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The altar for burnt offerings

38 Bezalel used acacia wood to build the altar for burnt offerings.[a] It was square, 2.2 metres long and 2.2 metres wide. It was 1.3 metres high. He made four horns, one at each corner of the altar. The horns and the altar itself were one piece of work. He covered the whole altar with bronze. He made all the tools for the altar with bronze. He made pots to remove the ashes, and also spades and bowls. He made forks for the meat and dishes to carry the fire.

He used bronze to make a square net for the altar. He fixed it inside the altar, in the middle between the top and the ground. He used bronze to make four rings. He fixed them to the four corners of the net. The poles would go through these rings. He used acacia wood to make the poles. He covered them with bronze. He put the poles through the rings on each side of the altar, to carry it. He used boards to make the altar so that it was empty inside.

He used bronze to make a large bowl for water, and a base for it to stand on. He used the bronze from small mirrors to make these things. The mirrors had belonged to women who worked at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting.

The yard of the tabernacle

Bezalel made the yard around the tent. The south side of the yard was 45 metres long. It had curtains that were made from good linen. 10 He made 20 poles and 20 bronze bases to hold the poles. He used silver to make hooks and sticks to hold the curtains. 11 The north side of the yard was also 45 metres long. It also had 20 poles and their bronze bases, as well as their silver hooks and sticks.

12 The west end of the yard was 23 metres long. It had curtains with ten poles and their ten bronze bases. The poles had silver hooks and sticks. 13 The entrance of the yard was at its east end. That end was also 23 metres long. 14-15 There were 7 metres of curtain on each side of the entrance. Three poles with their bases held the curtains on each side. 16 The workers used good linen to make all the curtains around the yard.

17 All the poles had bronze bases to hold them. But the workers used silver to make the hooks that were on the poles, and the sticks. They covered the tops of the poles with silver too. All the poles around the yard had silver sticks to join them together.

18 They used blue, purple and red material, as well as good linen, to make the curtain for the entrance of the yard. A worker used special skills so that it looked beautiful. It was 9 metres wide and 2.2 metres high. All the curtains around the yard were 2.2 metres high. 19 Four poles in bronze bases held the curtain at the entrance. The poles had silver hooks and silver sticks. Silver also covered the tops of the poles. 20 The workers used bronze to make the pegs that fixed the tabernacle to the ground. They also made bronze pegs to fix all the curtains around the yard to the ground.

The materials for the tabernacle

21 This is a list of the materials that the workers used to make the tabernacle with the Covenant Box inside it. Moses commanded the Levites to write this list. Ithamar, the son of Aaron the priest, was the leader of this work.

22 Bezalel, the son of Uri and grandson of Hur, made all the things that the Lord had commanded Moses. Bezalel belonged to the tribe of Judah. 23 Ahisamach's son Oholiab helped him. He belonged to the tribe of Dan. He had a special skill to draw things that he wanted to make. He could make beautiful pictures on cloth, with blue, purple and red materials, as well as good linen.

24 The workers used 1,000 kilograms of gold to do all the work to make the tabernacle. That was its proper weight. The Israelites had lifted up this gold as an offering to the Lord.

25 The people had also brought 3,430 kilograms of silver as an offering for the work. 26 Each person who was 20 years old when Moses counted them had given the right amount, about ten grams. There were 603,550 men that Moses had counted.

27 The workers used 34 kilograms of silver to make each base to hold the poles. There were 100 bases to hold the tabernacle and the special curtain inside it. So they used 3,400 kilograms of silver to make the bases. 28 Then they used the 30 kilograms that still remained. With this, they made the hooks and the sticks for the poles, and they covered the tops of the poles.

29 The people had also lifted up 2,425 kilograms of bronze as an offering to the Lord. 30 The workers used this bronze to make the bases for the entrance to the tabernacle. They also used it to make the bronze altar, with its net and all its tools. 31 They used this bronze to make the bases for the curtains around the yard and for the entrance to the yard. They used it to make the pegs to fix the tabernacle and the curtain around the yard to the ground.

Footnotes

  1. 38:1 Bezalel was the leader of the work but he did not do everything himself. He could teach other people to do it. See Exodus 35:34.

