³² Moses said, “This is what the Lord has commanded. Keep a full omer of it for your future generations, so that they may see the food I gave you to eat in the wilderness when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.” ³³ Moses then told Aaron, “Take a jar^[a] and put a full omer of manna in it. Then place it before the Lord to keep it for your future generations.” ³⁴ As the Lord had commanded Moses, Aaron placed it in front of the covenant^[b] to keep it.

Plan of the Ark. ¹⁰ You shall make an ark of acacia wood,^(A) two and a half cubits^[a] long, one and a half cubits wide, and one and a half cubits high.

¹⁶ In the ark you are to put the covenant which I will give you.

²¹ This cover you shall then place on top of the ark. In the ark itself you are to put the covenant which I will give you.

Chapter 30

Altar of Incense. ¹ For burning incense you shall make an altar of acacia wood,^{(A) 2} with a square surface, a cubit long, a cubit wide, and two cubits high, with horns that are of one piece with it. ³ Its grate on top, its walls on all four sides, and its horns you shall plate with pure gold. Put a gold molding around it. ⁴ Underneath the molding you shall put gold rings, two on one side and two on the opposite side, as holders for the poles used in carrying it. ⁵ Make the poles, too, of acacia wood and plate them with gold. ⁶ This altar you are to place in front of the veil that hangs before the ark of the covenant where I will meet you.^(B)

⁷ On it Aaron shall burn fragrant incense. Morning after morning, when he prepares the lamps, ⁸ and again in the evening twilight, when he lights the lamps, he shall burn incense. Throughout your generations this shall be the regular incense offering before the Lord. ⁹ On this altar you shall not offer up any profane incense, or any burnt offering or grain offering; nor shall you pour out a libation upon it. ¹⁰ Once a year Aaron shall purge its horns.^(C) Throughout your generations he is to purge it once a year with the blood of the atoning purification offering. This altar is most sacred to the Lord.

¹² he shall take a censer full of glowing embers from the altar before the Lord, as well as a double handful of finely ground fragrant incense, and bringing them inside the veil, ¹³ there before the Lord he shall put incense on the fire, so that a cloud of incense may shield the cover that is over the covenant, else he will die.

² Tell Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, to remove the censers from the embers; and scatter the fire some distance away, for they have become holy— ^3 [a]the censers of those who sinned at the cost of their lives. Have them hammered into plates to cover the altar, because in being presented before the Lord they have become holy. In this way they shall serve as a sign to the Israelites. ⁴ So taking the bronze censers which had been presented by those who were burned, Eleazar the priest had them hammered into a covering for the altar, ⁵ just as the Lord had directed him through Moses. This was to be a reminder to the Israelites that no unauthorized person, no one who was not a descendant of Aaron, should draw near to offer incense before the Lord, lest he meet the fate of Korah and his faction.

⁶ The next day the whole Israelite community grumbled against Moses and Aaron, saying, “You have killed the people of the Lord.” ⁷ But while the community was assembling against them, Moses and Aaron turned toward the tent of meeting, and the cloud now covered it and the glory of the Lord appeared.

Aaron’s Staff. ¹⁶ The Lord now said to Moses: ¹⁷ Speak to the Israelites and get from them a staff^[a] for each ancestral house, twelve staffs in all, from all the leaders of their ancestral houses. Write each man’s name on his staff; ¹⁸ and write Aaron’s name on Levi’s staff.^[b] For each head of an ancestral house shall have a staff. ¹⁹ Then deposit them in the tent of meeting, in front of the covenant, where I meet you. ²⁰ The staff of the man whom I choose shall sprout. Thus I will rid myself of the Israelites’ grumbling against you.

²¹ So Moses spoke to the Israelites, and all their leaders gave him staffs, twelve in all, one from each leader of their ancestral houses; and Aaron’s staff was among them. ²² Then Moses deposited the staffs before the Lord in the tent of the covenant. ²³ The next day, when Moses entered the tent of the covenant, Aaron’s staff, representing the house of Levi, had sprouted. It had put forth sprouts, produced blossoms, and borne ripe almonds! ²⁴ So Moses brought out all the staffs from the Lord’s presence to all the Israelites, and each one identified his own staff and took it. ²⁵ Then the Lord said to Moses: Put back Aaron’s staff in front of the covenant, for safe keeping as a sign to the rebellious, so that their grumbling against me may cease and they might not die. ²⁶ Moses did this. Just as the Lord had commanded him, so he did.