Exodus 30–31

¹‘And thou hast made an altar for making perfume; of shittim wood thou dost make it; ²a cubit its length, and a cubit its breadth, (it is square), and two cubits its height; its horns are of the same.

³‘And thou hast overlaid it with pure gold, its top, and its sides round about, and its horns; and thou hast made to it a crown of gold round about; ⁴and two rings of gold thou dost make to it under its crown; on its two ribs thou dost make them, on its two sides, and they have become places for staves, to bear it with them.

⁵‘And thou hast made the staves of shittim wood, and hast overlaid them with gold; ⁶and thou hast put it before the vail, which is by the ark of the testimony, before the mercy-seat which is over the testimony, whither I am met with thee.

⁷‘And Aaron hath made perfume on it, perfume of spices, morning by morning; in his making the lamps right he doth perfume it, ⁸and in Aaron’s causing the lamps to go up between the evenings, he doth perfume it; a continual perfume before Jehovah to your generations.

⁹‘Ye do not cause strange perfume to go up upon it, and burnt-offering, and present, and libation ye do not pour out on it; ¹⁰and Aaron hath made atonement on its horns, once in a year, by the blood of the sin-offering of atonements; once in a year doth he make atonement for it, to your generations; it is most holy to Jehovah.’

¹¹And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses, saying, ¹²‘When thou takest up the sum of the sons of Israel for their numbers, then they have given each an atonement for his soul to Jehovah in their being numbered, and there is no plague among them in their being numbered.

¹³‘This they do give, every one passing over unto those numbered, half a shekel, by the shekel of the sanctuary (the shekel is twenty gerahs); half a shekel is the heave-offering to Jehovah; ¹⁴every one passing over unto those numbered, from a son of twenty years and upwards, doth give the heave-offering of Jehovah; ¹⁵the rich doth not multiply, and the poor doth not diminish from the half-shekel, to give the heave-offering of Jehovah, to make atonement for your souls.

¹⁶‘And thou hast taken the atonement-money from the sons of Israel, and hast given it for the service of the tent of meeting; and it hath been to the sons of Israel for a memorial before Jehovah, to make atonement for your souls.’

¹⁷And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses, saying, ¹⁸‘And thou hast made a laver of brass (and its base of brass), for washing; and thou hast put it between the tent of meeting and the altar, and hast put water there; ¹⁹and Aaron and his sons have washed at it their hands and their feet, ²⁰in their going in unto the tent of meeting they wash with water, and die not; or in their drawing nigh unto the altar to minister, to perfume a fire-offering to Jehovah, ²¹then they have washed their hands and their feet, and they die not, and it hath been to them a statute age-during, to him and to his seed to their generations.’

²²And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses, saying, ²³‘And thou, take to thyself principal spices, wild honey five hundred shekels; and spice-cinnamon, the half of that, two hundred and fifty; and spice-cane two hundred and fifty; ²⁴and cassia five hundred, by the shekel of the sanctuary, and olive oil a hin; ²⁵and thou hast made it a holy anointing oil, a compound mixture, work of a compounder; it is a holy anointing oil.

²⁶‘And thou hast anointed with it the tent of meeting, and the ark of the testimony, ²⁷and the table and all its vessels, and the candlestick and its vessels, and the altar of perfume, ²⁸and the altar of burnt-offering and all its vessels, and the laver and its base; ²⁹and thou hast sanctified them, and they have been most holy; all that is coming against them is holy; ³⁰and Aaron and his sons thou dost anoint, and hast sanctified them for being priests to Me.

³¹‘And unto the sons of Israel thou dost speak, saying, A holy anointing oil is this to Me, to your generations; ³²on flesh of man it is not poured, and with its proper proportion ye make none like it; it is holy; it is holy to you; ³³a man who compoundeth any like it, or who putteth of it on a stranger—hath even been cut off from his people.’ ³⁴And Jehovah saith unto Moses, ‘Take to thee spices, stacte, and onycha, and galbanum, spices and pure frankincense; they are part for part; ³⁵and thou hast made it a perfume, a compound, work of a compounder, salted, pure, holy; ³⁶and thou hast beaten some of it small, and hast put of it before the testimony, in the tent of meeting, whither I am met with thee; most holy it is to you.

³⁷‘As to the perfume which thou makest, with its proper proportion ye do not make to yourselves, holy it is to thee to Jehovah; ³⁸a man who maketh any like it—to be refreshed by it—hath even been cut off from his people.’

Chapter 31

¹And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses, saying, ²‘See, I have called by name Bezaleel, son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, ³and I fill him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all work, ⁴to devise devices to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, ⁵and in graving of stone for settings, and in graving of wood to work in all work.

⁶‘And I, lo, I have given with him Aholiab, son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, and in the heart of every wise-hearted one I have given wisdom, and they have made all that which I have commanded thee.

⁷‘The tent of meeting, and the ark of testimony, and the mercy-seat which is on it, and all the vessels of the tent, ⁸and the table and its vessels, and the pure candlestick and all its vessels, and the altar of the perfume, ⁹and the altar of the burnt-offering and all its vessels, and the laver and its base, ¹⁰and the coloured garments, and the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments of his sons, for acting as priests in; ¹¹and the anointing oil, and the perfume of the spices for the sanctuary; according to all that I have commanded thee—they do.’

¹²And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses, saying, ¹³‘And thou, speak unto the sons of Israel, saying, Only, My sabbaths ye do keep, for it is a sign between Me and you, to your generations, to know that I, Jehovah, am sanctifying you; ¹⁴and ye have kept the sabbath, for it is holy to you, he who is polluting it is certainly put to death—for any who doeth work in it—that person hath even been cut off from the midst of his people.

¹⁵‘Six days is work done, and in the seventh day is a sabbath of holy rest to Jehovah; any who doeth work in the sabbath-day is certainly put to death, ¹⁶and the sons of Israel have observed the sabbath; to keep the sabbath to their generations is a covenant age-during, ¹⁷between Me and the sons of Israel it is a sign—to the age; for six days Jehovah made the heavens and the earth, and in the seventh day He hath ceased, and is refreshed.’ ¹⁸And He giveth unto Moses, when He finisheth speaking with him in mount Sinai, two tables of the testimony, tables of stone, written by the finger of God.

Chapter 32