Exodus 30
Contemporary English Version
The Altar for Burning Incense
(Exodus 37.25-28)
The Lord said to Moses:
30 Build an altar of acacia wood where you can burn incense. 2 Make it 45 centimeters square and 90 centimeters high, and make each of its four corners stick up like the horn of a bull. 3 Cover it with pure gold and put a gold edging around it. 4 Then below the edging on opposite sides attach two gold rings through which you can put the poles for carrying the altar. 5 These poles are also to be made of acacia wood covered with gold.
6 Put the altar in front of the inside curtain of the sacred tent. The chest with the place of mercy[a] is kept behind that curtain, and I will talk with you there. 7-8 From now on, when Aaron takes care of the lamps each morning and evening, he must burn sweet-smelling incense to me on the altar. 9 Burn only the proper incense on the altar and never use it for grain sacrifices or animal sacrifices or drink offerings. 10 (A) Once a year Aaron must purify the altar by smearing on its four corners[b] the blood of an animal sacrificed for sin, and this practice must always be followed. The altar is sacred because it is dedicated to me.
The Money for the Sacred Tent
11 The Lord said to Moses:
12 Find out how many grown men there are in Israel and require each of them to pay me to keep him safe from danger while you are counting them. 13-15 (B) Each man over 19, whether rich or poor, must pay me the same amount of money, weighed according to the official standards. 16 This money is to be used for the upkeep of the sacred tent, and because of it, I will never forget my people.
The Large Bronze Bowl
(Exodus 38.8)
17 The Lord said to Moses:
18-21 (C) Make a large bronze bowl and a bronze stand for it. Then put them between the altar for sacrifice and the sacred tent, so the priests can wash their hands and feet before entering the tent or offering a sacrifice on the altar. Each priest in every generation must wash himself in this way, or else he will die right there.
The Oil for Dedication and Ordination
(Exodus 37.29)
22 (D) The Lord said to Moses:
23-25 Mix four liters of olive oil with the following costly spices: six kilograms of myrrh, three kilograms of cinnamon, three kilograms of cane, and six kilograms of cassia. Measure these according to the official standards. Then use this sacred mixture 26 for dedicating the tent and chest, 27 the table with its equipment, the lampstand with its equipment, the incense altar with all its utensils, 28 the altar for sacrifices, and the large bowl with its stand. 29 By dedicating them in this way, you will make them so holy that anyone who even touches them will become holy.
30 When you ordain Aaron and his sons as my priests, sprinkle them with some of this oil, 31 and say to the people of Israel: “This oil must always be used in the ordination service of a priest. It is holy because it is dedicated to the Lord. 32 So treat it as holy! Don't ever use it for everyday purposes or mix any for yourselves. 33 If you do, you will no longer belong to the Lord's people.”
The Sweet-Smelling Incense
34-35 Mix equal amounts of the costly spices stacte, onycha, galbanum, and pure frankincense, then add salt to make the mixture pure and holy. 36 Pound some of it into powder and sprinkle it in front of the sacred chest, where I meet with you. Be sure to treat this incense as something very holy. 37 It is truly holy because it is dedicated to me, so don't ever make any for yourselves. 38 If you ever make any of it to use as perfume, you will no longer belong to my people.
Exodus 30
American Standard Version
30 And thou shalt make an altar to burn incense upon: of acacia wood shalt thou make it. 2 A cubit shall be the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof; foursquare shall it be; and two cubits shall be the height thereof: the horns thereof shall be of one piece with it. 3 And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, the [a]top thereof, and the [b]sides thereof round about, and the horns thereof; and thou shalt make unto it a [c]crown of gold round about. 4 And two golden rings shalt thou make for it under the crown thereof; upon the two ribs thereof, upon the two sides of it shalt thou make them; and they shall be for places for staves wherewith to bear it. 5 And thou shalt make the staves of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold. 6 And thou shalt put it before the veil that is by the ark of the testimony, before the mercy-seat that is over the testimony, where I will meet with thee. 7 And Aaron shall burn thereon incense of sweet spices: every morning, when he dresseth the lamps, he shall burn it. 8 And when Aaron [d]lighteth the lamps [e]at even, he shall burn it, a perpetual incense before Jehovah throughout your generations. 9 Ye shall offer no strange incense thereon, nor burnt-offering, nor meal-offering; and ye shall pour no drink-offering thereon. 10 And Aaron shall make atonement [f]upon the horns of it once in the year; with the blood of the sin-offering of atonement once in the year shall he make atonement [g]for it throughout your generations: it is most holy unto Jehovah.
