Exodus 40

The Tabernacle Erected and Arranged

40Then the Lord ^aspoke to Moses, saying: ²“On the first day of the ^bfirst month you shall set up ^cthe tabernacle of the tent of meeting. ^3dYou shall put in it the ark of the Testimony, and ¹partition off the ark with the veil. ^4eYou shall bring in the table and ^farrange the things that are to be set in order on it; ^gand you shall bring in the lampstand and ²light its lamps. ^5hYou shall also set the altar of gold for the incense before the ark of the Testimony, and put up the screen for the door of the tabernacle. ⁶Then you shall set the ⁱaltar of the burnt offering before the door of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting. ⁷And ^jyou shall set the laver between the tabernacle of meeting and the altar, and put water in it. ⁸You shall set up the court all around, and hang up the screen at the court gate.

⁹“And you shall take the anointing oil, and ^kanoint the tabernacle and all that is in it; and you shall hallow it and all its utensils, and it shall be holy. ¹⁰You shall ^lanoint the altar of the burnt offering and all its utensils, and consecrate the altar. ^mThe altar shall be most holy. ¹¹And you shall anoint the laver and its base, and consecrate it.

¹²ⁿ“Then you shall bring Aaron and his sons to the door of the tabernacle of meeting and wash them with water. ¹³You shall put the holy ^ogarments on Aaron, ^pand anoint him and consecrate him, that he may minister to Me as priest. ¹⁴And you shall bring his sons and clothe them with tunics. ¹⁵You shall anoint them, as you anointed their father, that they may minister to Me as priests; for their anointing shall surely be ^qan everlasting priesthood throughout their generations.”

¹⁶Thus Moses did; according to all that the Lord had commanded him, so he did.

¹⁷And it came to pass in the first month of the second year, on the first day of the month, that the ^rtabernacle was ³raised up. ¹⁸So Moses raised up the tabernacle, fastened its sockets, set up its boards, put in its bars, and raised up its pillars. ¹⁹And he spread out the tent over the tabernacle and put the covering of the tent on top of it, as the Lord had commanded Moses. ²⁰He took ^sthe Testimony and put it into the ark, inserted the poles through the rings of the ark, and put the mercy seat on top of the ark. ²¹And he brought the ark into the tabernacle, ^thung up the veil of the covering, and partitioned off the ark of the Testimony, as the Lord had commanded Moses.

^22uHe put the table in the tabernacle of meeting, on the north side of the tabernacle, outside the veil; ^23vand he set the bread in order upon it before the Lord, as the Lord had commanded Moses. ^24wHe put the lampstand in the tabernacle of meeting, across from the table, on the south side of the tabernacle; ²⁵and ^xhe lit the lamps before the Lord, as the Lord had commanded Moses. ^26yHe put the gold altar in the tabernacle of meeting in front of the veil; ^27zand he burned sweet incense on it, as the Lord had commanded Moses. ^28aHe hung up the screen at the door of the tabernacle. ^29bAnd he put the altar of burnt offering before the door of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting, and ^coffered upon it the burnt offering and the grain offering, as the Lord had commanded Moses. ^30dHe set the laver between the tabernacle of meeting and the altar, and put water there for washing; ³¹and Moses, Aaron, and his sons would ^ewash their hands and their feet with water from it. ³²Whenever they went into the tabernacle of meeting, and when they came near the altar, they washed, ^fas the Lord had commanded Moses. ^33gAnd he raised up the court all around the tabernacle and the altar, and hung up the screen of the court gate. So Moses ^hfinished the work.

The Cloud and the Glory

³⁴ⁱThen the ^jcloud covered the tabernacle of meeting, and the ^kglory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. ³⁵And Moses ^lwas not able to enter the tabernacle of meeting, because the cloud rested above it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. ^36mWhenever the cloud was taken up from above the tabernacle, the children of Israel would ⁴go onward in all their journeys. ³⁷But ⁿif the cloud was not taken up, then they did not journey till the day that it was taken up. ³⁸For ^othe cloud of the Lord was above the tabernacle by day, and fire was over it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel, throughout all their journeys.