Exodus 27–28

The Altar of Burnt Offering

27“You shall make ^aan altar of acacia wood, five cubits long and five cubits wide—the altar shall be square—and its height shall be three cubits. ²You shall make its horns on its four corners; its horns shall be of one piece with it. And you shall overlay it with bronze. ³Also you shall make its pans to receive its ashes, and its shovels and its basins and its forks and its firepans; you shall make all its utensils of bronze. ⁴You shall make a grate for it, a network of bronze; and on the network you shall make four bronze rings at its four corners. ⁵You shall put it under the rim of the altar beneath, that the network may be midway up the altar. ⁶And you shall make poles for the altar, poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with bronze. ⁷The poles shall be put in the rings, and the poles shall be on the two sides of the altar to bear it. ⁸You shall make it hollow with boards; ^bas it was shown you on the mountain, so shall they make it.

The Court of the Tabernacle

^9c“You shall also make the court of the tabernacle. For the south side there shall be hangings for the court made of fine woven linen, one hundred cubits long for one side. ¹⁰And its twenty pillars and their twenty sockets shall be bronze. The hooks of the pillars and their bands shall be silver. ¹¹Likewise along the length of the north side there shall be hangings one hundred cubits long, with its twenty pillars and their twenty sockets of bronze, and the hooks of the pillars and their bands of silver.

¹²“And along the width of the court on the west side shall be hangings of fifty cubits, with their ten pillars and their ten sockets. ¹³The width of the court on the east side shall be fifty cubits. ¹⁴The hangings on one side of the gate shall be fifteen cubits, with their three pillars and their three sockets. ¹⁵And on the other side shall be hangings of fifteen cubits, with their three pillars and their three sockets.

¹⁶“For the gate of the court there shall be a screen twenty cubits long, woven of blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and fine woven linen, made by a weaver. It shall have four pillars and four sockets. ¹⁷All the pillars around the court shall have bands of silver; their ^dhooks shall be of silver and their sockets of bronze. ¹⁸The length of the court shall be one hundred cubits, the width fifty throughout, and the height five cubits, made of fine woven linen and its sockets of bronze. ¹⁹All the utensils of the tabernacle for all its service, all its pegs, and all the pegs of the court, shall be of bronze.

The Care of the Lampstand

²⁰“And ^eyou shall command the children of Israel that they bring you pure oil of pressed olives for the light, to cause the lamp to ¹burn continually. ²¹In the tabernacle of meeting, ^foutside the veil which is before the Testimony, ^gAaron and his sons shall tend it from evening until morning before the Lord. ^hIt shall be a statute forever to their generations on behalf of the children of Israel.

Garments for the Priesthood

28“Now take ^aAaron your brother, and his sons with him, from among the children of Israel, that he may minister to Me as ^bpriest, Aaron and Aaron’s sons: ^cNadab, Abihu, ^dEleazar, and Ithamar. ²And ^eyou shall make ¹holy garments for Aaron your brother, for glory and for beauty. ³So ^fyou shall speak to all who are gifted artisans, ^gwhom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, that they may make Aaron’s garments, to consecrate him, that he may minister to Me as priest. ⁴And these are the garments which they shall make: ^ha breastplate, ⁱan ²ephod, ^ja robe, ^ka skillfully woven tunic, a turban, and ^la sash. So they shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother and his sons, that he may minister to Me as priest.

The Ephod

⁵“They shall take the gold, blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and the fine linen, ^6mand they shall make the ephod of gold, blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and fine woven linen, artistically worked. ⁷It shall have two shoulder straps joined at its two edges, and so it shall be joined together. ⁸And the ³intricately woven band of the ephod, which is on it, shall be of the same workmanship, made of gold, blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and fine woven linen.

⁹“Then you shall take two onyx ⁿstones and engrave on them the names of the sons of Israel: ¹⁰six of their names on one stone and six names on the other stone, in order of their ^obirth. ¹¹With the work of an ^pengraver in stone, like the engravings of a signet, you shall engrave the two stones with the names of the sons of Israel. You shall set them in settings of gold. ¹²And you shall put the two stones on the shoulders of the ephod as memorial stones for the sons of Israel. So ^qAaron shall bear their names before the Lord on his two shoulders ^ras a memorial. ¹³You shall also make settings of gold, ¹⁴and you shall make two chains of pure gold like braided cords, and fasten the braided chains to the settings.

