36 Bezalel, Oholiab, and all the skilled[a] people are to work based on everything the Lord has commanded. The Lord has given them wisdom and understanding to know how to do all the work of constructing the sanctuary.”(A)

So Moses summoned Bezalel, Oholiab, and every skilled person in whose heart the Lord had placed wisdom, all whose hearts moved them,(B) to come to the work and do it. They took from Moses’s presence all the contributions that the Israelites had brought for the task of making the sanctuary. Meanwhile, the people continued to bring freewill offerings morning after morning.

Then all the artisans who were doing all the work for the sanctuary came one by one from the work they were doing and said to Moses, “The people are bringing more than is needed(C) for the construction of the work the Lord commanded to be done.”

After Moses gave an order, they sent a proclamation throughout the camp: “Let no man or woman make anything else as an offering for the sanctuary.” So the people stopped. The materials were sufficient for them to do all the work. There was more than enough.

Building the Tabernacle

All(D) the skilled artisans[b] among those doing the work made the tabernacle with ten curtains. Bezalel made them of finely spun linen, as well as blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, with a design of cherubim worked into them. Each curtain was forty-two feet[c] long and six feet[d] wide; all the curtains had the same measurements. 10 He joined five of the curtains to each other, and the other five curtains he joined to each other. 11 He made loops of blue yarn on the edge of the last curtain in the first set and did the same on the edge of the outermost curtain in the second set. 12 He made fifty loops on the one curtain and fifty loops on the edge of the curtain in the second set, so that the loops lined up with each other. 13 He also made fifty gold clasps and joined the curtains to each other, so that the tabernacle became a single unit.

14 He made curtains of goat hair for a tent over the tabernacle; he made eleven of them. 15 Each curtain was forty-five feet[e] long and six feet wide. All eleven curtains had the same measurements. 16 He joined five of the curtains together, and the other six together. 17 He made fifty loops on the edge of the outermost curtain in the first set and fifty loops on the edge of the corresponding curtain in the second set. 18 He made fifty bronze clasps to join the tent together as a single unit. 19 He also made a covering for the tent from ram skins dyed red and a covering of fine leather[f] on top of it.

20 He(E) made upright supports[g] of acacia wood for the tabernacle. 21 Each support was fifteen feet[h] long and twenty-seven inches[i] wide. 22 Each support had two tenons for joining one to another. He did the same for all the supports of the tabernacle. 23 He made supports for the tabernacle as follows: He made twenty for the south side, 24 and he made forty silver bases to put under the twenty supports, two bases under the first support for its two tenons, and two bases under each of the following supports for their two tenons. 25 For the second side of the tabernacle, the north side, he made twenty supports, 26 with their forty silver bases, two bases under the first support and two bases under each of the following ones. 27 And for the back of the tabernacle, on the west side, he made six supports. 28 He also made two additional supports for the two back corners of the tabernacle. 29 They were paired at the bottom and joined together[j] at the[k] top in a single ring. This is what he did with both of them for the two corners. 30 So there were eight supports with their sixteen silver bases, two bases under each one.

31 He made five crossbars of acacia wood for the supports on one side of the tabernacle, 32 five crossbars for the supports on the other side of the tabernacle, and five crossbars for those at the back of the tabernacle on the west. 33 He made the central crossbar run through the middle of the supports from one end to the other. 34 He overlaid them with gold and made their rings out of gold as holders for the crossbars. He also overlaid the crossbars with gold.

35 Then(F) he made the curtain with blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, and finely spun linen. He made it with a design of cherubim worked into it. 36 He made four pillars of acacia wood for it and overlaid them with gold; their hooks were of gold. And he cast four silver bases for the pillars.

37 He made a screen embroidered[l] with blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, and finely spun linen for the entrance to the tent, 38 together with its five pillars and their hooks. He overlaid the tops of the pillars and their bands with gold, but their five bases were bronze.

Footnotes

  1. 36:1 Lit wise of heart, also in v. 2
  2. 36:8 Lit the wise of heart
  3. 36:9 Lit 28 cubits
  4. 36:9 Lit four cubits, also in v. 15
  5. 36:15 Lit 30 cubits
  6. 36:19 Hb obscure
  7. 36:20 Or made frames
  8. 36:21 Lit 10 cubits
  9. 36:21 Lit a cubit and a half
  10. 36:29 Lit and together they are to be complete
  11. 36:29 Lit its
  12. 36:37 Or woven

36 So Bezalel, Oholiab and every skilled person(A) to whom the Lord has given skill and ability to know how to carry out all the work of constructing the sanctuary(B) are to do the work just as the Lord has commanded.”

