Exodus 24–31

The Blood of the Covenant

²⁴Then he said to Moses, “Come up to the Lord, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and worship at a distance.^{* 2}Moses alone shall come near the Lord, but the others shall not come near, and the people shall not come up with him.”

³Moses went and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the ordinances, and all the people answered with one voice and said, “All the words that the Lord has spoken we will do.”^{* 4}And Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord. He rose early in the morning, built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and set up twelve pillars, corresponding to the twelve tribes of Israel.^{* 5}He sent young men of the Israelites, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed oxen as offerings of well-being to the Lord. ⁶Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and half of the blood he dashed against the altar.^{* 7}Then he took the book of the covenant and read it in the hearing of the people, and they said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.”^{* 8}Moses took the blood and dashed it on the people, and said, “Here is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.”^*

On the Mountain with God

⁹Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up,^{* 10}and they saw the God of Israel. Under his feet there was something like a pavement of sapphire stone, like the very heaven for clearness.^{* 11}God^v did not lay his hand on the chief men of the Israelites; they beheld God, and they ate and drank.

¹²The Lord said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain and wait there; I will give you the tablets of stone, with the law and the commandment, which I have written for their instruction.” ¹³So Moses set out with his assistant Joshua, and Moses went up onto the mountain of God. ¹⁴To the elders he had said, “Wait here for us, until we come back to you. Look, Aaron and Hur are with you; whoever has a dispute may go to them.”

¹⁵Then Moses went up on the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain.^{* 16}The glory of the Lord settled on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days; on the seventh day he called to Moses out of the cloud.^{* 17}Now the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the Israelites.^{* 18}Moses entered the cloud and went up on the mountain. Moses was on the mountain for forty days and forty nights.^*

Offerings for the Tabernacle

²⁵The Lord said to Moses, ²“Tell the Israelites to take for me an offering; from all whose hearts prompt them to give you shall receive the offering for me.^{* 3}This is the offering that you shall receive from them: gold, silver, and bronze, ⁴blue, purple, and crimson yarns and fine linen, goats’ hair, ⁵tanned rams’ skins, fine leather,^w acacia wood, ⁶oil for the lamps, spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense,^{* 7}onyx stones and gems to be set in the ephod and for the breastpiece.^{* 8}And they shall make me a sanctuary so that I may dwell among them.^{* 9}In accordance with all that I show you concerning the pattern of the tabernacle and of all its furniture, so you shall make it.^*

The Ark of the Covenant

¹⁰“They shall make an ark of acacia wood; it shall be two and a half cubits long, a cubit and a half wide, and a cubit and a half high.^{* 11}You shall overlay it with pure gold, inside and outside you shall overlay it, and you shall make a molding of gold upon it all around. ¹²You shall cast four rings of gold for it and put them on its four feet, two rings on one side of it and two rings on the other side. ¹³You shall make poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold. ¹⁴And you shall put the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark, for carrying the ark. ¹⁵The poles shall remain in the rings of the ark; they shall not be removed. ¹⁶You shall put the covenant that I am giving you into the ark.^*

¹⁷“Then you shall make a cover of pure gold; two cubits and a half shall be its length and a cubit and a half its width.^{* 18}You shall make two cherubim of gold; you shall make them of hammered work at the two ends of the cover. ¹⁹Make one cherub at one end and one cherub at the other; of one piece with the cover you shall make the cherubim at its two ends. ²⁰The cherubim shall spread out their wings above, overshadowing the cover with their wings. They shall face one to another; the faces of the cherubim shall be turned toward the cover.^{* 21}You shall put the cover on the top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the covenant that I am giving you.^{* 22}There I will meet with you, and from above the cover, from between the two cherubim that are on the ark of the covenant, I will tell you all that I am commanding you for the Israelites.^*

