The Command to Leave Sinai

33 The Lord said to Moses, “Depart; go up from here, you ^oand the people whom you have brought up out of the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, ‘To ^pyour offspring I will give it.’ 2 I will send an ^qangel before you, ^rand I will drive out the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 3 ^sGo up to a land flowing with milk and honey; ^tbut I will not go up among you, ^ulest I consume you on the way, for you are a ^vstiff-necked people.”

4 When the people heard this disastrous word, they ^wmourned, and ^xno one put on his ornaments. 5 For the Lord had said to Moses, “Say to the people of Israel, ‘You are a ^vstiff-necked people; if for a single moment I should go up among you, I would ^yconsume you. So now ^xtake off your ornaments, that I may know what to do with you.’” 6 Therefore the people of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments, from Mount Horeb onward.

The Tent of Meeting

7 Now Moses used to take the tent and pitch it outside the camp, far off from the camp, and ^zhe called it the tent of meeting. And everyone who ^asought the Lord would go out to the tent of meeting, which was outside the camp. 8 Whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people would rise up, and ^beach would stand at his tent door, and watch Moses until he had gone into the tent. 9 When Moses entered the tent, the ^cpillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent, and the Lord¹ would speak with Moses. 10 And when all the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the tent, all the people would rise up and worship, each at his tent door. 11 Thus ^dthe Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. When Moses turned again into the camp, his ^eassistant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent.

Moses’ Intercession

12 Moses said to the Lord, “See, ^fyou say to me, ‘Bring up this people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, ^g‘I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my sight.’ 13 Now therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please ^hshow me now your ways, that I may know you in order to find favor in your sight. Consider too that this nation is ⁱyour people.” 14 And he said, ^j“My presence will go with you, and ^kI will give you rest.” 15 And he said to him, ^l“If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here. 16 For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? ^mIs it not in your going with us, ⁿso that we are distinct, I and your people, from every other people on the face of the earth?”

17 And the Lord said to Moses, “This very thing that you have spoken I will do, ^ofor you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name.” 18 Moses said, “Please ^pshow me your glory.” 19 And he said, ^q“I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The Lord.’ And ^rI will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. 20 But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for ^sman shall not see me and live.” 21 And the Lord said, “Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock, 22 and while my glory passes by I will put you in a ^tcleft of the rock, and I will ^ucover you with my hand until I have passed by. 23 Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall ^vnot be seen.”

Moses Makes New Tablets

34 The Lord said to Moses, ^w“Cut for yourself two tablets of stone like the first, ^xand I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, ^ywhich you broke. 2 Be ready by the morning, and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself there to me ^zon the top of the mountain. 3 No ^aone shall come up with you, and let no one be seen throughout all the mountain. Let no flocks or herds graze opposite that mountain.” 4 So Moses cut two tablets of stone like the first. And he rose early in the morning and went up on Mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him, and took in his hand two tablets of stone. 5 The Lord ^bdescended in the cloud and stood with him there, and ^cproclaimed the name of the Lord. 6 The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, ^d“The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and ^egracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast ^flove and faithfulness, 7 ^gkeeping steadfast love for thousands,^{1 h}forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but ⁱwho will by no means clear the guilty, ^jvisiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.” 8 And Moses quickly ^kbowed his head toward the earth and worshiped. 9 And he said, “If now I have found favor in your sight, O Lord, please ^llet the Lord go in the midst of us, for ^mit is a stiff-necked people, and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for ⁿyour inheritance.”

The Covenant Renewed

10 And he said, “Behold, ^oI am making a covenant. Before all your people ^pI will do marvels, such as have not been created in all the earth or in any nation. And all the people among whom you are shall see the work of the Lord, for it is an ^qawesome thing that I will do with you.

11 “Observe what I command you this day. Behold, ^rI will drive out before you the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 12 ^sTake care, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land to which you go, lest it become a ^tsnare in your midst. 13 You shall ^utear down their altars and ^vbreak their pillars and cut down their ^wAsherim 14 (for ^xyou shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God), 15 ^slest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and when they ^ywhore after their gods and sacrifice to their gods and ^zyou are invited, you eat of his sacrifice, 16 and you take of ^atheir daughters for your sons, and their daughters ^ywhore after their gods and make your sons whore after their gods.

17 ^b“You shall not make for yourself any gods of cast metal.

18 ^c“You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in ^dthe month Abib, for in the month Abib you came out from Egypt. 19 ^eAll that open the womb are mine, all your male² livestock, the firstborn of cow and sheep. 20 The ^ffirstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb, or if you will not redeem it you shall break its neck. All the firstborn of your sons you shall redeem. And ^gnone shall appear before me empty-handed.

21 ^h“Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest. In plowing time and in harvest you shall rest. 22 ⁱYou shall observe the Feast of Weeks, the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering at the year’s end. 23 ^jThree times in the year shall all your males appear before the Lord God, the God of Israel. 24 For I will ^kcast out nations before you and ^lenlarge your borders; ^mno one shall covet your land, when you go up to appear before the Lord your God three times in the year.

