Exodus 38–40

The Altar for Burnt Offerings

38Then he built the altar for burnt offerings out of acacia wood. The altar was square—seven and one-half feet long and seven and one-half feet wide—and it was four and one-half feet high. ²He made each corner stick out like a horn so that the horns and the altar were joined together in one piece. Then he covered the altar with bronze. ³He made all the tools of bronze to use on the altar: the pots, shovels, bowls for sprinkling blood, meat forks, and pans for carrying the fire. ⁴He made a large bronze screen to hold the burning wood for the altar and put it inside the altar, under its rim, halfway up from the bottom. ⁵He made bronze rings to hold the poles for carrying the altar, and he put them at the four corners of the screen. ⁶Then he made poles of acacia wood and covered them with bronze. ⁷He put the poles through the rings on both sides of the altar, to carry it. He made the altar of boards and left the inside hollow.

The Bronze Bowl

⁸He made the bronze bowl for washing, and he built it on a bronze stand. He used the bronze from mirrors that belonged to the women who served at the entrance to the Meeting Tent.

The Courtyard of the Holy Tent

⁹Then he made a wall of curtains to form a courtyard around the Holy Tent. On the south side the curtains were one hundred fifty feet long and were made of fine linen. ¹⁰The curtains hung on silver hooks and bands, placed on twenty bronze posts with twenty bronze bases. ¹¹On the north side the wall of curtains was also one hundred fifty feet long, and it hung on silver hooks and bands on twenty posts with twenty bronze bases.

¹²On the west side of the courtyard, the wall of curtains was seventy-five feet long. It was held up by silver hooks and bands on ten posts with ten bases. ¹³The east side was also seventy-five feet long. ¹⁴On one side of the entry there was a wall of curtains twenty-two and one-half feet long, held up by three posts and three bases. ¹⁵On the other side of the entry there was also a wall of curtains twenty-two and one-half feet long, held up by three posts and three bases. ¹⁶All the curtains around the courtyard were made of fine linen. ¹⁷The bases for the posts were made of bronze. The hooks and the bands on the posts were made of silver, and the tops of the posts were covered with silver also. All the posts in the courtyard had silver bands.

¹⁸The curtain for the entry of the courtyard was made of blue, purple, and red thread, and fine linen, sewn by a person who could sew well. The curtain was thirty feet long and seven and one-half feet high, the same height as the curtains around the courtyard. ¹⁹It was held up by four posts and four bronze bases. The hooks and bands on the posts were made of silver, and the tops on the posts were covered with silver. ²⁰All the tent pegs for the Holy Tent and for the curtains around the courtyard were made of bronze.

²¹This is a list of the materials used to make the Holy Tent, where the Agreement was kept. Moses ordered the Levites to make this list, and Ithamar son of Aaron was in charge of keeping it. ²²Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur of the tribe of Judah, made everything the Lord commanded Moses. ²³Oholiab son of Ahisamach of the tribe of Dan helped him. He could cut designs into metal and stone; he was a designer and also skilled at sewing the blue, purple, and red thread, and fine linen.

²⁴The total amount of gold used to build the Holy Tent was presented to the Lord. It weighed over 2,000 pounds, as set by the Holy Place measure.

²⁵The silver was given by the members of the community who were counted. It weighed 7,550 pounds, as set by the Holy Place measure. ²⁶All the men twenty years old or older were counted. There were 603,550 men, and each man had to pay one-fifth of an ounce of silver, as set by the Holy Place measure. ²⁷Of this silver, 7,500 pounds were used to make the one hundred bases for the Holy Tent and for the curtain—75 pounds of silver in each base. ²⁸They used 50 pounds of silver to make the hooks for the posts and to cover the tops of the posts and to make the bands on them.

²⁹The bronze which was presented to the Lord weighed about 5,000 pounds. ³⁰They used the bronze to make the bases at the entrance of the Meeting Tent, to make the altar and the bronze screen, and to make all the tools for the altar. ³¹This bronze was also used to make bases for the wall of curtains around the courtyard and bases for curtains at the entry to the courtyard, as well as to make the tent pegs for the Holy Tent and the curtains that surrounded the courtyard.

Clothes for the Priests

39They used blue, purple, and red thread to make woven clothes for the priests to wear when they served in the Holy Place. They made the holy clothes for Aaron as the Lord had commanded Moses.

