Exodus 24–31

Israel Affirms the Covenant

24Now He said to Moses, “Come up to the Lord, you and Aaron, ^aNadab and Abihu, ^band seventy of the elders of Israel, and worship from afar. ²And Moses alone shall come near the Lord, but they shall not come near; nor shall the people go up with him.”

³So Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the ¹judgments. And all the people answered with one voice and said, ^c“All the words which the Lord has said we will do.” ⁴And Moses ^dwrote all the words of the Lord. And he rose early in the morning, and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and twelve ^epillars according to the twelve tribes of Israel. ⁵Then he sent young men of the children of Israel, who offered ^fburnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the Lord. ⁶And Moses ^gtook half the blood and put it in basins, and half the blood he sprinkled on the altar. ⁷Then he ^htook the Book of the Covenant and read in the hearing of the people. And they said, “All that the Lord has said we will do, and be obedient.” ⁸And Moses took the blood, sprinkled it on the people, and said, “This is ⁱthe blood of the covenant which the Lord has made with you according to all these words.”

On the Mountain with God

⁹Then Moses went up, also Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, ¹⁰and they ^jsaw the God of Israel. And there was under His feet as it were a paved work of ^ksapphire stone, and it was like the ^lvery ²heavens in its clarity. ¹¹But on the nobles of the children of Israel He ^mdid not ³lay His hand. So ⁿthey saw God, and they ^oate and drank.

¹²Then the Lord said to Moses, ^p“Come up to Me on the mountain and be there; and I will give you ^qtablets of stone, and the law and commandments which I have written, that you may teach them.”

¹³So Moses arose with ^rhis assistant Joshua, and Moses went up to the mountain of God. ¹⁴And he said to the elders, “Wait here for us until we come back to you. Indeed, Aaron and ^sHur are with you. If any man has a difficulty, let him go to them.” ¹⁵Then Moses went up into the mountain, and ^ta cloud covered the mountain.

¹⁶Now ^uthe glory of the Lord rested on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days. And on the seventh day He called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud. ¹⁷The sight of the glory of the Lord was like ^va consuming fire on the top of the mountain in the eyes of the children of Israel. ¹⁸So Moses went into the midst of the cloud and went up into the mountain. And ^wMoses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.

Offerings for the Sanctuary

25Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ²“Speak to the children of Israel, that they bring Me an ¹offering. ^aFrom everyone who gives it willingly with his heart you shall take My offering. ³And this is the offering which you shall take from them: gold, silver, and bronze; ⁴blue, purple, and scarlet thread, fine linen, and goats’ hair; ⁵ram skins dyed red, ²badger skins, and acacia wood; ^6boil for the light, and ^cspices for the anointing oil and for the sweet incense; ⁷onyx stones, and stones to be set in the ^dephod and in the breastplate. ⁸And let them make Me a ^esanctuary, ³ that ^f I may dwell among them. ⁹According to all that I show you, that is, the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furnishings, just so you shall make it.

The Ark of the Testimony

^10g“And they shall make an ark of acacia wood; two and a half cubits shall be its length, a cubit and a half its width, and a cubit and a half its height. ¹¹And you shall overlay it with pure gold, inside and out you shall overlay it, and shall make on it a molding of ^hgold all around. ¹²You shall cast four rings of gold for it, and put them in its four corners; two rings shall be on one side, and two rings on the other side. ¹³And you shall make poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold. ¹⁴You shall put the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark, that the ark may be carried by them. ¹⁵ⁱThe poles shall be in the rings of the ark; they shall not be taken from it. ¹⁶And you shall put into the ark ^jthe Testimony which I will give you.

^17k“You shall make a mercy seat of pure gold; two and a half cubits shall be its length and a cubit and a half its width. ¹⁸And you shall make two cherubim of gold; of hammered work you shall make them at the two ends of the mercy seat. ¹⁹Make one cherub at one end, and the other cherub at the other end; you shall make the cherubim at the two ends of it of one piece with the mercy seat. ²⁰And ^lthe cherubim shall stretch out their wings above, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and they shall face one another; the faces of the cherubim shall be toward the mercy seat. ^21mYou shall put the mercy seat on top of the ark, and ⁿin the ark you shall put the Testimony that I will give you. ²²And ^othere I will meet with you, and I will speak with you from above the mercy seat, from ^pbetween the two cherubim which are on the ark of the Testimony, about everything which I will give you in commandment to the children of Israel.