25 ⁿ“You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with anything leavened, ^oor let the sacrifice of the Feast of the Passover remain until the morning. 26 ^pThe best of the firstfruits of your ground you shall bring to the house of the Lord your God. ^qYou shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.”

27 And the Lord said to Moses, “Write these words, for in accordance with these words ^rI have made a covenant with you and with Israel.” 28 ^sSo he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights. He neither ate bread nor drank water. And he ^twrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments.³

The Shining Face of Moses

29 When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, with ^uthe two tablets of the testimony in his hand as he came down from the mountain, Moses did not know that the skin of his face ^vshone because he had been talking with God.⁴ 30 Aaron and all the people of Israel saw Moses, and behold, the skin of his face ^wshone, and they were afraid to come near him. 31 But Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the leaders of the congregation returned to him, and Moses talked with them. 32 Afterward all the people of Israel came near, and he ^xcommanded them all that the Lord had spoken with him in Mount Sinai. 33 And when Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a ^yveil over his face.

34 Whenever Moses ^zwent in before the Lord to speak with him, he would remove the veil, until he came out. And when he came out and told the people of Israel what he was commanded, 35 the people of Israel would see the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses’ face was ^ashining. And Moses would put the veil over his face again, until he went in to speak with him.

Sabbath Regulations

35 Moses assembled all the congregation of the people of Israel and said to them, ^b“These are the things that the Lord has commanded you to do. 2 ^cSix days work shall be done, but on the seventh day you shall have a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on it shall be put to death. 3 ^dYou shall kindle no fire in all your dwelling places on the Sabbath day.”

Contributions for the Tabernacle

4 Moses said to all the congregation of the people of Israel, “This is the thing that the Lord has commanded. 5 ^eTake from among you a contribution to the Lord. ^fWhoever is of a generous heart, let him bring the Lord’s contribution: gold, silver, and bronze; 6 blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen; goats’ hair, 7 tanned rams’ skins, and goatskins;¹ acacia wood, 8 oil for the light, spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense, 9 and onyx stones and stones for setting, for the ephod and for the breastpiece.

10 “Let ^gevery skillful craftsman among you come and make all that the Lord has commanded: 11 ^hthe tabernacle, its tent and its covering, its hooks and its frames, its bars, its pillars, and its bases; 12 ⁱthe ark with its poles, the mercy seat, and the ^jveil of the screen; 13 ^kthe table with its poles and all its utensils, and the ^lbread of the Presence; 14 ^mthe lampstand also for the light, with its utensils and its lamps, and the ⁿoil for the light; 15 ^oand the altar of incense, with its poles, ^pand the anointing oil and the ^qfragrant incense, and ^rthe screen for the door, at the door of the tabernacle; 16 ^sthe altar of burnt offering, with its grating of bronze, its poles, and all its utensils, the ^tbasin and its stand; 17 ^uthe hangings of the court, its pillars and its bases, and the screen for the gate of the court; 18 ^vthe pegs of the tabernacle and the pegs of the court, and their ^wcords; 19 the ^xfinely worked garments for ministering² in the Holy Place, the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments of his sons, for their service as priests.”

20 Then all the congregation of the people of Israel departed from the presence of Moses. 21 And they came, ^yeveryone whose heart stirred him, and everyone whose spirit moved him, ^zand brought the Lord’s contribution to be used for the tent of meeting, and for all its service, and for the holy garments. 22 So they came, both men and women. All who were of a willing heart brought brooches and earrings and signet rings and armlets, all sorts of gold objects, every man dedicating an offering of gold to the Lord. 23 And ^aevery one who possessed ^bblue or purple or scarlet yarns or fine linen or goats’ hair or tanned rams’ skins or goatskins brought them. 24 ^cEveryone who could make a contribution of silver or bronze brought it as the Lord’s contribution. And every one who possessed acacia wood of any use in the work brought it. 25 And every ^dskillful woman spun with her hands, and they all brought what they had spun in blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen. 26 All the women ^ywhose hearts stirred them to use their skill spun the goats’ hair. 27 And the ^eleaders brought onyx stones and stones to be set, for the ephod and for the breastpiece, 28 and spices and oil for the light, and for the anointing oil, and for the fragrant incense. 29 ^fAll the men and women, the people of Israel, whose heart moved them to bring anything for the work that the Lord had commanded by Moses to be done brought it as a freewill offering to the Lord.

Construction of the Tabernacle

30 ^gThen Moses said to the people of Israel, “See, the Lord has called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah; 31 and he has filled him with the Spirit of God, with ^hskill, with intelligence, with knowledge, and with all craftsmanship, 32 to devise artistic designs, to work in gold and silver and bronze, 33 in cutting stones for setting, and in carving wood, for work in every skilled craft. 34 And he has inspired him to teach, both him and Oholiab the son of Ahisamach of the tribe of Dan. 35 He has ^hfilled them with skill to do every sort of work done by an engraver or by a designer or by an embroiderer in blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen, or by a weaver—by any sort of workman or skilled designer.

