Plans for the Altar of Burnt Offering

27 “Using acacia wood, construct a square altar 7 1⁄2 feet wide, 7 1⁄2 feet long, and 4 1⁄2 feet high.^{[a] 2} Make horns for each of its four corners so that the horns and altar are all one piece. Overlay the altar with bronze. ³ Make ash buckets, shovels, basins, meat forks, and firepans, all of bronze. ⁴ Make a bronze grating for it, and attach four bronze rings at its four corners. ⁵ Install the grating halfway down the side of the altar, under the ledge. ⁶ For carrying the altar, make poles from acacia wood, and overlay them with bronze. ⁷ Insert the poles through the rings on the two sides of the altar. ⁸ The altar must be hollow, made from planks. Build it just as you were shown on the mountain.

¹⁸ “Make a bronze washbasin with a bronze stand. Place it between the Tabernacle and the altar, and fill it with water. ¹⁹ Aaron and his sons will wash their hands and feet there. ²⁰ They must wash with water whenever they go into the Tabernacle to appear before the Lord and when they approach the altar to burn up their special gifts to the Lord—or they will die! ²¹ They must always wash their hands and feet, or they will die. This is a permanent law for Aaron and his descendants, to be observed from generation to generation.”

Building the Altar of Burnt Offering

38 Next Bezalel^[a] used acacia wood to construct the square altar of burnt offering. It was 7 1⁄2 feet wide, 7 1⁄2 feet long, and 4 1⁄2 feet high.^{[b] 2} He made horns for each of its four corners so that the horns and altar were all one piece. He overlaid the altar with bronze. ³ Then he made all the altar utensils of bronze—the ash buckets, shovels, basins, meat forks, and firepans. ⁴ Next he made a bronze grating and installed it halfway down the side of the altar, under the ledge. ⁵ He cast four rings and attached them to the corners of the bronze grating to hold the carrying poles. ⁶ He made the poles from acacia wood and overlaid them with bronze. ⁷ He inserted the poles through the rings on the sides of the altar. The altar was hollow and was made from planks.

Building the Washbasin

⁸ Bezalel made the bronze washbasin and its bronze stand from bronze mirrors donated by the women who served at the entrance of the Tabernacle.^[c]