Offerings for the Sacred Tent

¹The Lord said to Moses,

²“Tell the Israelites to make an offering to me. Receive whatever offerings anyone wishes to give.

³These offerings are to be: gold, silver, and bronze;

⁴fine linen; blue, purple, and red wool; cloth made of goats' hair;

⁵rams' skin dyed red; fine leather; acacia wood;

⁶oil for the lamps; spices for the anointing oil and for the sweet-smelling incense;

⁷carnelians and other jewels to be set in the ephod of the High Priest and in his breastpiece.

⁸The people must make a sacred Tent for me, so that I may live among them.

⁹Make it and all its furnishings according to the plan that I will show you.

The Covenant Box

¹⁰“Make a Box out of acacia wood, 45 inches long, 27 inches wide, and 27 inches high.

¹¹Cover it with pure gold inside and out and put a gold border all around it.

¹²Make four carrying rings of gold for it and attach them to its four legs, with two rings on each side.

¹³Make carrying poles of acacia wood and cover them with gold

¹⁴and put them through the rings on each side of the Box.

¹⁵The poles are to be left in the rings and must not be taken out.

¹⁶Then put in the Box the two stone tablets that I will give you, on which the commandments are written.

¹⁷“Make a lid of pure gold, 45 inches long and 27 inches wide.

¹⁸Make two winged creatures of hammered gold,

¹⁹one for each end of the lid. Make them so that they form one piece with the lid.

²⁰The winged creatures are to face each other across the lid, and their outspread wings are to cover it.

²¹Put the two stone tablets inside the Box and put the lid on top of it.

²²I will meet you there, and from above the lid between the two winged creatures I will give you all my laws for the people of Israel.

The Table for the Bread Offered to God

²³“Make a table out of acacia wood, 36 inches long, 18 inches wide, and 27 inches high.

²⁴Cover it with pure gold and put a gold border around it.

²⁵Make a rim 3 inches wide around it and a gold border around the rim.

²⁶Make four carrying rings of gold for it and put them at the four corners, where the legs are.

²⁷The rings to hold the poles for carrying the table are to be placed near the rim.

²⁸Make the poles of acacia wood and cover them with gold.

²⁹Make plates, cups, jars, and bowls to be used for the wine offerings. All of these are to be made of pure gold.

³⁰The table is to be placed in front of the Covenant Box, and on the table there is always to be the sacred bread offered to me.

The Lampstand

³¹“Make a lampstand of pure gold. Make its base and its shaft of hammered gold; its decorative flowers, including buds and petals, are to form one piece with it.

³²Six branches shall extend from its sides, three from each side.

³³Each of the six branches is to have three decorative flowers shaped like almond blossoms with buds and petals.

³⁴The shaft of the lampstand is to have four decorative flowers shaped like almond blossoms with buds and petals.

³⁵There is to be one bud below each of the three pairs of branches.

³⁶The buds, the branches, and the lampstand are to be a single piece of pure hammered gold.

³⁷Make seven lamps for the lampstand and set them up so that they shine toward the front.

³⁸Make its tongs and trays of pure gold.

³⁹Use seventy-five pounds of pure gold to make the lampstand and all this equipment.

⁴⁰Take care to make them according to the plan that I showed you on the mountain.

The Tent of the Lord's Presence

¹“Make the interior of the sacred Tent, the Tent of my presence, out of ten pieces of fine linen woven with blue, purple, and red wool. Embroider them with figures of winged creatures.

²Make each piece the same size, 14 yards long and 2 yards wide.

³Sew five of them together in one set, and do the same with the other five.

⁴Make loops of blue cloth on the edge of the outside piece in each set.

⁵Put fifty loops on the first piece of the first set and fifty loops matching them on the last piece of the second set.

⁶Make fifty gold hooks with which to join the two sets into one piece.

⁷“Make a cover for the Tent out of eleven pieces of cloth made of goats' hair.

⁸Make them all the same size, 15 yards long and 2 yards wide.

⁹Sew five of them together in one set, and the other six in another set. Fold the sixth piece double over the front of the Tent.

¹⁰Put fifty loops on the edge of the last piece of one set, and fifty loops on the edge of the other set.

¹¹Make fifty bronze hooks and put them in the loops to join the two sets so as to form one cover.

¹²Hang the extra half piece over the back of the Tent.

¹³The extra half yard on each side of the length is to hang over the sides of the Tent to cover it.

¹⁴“Make two more coverings, one of rams' skin dyed red and the other of fine leather, to serve as the outer cover.

¹⁵“Make upright frames for the Tent out of acacia wood.

¹⁶Each frame is to be 15 feet long and 27 inches wide,

¹⁷with two matching projections, so that the frames can be joined together. All the frames are to have these projections.

¹⁸Make twenty frames for the south side

¹⁹and forty silver bases to go under them, two bases under each frame to hold its two projections.

²⁰Make twenty frames for the north side of the Tent

²¹and forty silver bases, two under each frame.

²²For the back of the Tent on the west, make six frames,

²³and two frames for the corners.

²⁴These corner frames are to be joined at the bottom and connected all the way to the top. The two frames that form the two corners are to be made in this way.

²⁵So there will be eight frames with their sixteen silver bases, two under each frame.

²⁶“Make fifteen crossbars of acacia wood, five for the frames on one side of the Tent,

²⁷five for the frames on the other side, and five for the frames on the west end, at the back.

²⁸The middle crossbar, set halfway up the frames, is to extend from one end of the Tent to the other.

²⁹Cover the frames with gold and fit them with gold rings to hold the crossbars, which are also to be covered with gold.

³⁰Set up the Tent according to the plan that I showed you on the mountain.