The Table for the Bread of the Presence

²³“You shall make a table of acacia wood, two cubits long, one cubit wide, and a cubit and a half high.^{* 24}You shall overlay it with pure gold and make a molding of gold around it. ²⁵You shall make around it a rim a handbreadth wide and a molding of gold around the rim. ²⁶You shall make for it four rings of gold and fasten the rings to the four corners at its four legs. ²⁷The rings that hold the poles used for carrying the table shall be close to the rim. ²⁸You shall make the poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold, and the table shall be carried with these. ²⁹You shall make its plates and dishes and its flagons and bowls with which to pour drink offerings; you shall make them of pure gold.^{* 30}And you shall set the bread of the Presence on the table before me continually.^*

The Lampstand

³¹“You shall make a lampstand of pure gold. The base and the shaft of the lampstand shall be made of hammered work; its cups, its calyxes, and its petals shall be of one piece with it;^{* 32}and there shall be six branches going out of its sides: three branches of the lampstand out of one side of it and three branches of the lampstand out of the other side of it;^{* 33}three cups shaped like almond blossoms, each with calyx and petals, on one branch, and three cups shaped like almond blossoms, each with calyx and petals, on the other branch—so for the six branches going out of the lampstand. ³⁴On the lampstand itself there shall be four cups shaped like almond blossoms, each with its calyxes and petals.^{* 35}There shall be a calyx of one piece with it under the first pair of branches, a calyx of one piece with it under the next pair of branches, and a calyx of one piece with it under the last pair of branches—so for the six branches that go out of the lampstand. ³⁶Their calyxes and their branches shall be of one piece with it, the whole of it one hammered piece of pure gold. ³⁷You shall make seven lamps for it, and the lamps shall be set up so as to give light on the space in front of it.^{* 38}Its snuffers and trays shall be of pure gold. ³⁹It and all these utensils shall be made from a talent of pure gold. ⁴⁰And see that you make them according to the pattern for them, which is being shown you on the mountain.^*

The Tabernacle

²⁶“The tabernacle itself you shall make with ten curtains of fine twisted linen and blue, purple, and crimson yarns; you shall make them with cherubim skillfully worked into them.^{* 2}The length of each curtain shall be twenty-eight cubits and the width of each curtain four cubits; all the curtains shall be of the same size. ³Five curtains shall be joined to one another, and the other five curtains shall be joined to one another.^{* 4}You shall make loops of blue on the edge of the outermost curtain in the first set, and likewise you shall make loops on the edge of the outermost curtain in the second set. ⁵You shall make fifty loops on the one curtain, and you shall make fifty loops on the edge of the curtain that is in the second set; the loops shall be opposite one another.^{* 6}You shall make fifty clasps of gold and join the curtains to one another with the clasps, so that the tabernacle may be one whole.

⁷“You shall also make curtains of goats’ hair for a tent over the tabernacle; you shall make eleven curtains.^{* 8}The length of each curtain shall be thirty cubits and the width of each curtain four cubits; the eleven curtains shall be of the same size. ⁹You shall join five curtains by themselves and six curtains by themselves, and the sixth curtain you shall double over at the front 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 that is outermost in the second set.

¹¹“You shall make fifty clasps of bronze and put the clasps into the loops and join the tent together, so that it may be one whole.^{* 12}The part that remains of the curtains of the tent, the half curtain that remains, shall hang over the back of the tabernacle. ¹³The cubit on one side and the cubit on the other side of what remains in the length of the curtains of the tent shall hang over the sides of the tabernacle, on this side and that side, to cover it. ¹⁴You shall make for the tent a covering of tanned rams’ skins and an outer covering of fine leather.^x*

The Framework

¹⁵“You shall make upright frames of acacia wood for the tabernacle.^{* 16}Ten cubits shall be the length of a frame and a cubit and a half the width of each frame. ¹⁷There shall be two pegs in each frame to fit the frames together; you shall make these for all the frames of the tabernacle. ¹⁸You shall make the frames for the tabernacle: twenty frames for the south side; ¹⁹and you shall make forty bases of silver under the twenty frames: two bases under the first frame for its two pegs and two bases under the next frame for its two pegs; ²⁰and for the second side of the tabernacle, on the north side twenty frames,^{* 21}and their forty bases of silver: two bases under the first frame and two bases under the next frame; ²²and for the rear of the tabernacle westward you shall make six…