Exodus 24–31

Chapter 24

People Affirm Their Covenant with God

¹Then He said to Moses, “^aCome up to the Lord, you and Aaron, ^bNadab and Abihu and ^cseventy of the elders of Israel, and you shall worship at a distance.

²“Moses alone, however, shall come near to the Lord, but they shall not come near, nor shall the people come up with him.”

³Then Moses came and recounted to the people all the words of the Lord and all the ¹ordinances; and all the people answered with one voice and said, “^aAll the words which the Lord has spoken we will do!”

^4aMoses wrote down all the words of the Lord. Then he arose early in the morning, and built an ^baltar ¹at the foot of the mountain with twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel.

⁵He sent young men of the sons of Israel, ^aand they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls as peace offerings to the Lord.

^6aMoses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and the other half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar.

⁷Then he took ^athe book of the covenant and read it in the hearing of the people; and they said, “^bAll that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient!”

⁸So ^aMoses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people, and said, “Behold ^bthe blood of the covenant, which the Lord has ¹made with you ²in accordance with all these words.”

⁹Then Moses went up ¹with Aaron, ^aNadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel,

¹⁰and ^athey saw the God of Israel; and under His feet ^1bthere appeared to be a pavement of sapphire, ²as clear as the sky itself.

¹¹Yet He did not stretch out His hand against the nobles of the sons of Israel; and ^athey saw God, and they ate and drank.

¹²Now the Lord said to Moses, “Come up to Me on the mountain and ¹remain there, and ^aI will give you the stone tablets ²with the law and the commandment which I have written for their instruction.”

¹³So Moses arose ¹with ^aJoshua his ²servant, and Moses went up to ^bthe mountain of God.

¹⁴But to the elders he said, “^aWait here for us until we return to you. And behold, ^bAaron and Hur are with you; whoever ¹has a legal matter, let him approach them.”

¹⁵Then Moses went up to the mountain, and ^athe cloud covered the mountain.

^16aThe glory of the Lord ¹rested on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days; and on the seventh day He ^bcalled to Moses from the midst of the cloud.

^17aAnd to the eyes of the sons of Israel the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a ^bconsuming fire on the mountain top.

¹⁸Moses entered the midst of the cloud ¹as he went up to the mountain; and Moses was on the mountain ^aforty days and forty nights.

Chapter 25

Offerings for the Sanctuary

¹Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

²“^aTell the sons of Israel to ¹raise a ²contribution for Me; ^bfrom every man whose heart moves him you shall raise My contribution.

³“This is the ¹contribution which you are to ²raise from them: gold, silver and bronze,

^41ablue, purple and scarlet material, fine linen, goat hair,

⁵rams’ skins dyed red, porpoise skins, acacia wood,

^6aoil for lighting, ^bspices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense,

⁷onyx stones and setting stones for the ^aephod and for the ^1bbreastpiece.

⁸“Let them ^aconstruct a sanctuary for Me, ^bthat I may dwell among them.

⁹“^aAccording to all that I am going to show you, as the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furniture, just so you shall construct it.

Ark of the Covenant

¹⁰“^aThey shall construct an ark of acacia wood two and a half ¹cubits ²long, and one and a half cubits ³wide, and one and a half cubits ⁴high.

¹¹“You shall ^aoverlay it with pure gold, inside and out you shall overlay it, and you shall make a gold molding ¹around it.

¹²“You shall cast four gold rings for it and ¹fasten them on its four feet, and two rings shall be on one side of it and two rings on the other side of it.

¹³“You shall make poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold.

¹⁴“You shall put the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark, to carry the ark with them.

¹⁵“The ^apoles shall ¹remain in the rings of the ark; they shall not be removed from it.

¹⁶“You shall ^aput into the ark the testimony which I shall give you.

¹⁷“You shall ^amake a ¹mercy seat of pure gold, two and a half ²cubits ³long and one and a half cubits ⁴wide.

¹⁸“You shall make two cherubim of gold, make them of hammered work ¹at the two ends of the mercy seat.

¹⁹“Make one cherub ¹at one end and one cherub at the other end; you shall make the cherubim of one piece with the mercy seat at its two ends.

²⁰“^aThe cherubim shall have their wings spread upward, covering the mercy seat with their wings and ¹facing one another; the faces of the cherubim are to be turned toward the mercy seat.

²¹“^aYou shall put the mercy seat ¹on top of the ark, and ^bin the ark you shall put the testimony which I will give to you.

²²“^aThere I will meet with you; and from above the mercy seat, from ^bbetween the two cherubim which are upon the ark of the testimony, I will speak to you about all that I will give you in commandment for the sons of Israel.

