Exodus 35-36

New Living Translation

Instructions for the Sabbath

35 Then Moses called together the whole community of Israel and told them, “These are the instructions the Lord has commanded you to follow. ² You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but the seventh day must be a Sabbath day of complete rest, a holy day dedicated to the Lord. Anyone who works on that day must be put to death. ³ You must not even light a fire in any of your homes on the Sabbath.”

Offerings for the Tabernacle

⁴ Then Moses said to the whole community of Israel, “This is what the Lord has commanded: ⁵ Take a sacred offering for the Lord. Let those with generous hearts present the following gifts to the Lord:

¹⁰ “Come, all of you who are gifted craftsmen. Construct everything that the Lord has commanded:

²⁰ So the whole community of Israel left Moses and returned to their tents. ²¹ All whose hearts were stirred and whose spirits were moved came and brought their sacred offerings to the Lord. They brought all the materials needed for the Tabernacle,^[a] for the performance of its rituals, and for the sacred garments. ²² Both men and women came, all whose hearts were willing. They brought to the Lord their offerings of gold—brooches, earrings, rings from their fingers, and necklaces. They presented gold objects of every kind as a special offering to the Lord. ²³ All those who owned the following items willingly brought them: blue, purple, and scarlet thread; fine linen and goat hair for cloth; and tanned ram skins and fine goatskin leather. ²⁴ And all who had silver and bronze objects gave them as a sacred offering to the Lord. And those who had acacia wood brought it for use in the project.

²⁵ All the women who were skilled in sewing and spinning prepared blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and fine linen cloth. ²⁶ All the women who were willing used their skills to spin the goat hair into yarn. ²⁷ The leaders brought onyx stones and the special gemstones to be set in the ephod and the priest’s chestpiece. ²⁸ They also brought spices and olive oil for the light, the anointing oil, and the fragrant incense. ²⁹ So the people of Israel—every man and woman who was eager to help in the work the Lord had given them through Moses—brought their gifts and gave them freely to the Lord.

³⁰ Then Moses told the people of Israel, “The Lord has specifically chosen Bezalel son of Uri, grandson of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. ³¹ The Lord has filled Bezalel with the Spirit of God, giving him great wisdom, ability, and expertise in all kinds of crafts. ³² He is a master craftsman, expert in working with gold, silver, and bronze. ³³ He is skilled in engraving and mounting gemstones and in carving wood. He is a master at every craft. ³⁴ And the Lord has given both him and Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, the ability to teach their skills to others. ³⁵ The Lord has given them special skills as engravers, designers, embroiderers in blue, purple, and scarlet thread on fine linen cloth, and weavers. They excel as craftsmen and as designers.

36 “The Lord has gifted Bezalel, Oholiab, and the other skilled craftsmen with wisdom and ability to perform any task involved in building the sanctuary. Let them construct and furnish the Tabernacle, just as the Lord has commanded.”

² So Moses summoned Bezalel and Oholiab and all the others who were specially gifted by the Lord and were eager to get to work. ³ Moses gave them the materials donated by the people of Israel as sacred offerings for the completion of the sanctuary. But the people continued to bring additional gifts each morning. ⁴ Finally the craftsmen who were working on the sanctuary left their work. ⁵ They went to Moses and reported, “The people have given more than enough materials to complete the job the Lord has commanded us to do!”

⁶ So Moses gave the command, and this message was sent throughout the camp: “Men and women, don’t prepare any more gifts for the sanctuary. We have enough!” So the people stopped bringing their sacred offerings. ⁷ Their contributions were more than enough to complete the whole project.

Building the Tabernacle

⁸ The skilled craftsmen made ten curtains of finely woven linen for the Tabernacle. Then Bezalel^[b] decorated the curtains with blue, purple, and scarlet thread and with skillfully embroidered cherubim. ⁹ All ten curtains were exactly the same size—42 feet long and 6 feet wide.^{[c] 10} Five of these curtains were joined together to make one long curtain, and the other five were joined to make a second long curtain. ¹¹ He made fifty loops of blue yarn and put them along the edge of the last curtain in each set. ¹² The fifty loops along the edge of one curtain matched the fifty loops along the edge of the other curtain. ¹³ Then he made fifty gold clasps and fastened the long curtains together with the clasps. In this way, the Tabernacle was made of one continuous piece.

¹⁴ He made eleven curtains of goat-hair cloth to serve as a tent covering for the Tabernacle. ¹⁵ These eleven curtains were all exactly the same size—45 feet long and 6 feet wide.^{[d] 16} Bezalel joined five of these curtains together to make one long curtain, and the other six were joined to make a second long curtain. ¹⁷ He made fifty loops for the edge of each large curtain. ¹⁸ He also made fifty bronze clasps to fasten the long curtains together. In this way, the tent covering was made of one continuous piece. ¹⁹ He completed the tent covering with a layer of tanned ram skins and a layer of fine goatskin leather.

²⁰ For the framework of the Tabernacle, Bezalel constructed frames of acacia wood. ²¹ Each frame was 15 feet high and 27 inches wide,^{[e] 22} with two pegs under each frame. All the frames were identical. ²³ He made twenty of these frames to support the curtains on the south side of the Tabernacle. ²⁴ He also made forty silver bases—two bases under each frame, with the pegs fitting securely into the bases. ²⁵ For the north side of the Tabernacle, he made another twenty frames, ²⁶ with their forty silver bases, two bases under each frame. ²⁷ He made six frames for the rear—the west side of the Tabernacle— ²⁸ along with two additional frames to reinforce the rear corners of the Tabernacle. ²⁹ These corner frames were matched at the bottom and firmly attached at the top with a single ring, forming a single corner unit. Both of these corner units were made the same way. ³⁰ So there were eight frames at the rear of the Tabernacle, set in sixteen silver bases—two bases under each frame.

³¹ Then he made crossbars of acacia wood to link the frames, five crossbars for the north side of the Tabernacle ³² and five for the south side. He also made five crossbars for the rear of the Tabernacle, which faced west. ³³ He made the middle crossbar to attach halfway up the frames; it ran all the way from one end of the Tabernacle to the other. ³⁴ He overlaid the frames with gold and made gold rings to hold the crossbars. Then he overlaid the crossbars with gold as well.

³⁵ For the inside of the Tabernacle, Bezalel made a special curtain of finely woven linen. He decorated it with blue, purple, and scarlet thread and with skillfully embroidered cherubim. ³⁶ For the curtain, he made four posts of acacia wood and four gold hooks. He overlaid the posts with gold and set them in four silver bases.

³⁷ Then he made another curtain for the entrance to the sacred tent. He made it of finely woven linen and embroidered it with exquisite designs using blue, purple, and scarlet thread. ³⁸ This curtain was hung on gold hooks attached to five posts. The posts with their decorated tops and hooks were overlaid with gold, and the five bases were cast from bronze.