holy clothes, and anoint him. In this way you will dedicate him to serve me as priest. ¹⁴Have his sons come forward, and dress them in their linen robes. ¹⁵Anoint them to serve me as priests, as you anointed their father. Their anointing will begin a permanent priesthood for them for generations to come.” 

Moses Sets Up the Tent

¹⁶Moses did everything as the Lord commanded him. ¹⁷So the tent was set up on the first day of the first month of the second year ⸤after the Israelites had left Egypt⸥. ¹⁸When Moses set up the tent, he put the sockets in place, put up the frames, inserted the crossbars, and set up the posts. ¹⁹He spread the outer tent over the inner tent and put the cover on top. Moses followed the Lord’s instructions. 

²⁰He took the words of God’s promise and put them in the ark. He put the poles on the ark and placed the throne of mercy on top of the ark. ²¹Then he brought the ark into the tent and hung the canopy over it to mark off where the ark was. Moses followed the Lord’s instructions. 

²²Moses put the table in the tent of meeting on the north side of the tent outside the canopy. ²³He arranged the bread on the table in the Lord’s presence, following the Lord’s instructions. ²⁴He placed the lamp stand in the tent of meeting opposite the table, on the south side of the tent. ²⁵He set up the lamps in the Lord’s presence, following the Lord’s instructions. 

²⁶Moses put the gold altar in the tent of meeting in front of the canopy. ²⁷He burned sweet-smelling incense on it, following the Lord’s instructions. ²⁸Then he put up the screen at the entrance to the tent. 

²⁹He put the altar for burnt offerings at the entrance to the tent (the tent of meeting). He sacrificed burnt offerings and grain offerings on it. Moses followed the Lord’s instructions. 

³⁰He put the basin between the tent of meeting and the altar and put water in it for washing. ³¹Moses, Aaron, and his sons used this water to wash their hands and feet. ³²They would wash whenever they went into the tent of meeting or whenever they approached the altar. Moses followed the Lord’s instructions. 

³³He set up the courtyard around the tent and the altar and put up the screen at the entrance to the courtyard. Finally, Moses finished the work. 

The Lord Comes to the Tent

³⁴Then the ⸤column of⸥ smoke covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tent. ³⁵Moses couldn’t go into the tent of meeting, because the smoke settled on it and the glory of the Lord filled the tent. 

³⁶In all their travels, whenever the ⸤column of⸥ smoke moved from the tent, the Israelites would break camp. ³⁷But if the column didn’t move, they wouldn’t break camp. ³⁸So the Lord’s column stayed over the tent during the day, and there was fire in the smoke at night. In this way all the Israelites could see the column throughout their travels.