The Altar of Burnt Offering(A)

38 They[a] built the altar of burnt offering of acacia wood, three cubits[b] high; it was square, five cubits long and five cubits wide.[c] They made a horn at each of the four corners, so that the horns and the altar were of one piece, and they overlaid the altar with bronze.(B) They made all its utensils(C) of bronze—its pots, shovels, sprinkling bowls, meat forks and firepans. They made a grating for the altar, a bronze network, to be under its ledge, halfway up the altar. They cast bronze rings to hold the poles for the four corners of the bronze grating. They made the poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with bronze. They inserted the poles into the rings so they would be on the sides of the altar for carrying it. They made it hollow, out of boards.

The Basin for Washing

They made the bronze basin(D) and its bronze stand from the mirrors of the women(E) who served at the entrance to the tent of meeting.

The Courtyard(F)

Next they made the courtyard. The south side was a hundred cubits[d] long and had curtains of finely twisted linen, 10 with twenty posts and twenty bronze bases, and with silver hooks and bands on the posts. 11 The north side was also a hundred cubits long and had twenty posts and twenty bronze bases, with silver hooks and bands on the posts.

12 The west end was fifty cubits[e] wide and had curtains, with ten posts and ten bases, with silver hooks and bands on the posts. 13 The east end, toward the sunrise, was also fifty cubits wide. 14 Curtains fifteen cubits[f] long were on one side of the entrance, with three posts and three bases, 15 and curtains fifteen cubits long were on the other side of the entrance to the courtyard, with three posts and three bases. 16 All the curtains around the courtyard were of finely twisted linen. 17 The bases for the posts were bronze. The hooks and bands on the posts were silver, and their tops were overlaid with silver; so all the posts of the courtyard had silver bands.

18 The curtain for the entrance to the courtyard was made of blue, purple and scarlet yarn and finely twisted linen—the work of an embroiderer. It was twenty cubits[g] long and, like the curtains of the courtyard, five cubits[h] high, 19 with four posts and four bronze bases. Their hooks and bands were silver, and their tops were overlaid with silver. 20 All the tent pegs(G) of the tabernacle and of the surrounding courtyard were bronze.

The Materials Used

21 These are the amounts of the materials used for the tabernacle, the tabernacle of the covenant law,(H) which were recorded at Moses’ command by the Levites under the direction of Ithamar(I) son of Aaron, the priest. 22 (Bezalel(J) son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, made everything the Lord commanded Moses; 23 with him was Oholiab(K) son of Ahisamak, of the tribe of Dan—an engraver and designer, and an embroiderer in blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen.) 24 The total amount of the gold from the wave offering used for all the work on the sanctuary(L) was 29 talents and 730 shekels,[i] according to the sanctuary shekel.(M)

25 The silver obtained from those of the community who were counted in the census(N) was 100 talents[j] and 1,775 shekels,[k] according to the sanctuary shekel— 26 one beka per person,(O) that is, half a shekel,[l] according to the sanctuary shekel,(P) from everyone who had crossed over to those counted, twenty years old or more,(Q) a total of 603,550 men.(R) 27 The 100 talents of silver were used to cast the bases(S) for the sanctuary and for the curtain—100 bases from the 100 talents, one talent for each base. 28 They used the 1,775 shekels to make the hooks for the posts, to overlay the tops of the posts, and to make their bands.

29 The bronze from the wave offering was 70 talents and 2,400 shekels.[m] 30 They used it to make the bases for the entrance to the tent of meeting, the bronze altar with its bronze grating and all its utensils, 31 the bases for the surrounding courtyard and those for its entrance and all the tent pegs for the tabernacle and those for the surrounding courtyard.

Footnotes

  1. Exodus 38:1 Or He; also in verses 2-9
  2. Exodus 38:1 That is, about 4 1/2 feet or about 1.4 meters
  3. Exodus 38:1 That is, about 7 1/2 feet or about 2.3 meters long and wide
  4. Exodus 38:9 That is, about 150 feet or about 45 meters
  5. Exodus 38:12 That is, about 75 feet or about 23 meters
  6. Exodus 38:14 That is, about 22 feet or about 6.8 meters
  7. Exodus 38:18 That is, about 30 feet or about 9 meters
  8. Exodus 38:18 That is, about 7 1/2 feet or about 2.3 meters
  9. Exodus 38:24 The weight of the gold was a little over a ton or about 1 metric ton.
  10. Exodus 38:25 That is, about 3 3/4 tons or about 3.4 metric tons; also in verse 27
  11. Exodus 38:25 That is, about 44 pounds or about 20 kilograms; also in verse 28
  12. Exodus 38:26 That is, about 1/5 ounce or about 5.7 grams
  13. Exodus 38:29 The weight of the bronze was about 2 1/2 tons or about 2.4 metric tons.