36 “Bezalel and Oholiab and ⁱevery craftsman in whom the Lord has put skill and intelligence to know how to do any work in the construction of the sanctuary shall work in accordance with all that the Lord has commanded.”

2 And Moses called Bezalel and Oholiab and every craftsman in whose mind the Lord had put skill, everyone ^jwhose heart stirred him up to come to do the work. 3 And they received from Moses all the ^kcontribution that the people of Israel had brought for doing the work on the sanctuary. They still kept bringing him ^lfreewill offerings every morning, 4 so that all the craftsmen who were doing every sort of task on the sanctuary came, each from the task that he was doing, 5 and said to Moses, ^m“The people bring much more than enough for doing the work that the Lord has commanded us to do.” 6 So Moses gave command, and word was proclaimed throughout the camp, “Let no man or woman do anything more for the ⁿcontribution for the sanctuary.” So the people were restrained from bringing, 7 for the material they had was sufficient to do all the work, and more.

8 ^oAnd all the craftsmen among the workmen made the tabernacle with ten curtains. They were made of fine twined linen and blue and purple and scarlet yarns, with cherubim skillfully worked. 9 The length of each curtain was twenty-eight cubits,¹ and the breadth of each curtain four cubits. All the curtains were the same size.

10 He² coupled five curtains to one another, and the other five curtains he coupled to one another. 11 He made loops of blue on the edge of the outermost curtain of the first set. Likewise he made them on the edge of the outermost curtain of the second set. 12 He made fifty loops on the one curtain, and he made fifty loops on the edge of the curtain that was in the second set. The loops were opposite one another. 13 And he made fifty clasps of gold, and coupled the curtains one to the other with clasps. So the tabernacle was a single whole.

14 He also made curtains of goats’ hair for a tent over the tabernacle. He made eleven curtains. 15 The length of each curtain was thirty cubits, and the breadth of each curtain four cubits. The eleven curtains were the same size. 16 He coupled five curtains by themselves, and six curtains by themselves. 17 And he made fifty loops on the edge of the outermost curtain of the one set, and fifty loops on the edge of the other connecting curtain. 18 And he made fifty clasps of bronze to couple the tent together that it might be a single whole. 19 And he made for the tent a covering of tanned rams’ skins and goatskins.

20 ^pThen he made the upright frames for the tabernacle of ^qacacia wood. 21 Ten cubits was the length of a frame, and a cubit and a half the breadth of each frame. 22 Each frame had two tenons for fitting together. He did this for all the frames of the tabernacle. 23 The frames for the tabernacle he made thus: twenty frames for the south side. 24 And he made forty bases of silver under the twenty frames, two bases under one frame for its two tenons, and two bases under the next frame for its two tenons. 25 For the second side of the tabernacle, on the north side, he made twenty frames 26 and their forty bases of silver, two bases under one frame and two bases under the next frame. 27 For the rear of the tabernacle westward he made six frames. 28 He made two frames for corners of the tabernacle in the rear. 29 And they were separate beneath but joined at the top, at the first ring. He made two of them this way for the two corners. 30 There were eight frames with their bases of silver: sixteen bases, under every frame two bases.

31 He made bars of acacia wood, five for the frames of the one side of the tabernacle, 32 and five bars for the frames of the other side of the tabernacle, and five bars for the frames of the tabernacle at the rear westward. 33 And he made the middle bar to run from end to end halfway up the frames. 34 And he overlaid the frames with gold, and made their rings of gold for holders for the bars, and overlaid the bars with gold.

35 ^rHe made the veil of blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen; with cherubim skillfully worked into it he made it. 36 And for it he made four pillars of acacia and overlaid them with gold. Their hooks were of gold, and he cast for them four bases of silver. 37 He also made a screen for the entrance of the tent, of blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen, embroidered with needlework, 38 and its five pillars with their hooks. He overlaid their capitals, and their fillets were of gold, but their five bases were of bronze.

Making the Ark

37 ^sBezalel made the ark of acacia wood. Two cubits¹ and a half was its length, a cubit and a half its breadth, and a cubit and a half its height. 2 And he overlaid it with pure gold inside and outside, and made a molding of gold around it. 3 And he cast for it four rings of gold for its ^tfour feet, two rings on its one side and two rings on its other side. 4 And he made poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with gold 5 and put the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark to carry the ark. 6 And he made a mercy seat of pure gold. Two cubits and a half was its length, and a cubit and a half its breadth. 7 And he made two cherubim of gold. He made them of hammered work on the two ends of the mercy seat, 8 one cherub on the one end, and one cherub on the other end. Of one piece with the mercy seat he made the cherubim on its two ends. 9 The cherubim spread out their wings above, overshadowing the mercy seat with their wings, with their faces one to another; toward the mercy seat were the faces of the cherubim.