Exodus 26

EasyEnglish Bible

The tabernacle

26 Make the tabernacle with ten curtains of very good linen. Also use blue, purple and red material. Tell a worker to use special skills to make pictures of cherubs on the curtains. ² All the curtains must be the same size: 12 metres long and 2 metres wide. ³ Join five of the curtains together. Do the same thing with the other five curtains. ⁴ Fix rings of blue material along the edge of the last curtain in each set of five curtains. ⁵ Put 50 rings on the edge of the first set. Put 50 rings on the edge of the other set. Do this so that the rings on one curtain are opposite to the rings on the other curtain. ⁶ Then use 50 small gold hooks to join the curtains together. In this way, a single piece of curtain will make the whole tabernacle.

⁷ Use goats' hair to make 11 curtains. They will cover the tabernacle, like a tent. ⁸ All the curtains must be the same size: 13.5 metres long and 2 metres wide. ⁹ Join five of the curtains together to make one set. Fix the other six curtains together to make a second set. Turn the sixth curtain of this set over itself to cover the entrance of the tent. ¹⁰ Use material to make 50 rings along the edge of the end curtain in each set. ¹¹ Then make 50 bronze hooks. Use them to join the two sets of curtains together so that it makes a single tent. ¹² The curtains for the tent will be longer than the curtains for the tabernacle. The extra half of the curtain for the tent will hang at the back of the tabernacle. ¹³ The curtains of the tent will be half a metre longer on both sides. The extra material will hang over each side of the tabernacle to cover it completely.

¹⁴ Use red leather from sheep's skins to cover the tent. Then use another kind of good leather to cover the red leather.

¹⁵ Use acacia wood to make boards to hold up the tabernacle. ¹⁶ Each board must be 4 metres high and 65 centimetres wide. ¹⁷ Make two wooden pegs on each board, beside each other. Make all the boards of the tabernacle like this. ¹⁸ Make 20 boards for the south side of the tabernacle. ¹⁹ Then use silver to make 40 heavy bases to hold up the boards. Two bases will hold up each board. The pegs on the boards will fit into holes in the bases. ²⁰ Also make 20 boards for the north side of the tabernacle. ²¹ Make 40 silver bases, two bases under each board. ²² Make six boards for the west side, at the back of the tabernacle. ²³ Then make two boards for the corners at the back of the tabernacle. ²⁴ You must fix the two boards together, from the bottom to the top. Use a ring to fix them together at the top. Make both the corners in the same way. ²⁵ So there will be eight boards at the back of the tabernacle and 16 silver bases, two bases under each board.

²⁶ You must also use acacia wood to make bars to fix across the boards. Make five bars for the south side of the tabernacle, ²⁷ five bars for the north side, and five bars for the west side at the back of the tabernacle. ²⁸ The bar that goes across the centre of the boards must reach from one end of the tabernacle to the other end. ²⁹ Use gold to cover the boards and to make rings for the boards. These rings will hold the bars in place across the boards. Also cover the wooden bars with gold.

³⁰ Make the tabernacle the same as the plan that I showed to you on the mountain.

The curtain inside the tabernacle

³¹ Use blue, purple and red material and good linen to make a special curtain. A worker must use special skills to make pictures of cherubs on it. ³² Use gold rings to hang the curtain from four poles of acacia wood. Cover these poles with gold. Then fix them on four silver bases. ³³ Hang the top of the curtain from the rings. Put the Covenant Box behind the curtain, in the Most Holy Place. The curtain will hang between the Most Holy Place and the Holy Place so that they are separate. ³⁴ Put the special lid on the Covenant Box, in the Most Holy Place.^{[a] 35} Put the special table in the Holy Place, outside the curtain. It will be on the north side of the tabernacle. Put the lampstand opposite the table, on the south side.

³⁶ Make a curtain for the entrance of the tent. Use blue, purple and red material and good linen to make it. A worker must use special skills to make it so that it looks beautiful. ³⁷ Use acacia wood to make five poles. Cover them with gold. Fix gold rings to the poles. Use bronze to make five bases to hold up the poles. Then hang the curtain from the rings on the poles.