The Table for the Showbread

^23q“You shall also make a table of acacia wood; two cubits shall be its length, a cubit its width, and a cubit and a half its height. ²⁴And you shall overlay it with pure gold, and make a molding of gold all around. ²⁵You shall make for it a frame of a handbreadth all around, and you shall make a gold molding for the frame all around. ²⁶And you shall make for it four rings of gold, and put the rings on the four corners that are at its four legs. ²⁷The rings shall be close to the frame, as holders for the poles to bear the table. ²⁸And you shall make the poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold, that the table may be carried with them. ²⁹You shall make ^rits dishes, its pans, its pitchers, and its bowls for pouring. You shall make them of pure gold. ³⁰And you shall set the ^sshowbread on the table before Me always.

The Gold Lampstand

^31t“You shall also make a lampstand of pure gold; the lampstand shall be of hammered work. Its shaft, its branches, its bowls, its ornamental knobs, and flowers shall be of one piece. ³²And six branches shall come out of its sides: three branches of the lampstand out of one side, and three branches of the lampstand out of the other side. ^33uThree bowls shall be made like almond blossoms on one branch, with an ornamental knob and a flower, and three bowls made like almond blossoms on the other branch, with an ornamental knob and a flower—and so for the six branches that come out of the lampstand. ^34vOn the lampstand itself four bowls shall be made like almond blossoms, each with its ornamental knob and flower. ³⁵And there shall be a knob under the first two branches of the same, a knob under the second two branches of the same, and a knob under the third two branches of the same, according to the six branches that extend from the lampstand. ³⁶Their knobs and their branches shall be of one piece; all of it shall be one hammered piece of pure gold. ³⁷You shall make seven lamps for it, and ^wthey shall arrange its lamps so that they ^xgive light in front of it. ³⁸And its wick-trimmers and their trays shall be of pure gold. ³⁹It shall be made of a talent of pure gold, with all these utensils. ⁴⁰And ^ysee to it that you make them according to the pattern which was shown you on the mountain.

The Tabernacle

26“Moreover ^ayou shall make the tabernacle with ten curtains of fine woven linen, and blue, purple, and scarlet thread; with artistic designs of cherubim you shall weave them. ²The length of each curtain shall be twenty-eight cubits, and the width of each curtain four cubits. And every one of the curtains shall have ¹the same measurements. ³Five curtains shall be coupled to one another, and the other five curtains shall be coupled to one another. ⁴And you shall make loops of blue yarn on the edge of the curtain on the selvedge of one set, and likewise you shall do on the outer edge of the other curtain of the second set. ⁵Fifty loops you shall make in the one curtain, and fifty loops you shall make on the edge of the curtain that is on the end of the second set, that the loops may be clasped to one another. ⁶And you shall make fifty clasps of gold, and couple the curtains together with the clasps, so that it may be one tabernacle.

^7b“You shall also make curtains of goats’ hair, to be a tent over the tabernacle. You shall make eleven curtains. ⁸The length of each curtain shall be thirty cubits, and the width of each curtain four cubits; and the eleven curtains shall all have the same measurements. ⁹And you shall couple five curtains by themselves and six curtains by themselves, and you shall double over the sixth curtain at the forefront of the tent. ¹⁰You shall make fifty loops on the edge of the curtain that is outermost in one set, and fifty loops on the edge of the curtain of the second set. ¹¹And you shall make fifty bronze clasps, put the clasps into the loops, and couple the tent together, that it may be one. ¹²The remnant that remains of the curtains of the tent, the half curtain that remains, shall hang over the back of the tabernacle. ¹³And a cubit on one side and a cubit on the other side, of what remains of the length of the curtains of the tent, shall hang over the sides of the tabernacle, on this side and on that side, to cover it.

^14c“You shall also make a covering of ram skins dyed red for the tent, and a covering of badger skins above that.

¹⁵“And for the tabernacle you shall ^dmake the boards of acacia wood, standing upright. ¹⁶Ten cubits shall be the length of a board, and a cubit and a half shall be the width of each board. ¹⁷Two ²tenons shall be in each board for binding one to another. Thus you shall make for all the boards of the tabernacle. ¹⁸And you shall make the boards for the tabernacle, twenty boards for the south side. ¹⁹You shall make forty sockets of silver under the twenty boards: two sockets under each of the boards for its two…