³¹“Make a curtain of fine linen woven with blue, purple, and red wool. Embroider it with figures of winged creatures.

³²Hang it on four posts of acacia wood covered with gold, fitted with hooks, and set in four silver bases.

³³Place the curtain under the row of hooks in the roof of the Tent, and put behind the curtain the Covenant Box containing the two stone tablets. The curtain will separate the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place.

³⁴Put the lid on the Covenant Box.

³⁵Outside the Most Holy Place put the table against the north side of the Tent and the lampstand against the south side.

³⁶“For the entrance of the Tent make a curtain of fine linen woven with blue, purple, and red wool and decorated with embroidery.

³⁷For this curtain make five posts of acacia wood covered with gold and fitted with gold hooks; make five bronze bases for these posts.

Laws of Holiness and Justice

¹The Lord told Moses

²to say to the community of Israel, “Be holy, because I, the Lord your God, am holy.

³Each of you must respect your mother and your father, and must keep the Sabbath, as I have commanded. I am the Lord your God.

⁴“Do not abandon me and worship idols; do not make gods of metal and worship them. I am the Lord your God.

⁵“When you kill an animal for a fellowship offering, keep the regulations that I have given you, and I will accept the offering.

⁶The meat must be eaten on the day the animal is killed or on the next day. Any meat left on the third day must be burned,

⁷because it is ritually unclean, and if anyone eats it, I will not accept the offering.

⁸Any who eat it will be guilty of treating as ordinary what is dedicated to me, and they will no longer be considered my people.

⁹“When you harvest your fields, do not cut the grain at the edges of the fields, and do not go back to cut the heads of grain that were left.

¹⁰Do not go back through your vineyard to gather the grapes that were missed or to pick up the grapes that have fallen; leave them for poor people and foreigners. I am the Lord your God.

¹¹“Do not steal or cheat or lie.

¹²Do not make a promise in my name if you do not intend to keep it; that brings disgrace on my name. I am the Lord your God.

¹³“Do not rob or take advantage of anyone. Do not hold back the wages of someone you have hired, not even for one night.

¹⁴Do not curse the deaf or put something in front of the blind so as to make them stumble over it. Obey me; I am the Lord your God.

¹⁵“Be honest and just when you make decisions in legal cases; do not show favoritism to the poor or fear the rich.

¹⁶Do not spread lies about anyone, and when someone is on trial for his life, speak out if your testimony can help him. I am the Lord.

¹⁷“Do not bear a grudge against others, but settle your differences with them, so that you will not commit a sin because of them.

¹⁸Do not take revenge on others or continue to hate them, but love your neighbors as you love yourself. I am the Lord.

¹⁹“Obey my commands. Do not crossbreed domestic animals. Do not plant two kinds of seed in the same field. Do not wear clothes made of two kinds of material.

²⁰“If a slave woman is the recognized concubine of a man and she has not been paid for and freed, then if another man has sexual relations with her, they will be punished, but not put to death, since she is a slave.

²¹The man shall bring a ram to the entrance of the Tent of my presence as his repayment offering,

²²and with it the priest shall perform the ritual of purification to remove the man's sin, and God will forgive him.

²³“When you come into the land of Canaan and plant any kind of fruit tree, consider the fruit ritually unclean for the first three years. During that time you must not eat it.

²⁴In the fourth year all the fruit shall be dedicated as an offering to show your gratitude to me, the Lord.

²⁵But in the fifth year you may eat the fruit. If you do all this, your trees will bear more fruit. I am the Lord your God.

²⁶“Do not eat any meat with blood still in it. Do not practice any kind of magic.

²⁷Do not cut the hair on the sides of your head or trim your beard

²⁸or tattoo yourselves or cut gashes in your body to mourn for the dead. I am the Lord.

²⁹“Do not disgrace your daughters by making them temple prostitutes; if you do, you will turn to other gods and the land will be full of immorality.

³⁰Keep the Sabbath, and honor the place where I am worshiped. I am the Lord.

³¹“Do not go for advice to people who consult the spirits of the dead. If you do, you will be ritually unclean. I am the Lord your God.

³²“Show respect for old people and honor them. Reverently obey me; I am the Lord.

³³“Do not mistreat foreigners who are living in your land.

³⁴Treat them as you would an Israelite, and love them as you love yourselves. Remember that you were once foreigners in the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.

³⁵“Do not cheat anyone by using false measures of length, weight, or quantity.

³⁶Use honest scales, honest weights, and honest measures. I am the Lord your God, and I brought you out of Egypt.

³⁷Obey all my laws and commands. I am the Lord.”

A Prayer for the Nation's Deliverance

¹O God, the heathen have invaded your land. They have desecrated your holy Temple and left Jerusalem in ruins.

²They left the bodies of your people for the vultures, the bodies of your servants for wild animals to eat.

³They shed your people's blood like water; blood flowed like water all through Jerusalem, and no one was left to bury the dead.

⁴The surrounding nations insult us; they laugh at us and mock us.

⁵Lord, will you be angry with us forever? Will your anger continue to burn like fire?

⁶Turn your anger on the nations that do not worship you, on the people who do not pray to you.

⁷For they have killed your people; they have ruined your country.

⁸Do not punish us for the sins of our ancestors. Have mercy on us now; we have lost all hope.

⁹Help us, O God, and save us; rescue us and forgive our sins for the sake of your own honor.

¹⁰Why should the nations ask us, “Where is your God?” Let us see you punish the nations for shedding the blood of your servants.

¹¹Listen to the groans of the prisoners, and by your great power free those who are condemned to die.

¹²Lord, pay the other nations back seven times for all the insults they have hurled at you.

¹³Then we, your people, the sheep of your flock, will thank you forever and praise you for all time to come.