30:11 And you are to make an altar for burning incense;2 you are to make it out of3 acacia wood.4 30:2 Its length is to be a foot and a half5 and its width a foot and a half; it will be square. Its height is to be three feet,6 with its horns of one piece with it.7 30:3 You are to overlay it with pure gold—its top,8 its four walls,9 and its horns—and make a surrounding border of gold for it.10 30:4 And you are to make two gold rings for it under its border, on its two flanks; you are to make them on its two sides.11 The rings12 will be places13 for poles to carry it with. 30:5 You are to make the poles out of acacia wood and overlay them with gold.
30:6 And you are to put it in front of the veil that is before the ark of the testimony (before the place of propitiation that is over the testimony), where I will meet you.
30:7 And Aaron is to burn sweet incense14 on it morning by morning; when he attends15 to the lamps he is to burn incense.16 30:8 And when Aaron sets up the lamps between the evenings he is to burn incense on it; it is to be a regular incense offering17 before the Lord throughout your generations. 30:9 You must not offer strange incense on it, nor burnt offering, nor meal offering, and you must not pour out a drink offering on it. 30:10 And Aaron is to make atonement on its horns once in the year from the blood of the sin offering of atonements;18 once in the year19 he is to make atonement on it throughout your generations. It is most holy to the Lord.”20
The Ransom Money
30:1121 The Lord spoke to Moses:22 30:12 “When you take a census23 of the Israelites according to their number,24 then each man is to pay a ransom25 for his life to the Lord when you number them,26 so that there will be no plague among them when you number them. 30:13 Everyone who crosses over to those who are numbered27 is to pay this: a half shekel28 according to the shekel of the sanctuary29 (a shekel weighs twenty gerahs). The half shekel is to be an offering30 to the Lord. 30:14 Everyone who crosses over to those numbered, from twenty years old and up, is to pay an offering to the Lord. 30:15 The rich are not to increase it,31 and the poor are not to pay less than the half shekel when giving32 the offering of the Lord, to make atonement33 for your lives. 30:16 You are to receive the atonement money34 from the Israelites and give it for the service35 of the tent of meeting. It will be a memorial36 for the Israelites before the Lord, to make atonement37 for your lives.”
The Bronze Laver
30:1738 The Lord spoke to Moses:39 30:18 “You are also to make a bronze40 laver with41 a bronze stand for washing. And you are to put it between the tent of meeting and the altar; and you are to put water in it.42 30:19 And Aaron and his sons must wash their hands and their feet from it.43 30:20 When they enter44 the tent of meeting, they must wash with45 water so that they do not die.46 Also, when they draw near47 to minister by burning incense48 as an offering made by fire49 to the Lord, 30:21 they must wash50 their hands and their feet so that they do not die. And this51 will be a perpetual ordinance for them and for their descendants52 throughout their generations.”53
Oil and Incense
30:2254 The Lord spoke to Moses:55 30:23 “Take56 choice spices:57 twelve and a half pounds58 of free-flowing myrrh,59 half that—about six and a quarter pounds—of sweet-smelling cinnamon, six and a quarter pounds of sweet-smelling cane, 30:24 and twelve and a half pounds of cassia, all weighed60 according to the sanctuary shekel, and four quarts61 of olive oil. 30:25 You are to make this62 into63 a sacred anointing oil, a perfumed compound,64 the work of a perfumer. It will be sacred anointing oil.
30:26 With it you are to anoint the tent of meeting, the ark of the testimony, 30:27 the table and all its utensils, the lampstand and its utensils, the altar of incense, 30:28 the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils, and the laver and its base. 30:29 So you are to sanctify them,65 and they will be most holy;66 anything that touches them will be holy.67
30:30 You are to anoint Aaron and his sons and68 sanctify them, so that they may minister as my priests. 30:31 And you are to tell the Israelites: ‘This is to be my sacred anointing oil throughout your generations. 30:32 It must not be applied69 to people’s bodies, and you must not make any like it with the same composition. It is holy, and it must be holy to you. 30:33 Whoever makes perfume like it and whoever puts any of it on a stranger70 will be cut off71 from his people.’”
30:34 And the Lord said to Moses: “Take72 spices, gum resin,73 onycha,74 galbanum,75 and pure frankincense76 of equal amounts.77 30:35 And you are to make it into an incense,78 a perfume,79 the work of the perfumer. It is to be finely ground,80 and pure and sacred. 30:36 And you are to beat some of it very fine, and put some of it before the ark of the testimony in the tent of meeting where I will meet with you; it is to be most holy to you. 30:37 And the perfume you are to make, you must not make for yourselves using the same composition; it is to be for you holy to the Lord. 30:38 Whoever makes anything like it, to use as perfume,81 will be cut off from his people.”
Willing Artisans