²They made the holy vest of gold, and blue, purple, and red thread, and fine linen. ³They hammered the gold into sheets and then cut it into long, thin strips. They worked the gold into the blue, purple, and red thread, and fine linen. This was done by skilled craftsmen. ⁴They made the shoulder straps for the holy vest, which were attached to the top corners of the vest and tied together over each shoulder. ⁵The skillfully woven belt was made in the same way; it was joined to the holy vest as one piece. It was made of gold, and blue, purple, and red thread, and fine linen, the way the Lord commanded Moses.

⁶They put gold around the onyx stones and then wrote the names of the sons of Israel on these gems, as a person carves words and designs on a seal. ⁷Then they attached the gems on the shoulder straps of the holy vest, as reminders of the twelve sons of Israel. This was done just as the Lord had commanded Moses.

⁸The skilled craftsmen made the chest covering like the holy vest; it was made of gold, and blue, purple, and red thread, and fine linen. ⁹The chest covering was square—nine inches long and nine inches wide—and it was folded double to make a pocket. ¹⁰Then they put four rows of beautiful jewels on it: In the first row there was a ruby, a topaz, and a yellow quartz; ¹¹in the second there was a turquoise, a sapphire, and an emerald; ¹²in the third there was a jacinth, an agate, and an amethyst; ¹³in the fourth there was a chrysolite, an onyx, and a jasper. Gold was put around these jewels to attach them to the chest covering, ¹⁴and the names of the sons of Israel were carved on these twelve jewels as a person carves a seal. Each jewel had the name of one of the twelve tribes of Israel.

¹⁵They made chains of pure gold, twisted together like a rope, for the chest covering. ¹⁶The workers made two gold pieces and two gold rings. They put the two gold rings on the two upper corners of the chest covering. ¹⁷Then they put two gold chains in the two rings at the ends of the chest covering, ¹⁸and they fastened the other two ends of the chains to the two gold pieces. They attached these gold pieces to the two shoulder straps in the front of the holy vest. ¹⁹They made two gold rings and put them at the lower corners of the chest covering on the inside edge next to the holy vest. ²⁰They made two more gold rings on the bottom of the shoulder straps in front of the holy vest, near the seam, just above the woven belt of the holy vest. ²¹They used a blue ribbon and tied the rings of the chest covering to the rings of the holy vest, connecting it to the woven belt. In this way the chest covering would not swing out from the holy vest. They did all these things the way the Lord commanded.

²²Then they made the outer robe to be worn under the holy vest. It was woven only of blue cloth. ²³They made a hole in the center of the outer robe, with a woven collar sewn around it so it would not tear. ²⁴Then they made balls like pomegranates of blue, purple, and red thread, and fine linen and hung them around the bottom of the outer robe. ²⁵They also made bells of pure gold and hung these around the bottom of the outer robe between the balls. ²⁶So around the bottom of the outer robe there was a bell and a pomegranate ball, a bell and a pomegranate ball. The priest wore this outer robe when he served as priest, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.

²⁷They wove inner robes of fine linen for Aaron and his sons, ²⁸and they made turbans, headbands, and underclothes of fine linen. ²⁹Then they made the cloth belt of fine linen, and blue, purple, and red thread, and designs were sewn onto it, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.

³⁰They made a strip of pure gold, which is the holy crown, and carved these words in the gold, as one might carve on a seal: “Holy to the Lord.” ³¹Then they tied this flat piece to the turban with a blue ribbon, as the Lord had commanded Moses.

³²So all the work on the Meeting Tent was finished. The Israelites did everything just as the Lord had commanded Moses. ³³Then they brought the Holy Tent to Moses: the Tent and all its furniture, hooks, frames, crossbars, posts, and bases; ³⁴the covering made of male sheepskins colored red, the covering made of fine leather, and the curtain that covered the entrance to the Most Holy Place; ³⁵the Ark of the Agreement, its poles and lid; ³⁶the table, all its containers, and the bread that showed they were in God’s presence; ³⁷the pure gold lampstand with its lamps in a row, all its tools, and the olive oil for the light; ³⁸the gold altar, the special olive oil used for appointing priests, the sweet-smelling incense, and the curtain that covered the entrance to the Tent; ³⁹the bronze altar and its screen, its poles and all its tools, the bowl and its stand; ⁴⁰the curtains for the courtyard with their posts and bases, the curtain that covered the entry to the courtyard, the cords, pegs, and all the things in the Meeting Tent. ⁴¹They brought the clothes for the priests to wear when they served in the Holy Tent—the holy clothes for Aaron the priest and the clothes for his sons, which they wore when they served as…