The Table of Showbread

²³“^aYou shall make a table of acacia wood, two cubits ¹long and one cubit ²wide and one and a half cubits ³high.

²⁴“You shall overlay it with pure gold and make a gold ^aborder around it.

²⁵“You shall make for it a rim of a handbreadth around it; and you shall make a gold border for the rim around it.

²⁶“You shall make four gold rings for it and put rings on the four corners which are on its four feet.

²⁷“The rings shall be close to the rim as holders for the poles to carry the table.

²⁸“You shall make the poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold, so that with them the table may be carried.

²⁹“You shall make its ^1adishes and its pans and its jars and its ²bowls with which to pour drink offerings; you shall make them of pure gold.

³⁰“You shall set ^athe bread of the ¹Presence on the table before Me ²at all times.

The Golden Lampstand

³¹“^aThen you shall make a lampstand of pure gold. The lampstand and its base and its shaft are to be made of hammered work; its cups, its ¹bulbs and its flowers shall be of one piece with it.

³²“^aSix branches shall go out from its sides; three branches of the lampstand from its one side and three branches of the lampstand from its ¹other side.

³³“^aThree cups shall be shaped like almond blossoms in the one branch, a ¹bulb and a flower, and three cups shaped like almond blossoms in the ²other branch, a bulb and a flower—so for six branches going out from the lampstand;

³⁴and ^ain the lampstand four cups shaped like almond blossoms, its ¹bulbs and its flowers.

³⁵“^aA ¹bulb shall be under the first pair of branches coming out of it, and a bulb under the second pair of branches coming out of it, and a bulb under the third pair of branches coming out of it, for the six branches coming out of the lampstand.

³⁶“^aTheir ¹bulbs and their branches shall be of one piece with it; all of it shall be one piece of hammered work of pure gold.

³⁷“Then you shall make its lamps seven in number; and ^athey shall ¹mount its lamps so as to shed light on the space in front of it.

³⁸“Its snuffers and ¹their trays shall be of pure gold.

³⁹“It shall be made from a talent of pure gold, with all these utensils.

⁴⁰“^aSee that you make them ^bafter the pattern for them, which was shown to you on the mountain.

Chapter 26

Curtains of Linen

¹“^aMoreover you shall make the tabernacle with ten curtains of fine twisted linen and ¹blue and purple and scarlet material; you shall make them with cherubim, the work of a skillful workman.

²“The length of each curtain shall be twenty-eight ¹cubits, and the width of each curtain four cubits; all the curtains shall have ²the same measurements.

³“Five curtains shall be ¹joined to one another, and the other five curtains shall be joined to one another.

⁴“You shall make loops of ¹blue on the edge of the ²outermost curtain in the first set, and likewise you shall make them on the edge of the curtain that is outermost in the second ³set.

⁵“You shall make fifty loops in the one curtain, and you shall make fifty loops on the ¹edge of the curtain that is in the second ²set; the loops shall be opposite each other.

⁶“You shall make fifty clasps of gold, and ¹join the curtains to one another with the clasps so that the ²tabernacle will be a unit.

Curtains of Goats’ Hair

⁷“Then ^ayou shall make curtains of goats’ hair for a tent over the tabernacle; you shall make eleven curtains in all.

⁸“The length of each curtain shall be thirty ¹cubits, and the width of each curtain four cubits; the eleven curtains shall have ²the same measurements.

⁹“You shall ¹join five curtains by themselves and the other six curtains by themselves, and you shall double over the sixth curtain ²at the front of the tent.

¹⁰“You shall make fifty loops on the edge of the ¹curtain that is outermost in the first ²set, and fifty loops on the edge of the curtain that is outermost in the second set.

¹¹“You shall make fifty clasps of ¹bronze, and you shall put the clasps into the loops and ²join the tent together so that it will be ³a unit.

¹²“The ¹overlapping part that is left over in the curtains of the tent, the half curtain that is left over, shall lap over the back of the tabernacle.

¹³“The cubit on one side and the cubit on the other, of what is left over in the length of the curtains of the tent, shall lap over the sides of the tabernacle on one side and on the other, to cover it.

¹⁴“^aYou shall make a covering for the tent of rams’ skins ¹dyed red and a covering of porpoise skins above.

Boards and Sockets

¹⁵“Then you shall make ^athe boards for the tabernacle of acacia wood, standing upright.

¹⁶“Ten cubits shall be the length of ¹each board and one and a half cubits the width of each board.

¹⁷“There shall be two tenons for each board, ¹fitted to one another; thus you shall do for all the boards of the tabernacle.

¹⁸“You shall make the boards for the tabernacle: twenty boards ¹for the south side.

¹⁹“You shall make forty ^1asockets of silver under the twenty boards, two sockets…