Exodus 35–39

Rules for the Sabbath Day

35Moses gathered the whole community of Israel together. He said to them, “Here are the things the Lord has commanded you to do. ²You must do your work in six days. But the seventh day will be your holy day. It will be a Sabbath in the Lord’s honor. You must rest on it. Anyone who does any work on it must be put to death. ³Do not even light a fire in any of your homes on the Sabbath day.”

Supplies for the Holy Tent

⁴Moses spoke to the whole community of Israel. He said, “Here is what the Lord has commanded. ⁵Take an offering for the Lord from what you have. Those who want to can bring an offering to the Lord. Here is what they can bring.

“gold, silver and bronze

⁶blue, purple and bright red yarn and fine linen

goat hair

⁷ram skins that are dyed red

the hides of sea cows

acacia wood

⁸olive oil for the lights

spices for the anointing oil and for the sweet-smelling incense

⁹onyx stones and other jewels for the linen apron and the chest cloth

¹⁰“All of the skilled workers among you must come. They must make everything the Lord has commanded ¹¹for the holy tent and its covering. Here is what they must make.

“hooks

frames

crossbars

posts

bases

¹²the ark of the covenant

the poles and cover for the ark

the curtain that screens the ark

¹³the table for the holy bread

the poles and all of the articles for the table

the holy bread

¹⁴the lampstand for light and everything that is used with it

the lamps and the olive oil that gives light

¹⁵the altar for burning incense

the poles for the altar

the anointing oil

the sweet-smelling incense

the curtain for the entrance to the holy tent

¹⁶the altar for burnt offerings with its bronze grate

its poles and all of its tools

the large bronze bowl with its stand

¹⁷the curtains of the courtyard with their posts and bases

the curtain for the entrance to the courtyard

¹⁸the ropes and tent stakes for the holy tent and for the courtyard

¹⁹the sacred clothes for Aaron the priest

the clothes for his sons when they serve as priests”

²⁰Then the whole community of Israel left Moses. ²¹Everyone who wanted to give offerings to the Lord brought them to him. The offerings were for the work on the Tent of Meeting, for the sacred clothes, and for any other purpose there.

²²Every man and woman who wanted to give came. They brought gold jewelry of all kinds. They brought pins, earrings, rings and other jewelry. All of them gave their gold as a wave offering to the Lord.

²³People brought what they had. They brought blue, purple or bright red yarn or fine linen. They brought goat hair, ram skins that were dyed red, or the hides of sea cows. ²⁴Some brought silver or bronze as an offering to the Lord. Others brought acacia wood for any part of the work.

²⁵All of the skilled women spun yarn with their hands. They brought blue, purple or bright red yarn or fine linen. ²⁶All of the skilled women who wanted to spin the goat hair did so.

²⁷The leaders brought onyx stones and other jewels for the linen apron and the chest cloth. ²⁸They also brought spices and olive oil. They brought them for the light, for the anointing oil, and for the sweet-smelling incense.

²⁹All of the men and women of Israel who wanted to bring offerings to the Lord brought them to him. The offerings were for all of the work the Lord had commanded Moses to tell them to do.

Bezalel and Oholiab

³⁰Then Moses spoke to the people of Israel. He said, “The Lord has chosen Bezalel, the son of Uri. Uri is the son of Hur. Bezalel is from the tribe of Judah. ³¹The Lord has filled him with the Spirit of God. He has filled him with skill, ability and knowledge in all kinds of crafts. ³²He can make beautiful patterns in gold, silver and bronze. ³³He can cut and set stones. He can work with wood. In fact, he can work in all kinds of arts and crafts.

³⁴“And the Lord has given both him and Oholiab the ability to teach others. Oholiab, the son of Ahisamach, is from the tribe of Dan.

36³⁵“The Lord has filled them with skill to do all kinds of work. They carve things and make patterns. They sew skillfully with blue, purple and bright red yarn and on fine linen. They use thread to make beautiful cloth. They have the skill to work in all kinds of crafts. ¹Bezalel and Oholiab must do the work just as the Lord has commanded. So must every skilled worker to whom the Lord has given skill and ability. They must know how to do all of the work for every purpose connected with the sacred tent. And that includes setting it up.”

²Then Moses sent for Bezalel and Oholiab. He sent for every skilled worker to whom the Lord had given ability and who wanted to come and do the work.

³They received from Moses all of the offerings the people of Israel had brought. They had brought the offerings for all of the work for every purpose connected with the holy tent. That included setting it up. The people kept bringing the offerings they chose to give. They brought them morning after morning.

