“You shall make an altar on which to burn incense; you shall make
it of acacia wood. A cubit shall be its length, and a cubit its
breadth. It shall be square, and two cubits shall be its height.
Its horns shall be of one piece with it. You shall overlay it with
pure gold, its top and around its sides and its horns. And you
shall make a molding of gold around it. And you shall make two
golden rings for it. Under its molding on two opposite sides of it
you shall make them, and they shall be holders for poles with which
to carry it. You shall make the poles of acacia wood and overlay
them with gold. And you shall put it in front of the veil that is
above the ark of the testimony, in front of the mercy seat that is
above the testimony, where I will meet with you. And Aaron shall
burn fragrant incense on it. Every morning when he dresses the
lamps he shall burn it, and when Aaron sets up the lamps at
twilight, he shall burn it, a regular incense offering before the
LORD throughout your generations. You shall not offer unauthorized
incense on it, or a burnt offering, or a grain offering, and you
shall not pour a drink offering on it. Aaron shall make atonement
on its horns once a year. With the blood of the sin offering of
atonement he shall make atonement for it once in the year
throughout your generations. It is most holy to the LORD.”
The LORD said to Moses, “When you take the census of the people
of Israel, then each shall give a ransom for his life to the LORD
when you number them, that there be no plague among them when you
number them. Each one who is numbered in the census shall give
this: half a shekel according to the shekel of the sanctuary (the
shekel is twenty gerahs), half a shekel as an offering to the LORD.
Everyone who is numbered in the census, from twenty years old and
upward, shall give the LORD's offering. The rich shall not give
more, and the poor shall not give less, than the half shekel, when
you give the LORD's offering to make atonement for your lives. You
shall take the atonement money from the people of Israel and shall
give it for the service of the tent of meeting, that it may bring
the people of Israel to remembrance before the LORD, so as to make
atonement for your lives.”
The LORD said to Moses, “You shall also make a basin of bronze,
with its stand of bronze, for washing. You shall put it between the
tent of meeting and the altar, and you shall put water in it, with
which Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet.
When they go into the tent of meeting, or when they come near the
altar to minister, to burn a food offering to the LORD, they shall
wash with water, so that they may not die. They shall wash their
hands and their feet, so that they may not die. It shall be a
statute forever to them, even to him and to his offspring
throughout their generations.”
The LORD said to Moses, “Take the finest spices: of liquid myrrh
500 shekels, and of sweet-smelling cinnamon half as much, that is,
250, and 250 of aromatic cane, and 500 of cassia, according to the
shekel of the sanctuary, and a hin of olive oil. And you shall make
of these a sacred anointing oil blended as by the perfumer; it
shall be a holy anointing oil. With it you shall anoint the tent of
meeting and the ark of the testimony, and the table and all its
utensils, and the lampstand and its utensils, and the altar of
incense, and the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils and
the basin and its stand. You shall consecrate them, that they may
be most holy. Whatever touches them will become holy. You shall
anoint Aaron and his sons, and consecrate them, that they may serve
me as priests. And you shall say to the people of Israel, ‘This
shall be my holy anointing oil throughout your generations. It
shall not be poured on the body of an ordinary person, and you
shall make no other like it in composition. It is holy, and it
shall be holy to you. Whoever compounds any like it or whoever puts
any of it on an outsider shall be cut off from his people.’”
The LORD said to Moses, “Take sweet spices, stacte, and onycha,
and galbanum, sweet spices with pure frankincense (of each shall
there be an equal part), and make an incense blended as by the
perfumer, seasoned with salt, pure and holy. You shall beat some of
it very small, and put part of it before the testimony in the tent
of meeting where I shall meet with you. It shall be most holy for
you. And the incense that you shall make according to its
composition, you shall not make for yourselves. It shall be for you
holy to the LORD. Whoever makes any like it to use as perfume shall
be cut off from his people.”