Then Moses summoned Bezalel(C) and Oholiab(D) and every skilled person to whom the Lord had given ability and who was willing(E) to come and do the work. They received from Moses all the offerings(F) the Israelites had brought to carry out the work of constructing the sanctuary. And the people continued to bring freewill offerings morning after morning. So all the skilled workers who were doing all the work on the sanctuary left what they were doing and said to Moses, “The people are bringing more than enough(G) for doing the work the Lord commanded to be done.”

Then Moses gave an order and they sent this word throughout the camp: “No man or woman is to make anything else as an offering for the sanctuary.” And so the people were restrained from bringing more, because what they already had was more(H) than enough to do all the work.

The Tabernacle(I)

All those who were skilled among the workers made the tabernacle with ten curtains of finely twisted linen and blue, purple and scarlet yarn, with cherubim woven into them by expert hands. All the curtains were the same size—twenty-eight cubits long and four cubits wide.[a] 10 They joined five of the curtains together and did the same with the other five. 11 Then they made loops of blue material along the edge of the end curtain in one set, and the same was done with the end curtain in the other set. 12 They also made fifty loops on one curtain and fifty loops on the end curtain of the other set, with the loops opposite each other. 13 Then they made fifty gold clasps and used them to fasten the two sets of curtains together so that the tabernacle was a unit.(J)

14 They made curtains of goat hair for the tent over the tabernacle—eleven altogether. 15 All eleven curtains were the same size—thirty cubits long and four cubits wide.[b] 16 They joined five of the curtains into one set and the other six into another set. 17 Then they made fifty loops along the edge of the end curtain in one set and also along the edge of the end curtain in the other set. 18 They made fifty bronze clasps to fasten the tent together as a unit.(K) 19 Then they made for the tent a covering of ram skins dyed red, and over that a covering of the other durable leather.[c]

20 They made upright frames of acacia wood for the tabernacle. 21 Each frame was ten cubits long and a cubit and a half wide,[d] 22 with two projections set parallel to each other. They made all the frames of the tabernacle in this way. 23 They made twenty frames for the south side of the tabernacle 24 and made forty silver bases to go under them—two bases for each frame, one under each projection. 25 For the other side, the north side of the tabernacle, they made twenty frames 26 and forty silver bases—two under each frame. 27 They made six frames for the far end, that is, the west end of the tabernacle, 28 and two frames were made for the corners of the tabernacle at the far end. 29 At these two corners the frames were double from the bottom all the way to the top and fitted into a single ring; both were made alike. 30 So there were eight frames and sixteen silver bases—two under each frame.

31 They also made crossbars of acacia wood: five for the frames on one side of the tabernacle, 32 five for those on the other side, and five for the frames on the west, at the far end of the tabernacle. 33 They made the center crossbar so that it extended from end to end at the middle of the frames. 34 They overlaid the frames with gold and made gold rings to hold the crossbars. They also overlaid the crossbars with gold.

35 They made the curtain(L) of blue, purple and scarlet yarn and finely twisted linen, with cherubim woven into it by a skilled worker. 36 They made four posts of acacia wood for it and overlaid them with gold. They made gold hooks for them and cast their four silver bases. 37 For the entrance to the tent they made a curtain of blue, purple and scarlet yarn and finely twisted linen—the work of an embroiderer;(M) 38 and they made five posts with hooks for them. They overlaid the tops of the posts and their bands with gold and made their five bases of bronze.

Footnotes

  1. Exodus 36:9 That is, about 42 feet long and 6 feet wide or about 13 meters long and 1.8 meters wide
  2. Exodus 36:15 That is, about 45 feet long and 6 feet wide or about 14 meters long and 1.8 meters wide
  3. Exodus 36:19 Possibly the hides of large aquatic mammals (see 35:7)
  4. Exodus 36:21 That is, about 15 feet long and 2 1/4 feet wide or about 4.5 meters long and 68 centimeters wide