11 And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying, 12 When thou takest the sum of the children of Israel, according to those that are numbered of them, then shall they give every man a ransom for his soul unto Jehovah, when thou numberest them; that there be no plague among them, when thou numberest them. 13 This they shall give, every one that passeth over unto them that are numbered: half a shekel after the shekel of the sanctuary (the shekel is twenty gerahs), half a shekel for an offering to Jehovah. 14 Every one that passeth over unto them that are numbered, from twenty years old and upward, shall give the offering of Jehovah. 15 The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less, than the half shekel, when they give the offering of Jehovah, to make atonement for your souls. 16 And thou shalt take the atonement money from the children of Israel, and shalt appoint it for the service of the tent of meeting; that it may be a memorial for the children of Israel before Jehovah, to make atonement for your souls.
17 And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying, 18 Thou shalt also make a laver of brass, and the base thereof of brass, whereat to wash. And thou shalt put it between the tent of meeting and the altar, and thou shalt put water therein. 19 And Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet thereat: 20 when they go into the tent of meeting, they shall wash with water, that they die not; or when they come near to the altar to minister, to burn an offering made by fire unto Jehovah. 21 So they shall wash their hands and their feet, that they die not: and it shall be a statute for ever to them, even to him and to his seed throughout their generations.
22 Moreover Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying, 23 Take thou also unto thee the chief spices: of flowing myrrh five hundred shekels, and of sweet cinnamon half so much, even two hundred and fifty, and of sweet calamus two hundred and fifty, 24 and of [h]cassia five hundred, after the shekel of the sanctuary, and of olive oil a hin; 25 and thou shalt make it a holy anointing oil, a perfume compounded after the art of the perfumer: it shall be a holy anointing oil. 26 And thou shalt anoint therewith the tent of meeting, and the ark of the testimony, 27 and the table and all the vessels thereof, and the candlestick and the vessels thereof, and the altar of incense, 28 and the altar of burnt-offering with all the vessels thereof, and the laver and the base thereof. 29 And thou shalt sanctify them, that they may be most holy: [i]whatsoever toucheth them shall be holy. 30 And thou shalt anoint Aaron and his sons, and sanctify them, that they may minister unto me in the priest’s office. 31 And thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel, saying, This shall be a holy anointing oil unto me throughout your generations. 32 Upon the flesh of man shall it not be poured, neither shall ye make any like it, according to the composition thereof: it is holy, and it shall be holy unto you. 33 Whosoever compoundeth any like it, or whosoever putteth any of it upon a stranger, he shall be cut off from his people.
34 And Jehovah said unto Moses, Take unto thee sweet spices, [j]stacte, and onycha, and galbanum; sweet spices with pure frankincense: of each shall there be a like weight; 35 and thou shalt make of it incense, a perfume after the art of the perfumer, [k]seasoned with salt, pure and holy: 36 and thou shalt beat some of it very small, and put of it before the testimony in the tent of meeting, where I will meet with thee: it shall be unto you most holy. 37 And the incense which thou shalt make, according to the composition thereof ye shall not make for yourselves: it shall be unto thee holy for Jehovah. 38 Whosoever shall make like unto that, to smell thereof, he shall be cut off from his people.
Footnotes
- Exodus 30:3 Hebrew roof.
- Exodus 30:3 Hebrew walls.
- Exodus 30:3 Or, rim. Or, moulding
- Exodus 30:8 Or, setteth up. Hebrew causeth to ascend.
- Exodus 30:8 Hebrew between the two evenings.
- Exodus 30:10 Or, for
- Exodus 30:10 Or, upon
- Exodus 30:24 Or, costus
- Exodus 30:29 Or, whosoever
- Exodus 30:34 Or, opobalsamum
- Exodus 30:35 Or, tempered together
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