The Breastplate

^15s“You shall make the breastplate of judgment. Artistically woven according to the workmanship of the ephod you shall make it: of gold, blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and fine woven linen, you shall make it. ¹⁶It shall be doubled into a square: a span shall be its length, and a span shall be its width. ^17tAnd you shall put settings of stones in it, four rows of stones: The first row shall be a ⁴sardius, a topaz, and an emerald; this shall be the first row; ¹⁸the second row shall be a turquoise, a sapphire, and a diamond; ¹⁹the third row, a ⁵jacinth, an agate, and an amethyst; ²⁰and the fourth row, a ⁶beryl, an ⁷onyx, and a jasper. They shall be set in gold settings. ²¹And the stones shall have the names of the sons of Israel, twelve according to their names, like the engravings of a signet, each one with its own name; they shall be according to the twelve tribes.

²²“You shall make chains for the breastplate at the end, like braided cords of pure gold. ²³And you shall make two rings of gold for the breastplate, and put the two rings on the two ends of the breastplate. ²⁴Then you shall put the two braided chains of gold in the two rings which are on the ends of the breastplate; ²⁵and the other two ends of the two braided chains you shall fasten to the two settings, and put them on the shoulder straps of the ephod in the front.

²⁶“You shall make two rings of gold, and put them on the two ends of the breastplate, on the edge of it, which is on the inner side of the ephod. ²⁷And two other rings of gold you shall make, and put them on the two shoulder straps, underneath the ephod toward its front, right at the seam above the ⁸intricately woven band of the ephod. ²⁸They shall bind the breastplate by means of its rings to the rings of the ephod, using a blue cord, so that it is above the intricately woven band of the ephod, and so that the breastplate does not come loose from the ephod.

²⁹“So Aaron shall ^ubear the names of the sons of Israel on the breastplate of judgment over his heart, when he goes into the holy place, as a memorial before the Lord continually. ³⁰And ^vyou shall put in the breastplate of judgment the ⁹Urim and the Thummim, and they shall be over Aaron’s heart when he goes in before the Lord. So Aaron shall bear the judgment of the children of Israel over his heart before the Lord continually.

Other Priestly Garments

^31w“You shall make the robe of the ephod all of blue. ³²There shall be an opening for his head in the middle of it; it shall have a woven binding all around its opening, like the opening in a coat of mail, so that it does not tear. ³³And upon its hem you shall make pomegranates of blue, purple, and scarlet, all around its hem, and bells of gold between them all around: ³⁴a golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell and a pomegranate, upon the hem of the robe all around. ³⁵And it shall be upon Aaron when he ministers, and its sound will be heard when he goes into the holy place before the Lord and when he comes out, that he may not die.

^36x“You shall also make a plate of pure gold and engrave on it, like the engraving of a signet:

HOLINESS TO THE LORD

³⁷And you shall put it on a blue cord, that it may be on the turban; it shall be on the front of the turban. ³⁸So it shall be on Aaron’s forehead, that Aaron may ^ybear the iniquity of the holy things which the children of Israel hallow in all their ¹holy gifts; and it shall always be on his forehead, that they may be ^zaccepted before the Lord.

³⁹“You shall ^askillfully weave the tunic of fine linen thread, you shall make the turban of fine linen, and you shall make the sash of woven work.

^40b“For Aaron’s sons you shall make tunics, and you shall make sashes for them. And you shall make ²hats for them, for glory and ^cbeauty. ⁴¹So you shall put them on Aaron your brother and on his sons with him. You shall ^danoint them, ^econsecrate them, and ³sanctify them, that they may minister to Me as priests. ⁴²And you shall make ^ffor them linen trousers to cover their ⁴nakedness; they shall ⁵reach from the waist to the thighs. ⁴³They shall be on Aaron and on his sons when they come into the tabernacle of meeting, or when they come near ^gthe altar to minister in the holy place, that they ^hdo not incur ⁶iniquity and die. ⁱIt shall be a statute forever to him and his descendants after him.