⁴So all of the skilled workers who were working on the holy tent stopped what they were doing. ⁵They said to Moses, “The people are bringing more than enough for doing the work the Lord commanded us to do.”

⁶Then Moses gave an order. A message was sent through the whole camp. It said, “No man or woman should make anything else and offer it for the holy tent.” And so the people were kept from bringing more offerings. ⁷There was already more than enough to do all of the work.

The Holy Tent

⁸All of the skilled workers made the holy tent. They made ten curtains out of finely twisted linen. They made them with blue, purple and bright red yarn. A skilled worker sewed cherubim into the pattern. ⁹All of the curtains were the same size. They were 42 feet long and six feet wide.

¹⁰The workers joined five of the curtains together. They did the same thing with the other five. ¹¹Then they made loops out of blue strips of cloth along the edge of the end curtain in one set. They did the same thing with the end curtain in the other set. ¹²They also made 50 loops on the end curtain of the one set. They did the same thing on the end curtain of the other set. They put the loops across from each other. ¹³Then they made 50 gold hooks. They used them to join curtains together so that the holy tent was all one piece.

¹⁴The workers made a total of 11 curtains out of goat hair to put over the holy tent. ¹⁵All 11 curtains were the same size. They were 45 feet long and six feet wide.

¹⁶The workers joined five of the curtains together into one set. They did the same thing with the other six. ¹⁷Then they made 50 loops along the edge of the end curtain in the one set. They did the same thing with the other set. ¹⁸They made 50 bronze hooks. They used them to join the tent together all in one piece. ¹⁹They made a covering for the tent. They made it out of ram skins that were dyed red. They put a covering of the hides of sea cows over that.

²⁰The workers made frames out of acacia wood for the holy tent. ²¹Each frame was 15 feet long and two feet three inches wide. ²²The workers added two small wooden pins to each frame. The pins stuck out so that they were even with each other. The workers made all of the frames of the holy tent in the same way.

²³They made 20 frames for the south side of the holy tent. ²⁴And they made 40 silver bases to go under them. They made two bases for each frame. They put one under each pin that stuck out.

²⁵For the north side of the holy tent they made 20 frames ²⁶and 40 silver bases. They put two bases under each frame.

²⁷The workers made six frames for the west end of the holy tent. ²⁸They made two frames for the corners of the holy tent at the far end. ²⁹At those two corners the frames were double from top to bottom. They were fitted into a single ring. The workers made both of them the same. ³⁰So there were eight frames and 16 silver bases. There were two bases under each frame.

³¹The workers also made crossbars out of acacia wood. They made five for the frames on one side of the holy tent. ³²They made five for the frames on the other side. And they made five for the frames on the west, at the far end of the holy tent. ³³The center crossbar reached from end to end at the middle of the frames.

³⁴They covered the frames with gold. They made gold rings to hold the crossbars. They also covered the crossbars with gold.

³⁵They made the curtain out of blue, purple and bright red yarn and finely twisted linen. A skilled worker sewed cherubim into the pattern. ³⁶The workers made four posts out of acacia wood for the curtain. They covered the posts with gold. They made gold hooks and four silver bases for the posts.

³⁷For the entrance to the tent the workers made a curtain out of blue, purple and bright red yarn and finely twisted linen. A person who sewed skillfully made it. ³⁸The workers made five posts with hooks for the curtains. They covered the tops of the posts and their bands with gold. And they made five bronze bases for them.

The Ark of the Covenant

37Bezalel made the ark of the covenant out of acacia wood. It was three feet nine inches long and two feet three inches wide and high. ²He covered it inside and outside with pure gold. He put a strip of gold around it.

³He made four gold rings for it. He joined them to its four bottom corners. He put two rings on one side and two rings on the other.

⁴Then he made poles out of acacia wood. He covered them with gold. ⁵He put the poles through the rings on the sides of the ark to carry it.

⁶He made its cover out of pure gold. It was three feet nine inches long and two feet three inches wide. The cover is the place where sin is paid for.

⁷He made two cherubim out of hammered gold at the ends of the cover. ⁸He put one cherub on each end of it. ⁹He made the cherubim as part of the cover itself. The cherubim’s wings spread up over the cover. The cherubim faced each other and looked toward the cover.

The Table for the Holy Bread

¹⁰The workers made the table out of acacia wood. It was three feet long, one foot six inches wide and two feet…