Exodus 30

Revised Geneva Translation

30 Furthermore, you shall make an Altar for sweet incense. You shall make it of shittim wood,

² “a cubit in length, and a cubit in width (it shall be square) and two cubits in height. Its horns shall be from the same piece.

³ “And you shall overlay it with fine gold, on the top and on the sides, all around, and its horns. Also, you shall make a border of gold all around.

⁴ “Besides this, you shall make two golden rings under this border, on either side. You shall make them on every side, so that they may be as places for the poles to bear it.

⁵ “You shall make the poles of shittim wood and shall cover them with gold.

⁶ “Afterward, you shall set it before the veil that is near the Ark of the Testimony, before the Mercy Seat that is upon the Testimony, where I will meet with you.

⁷ “And Aaron shall burn sweet incense on it every morning. When he tends his lamps, he shall burn it.

⁸ “Likewise at twilight, when Aaron sets up his lamps, he shall burn incense. This perfume shall be perpetually before the LORD, throughout your generations.

⁹ “You shall offer no strange incense on it, nor burnt sacrifice, nor offering, nor pour any drink offering on it.

¹⁰ “And Aaron shall make reconciliation upon the horns of it once in a year with the blood of the sin offering, on the Day of Reconciliation. Once a year, he shall make reconciliation upon it, throughout your generations. This is Most Holy to the LORD.”

¹¹ Then, the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

¹² “When you take the census of the children of Israel, after their number, then every man shall give a ransom for his life to the LORD when numbered, so that there is no plague among them when you count them.

¹³ “Every man who goes into the number shall give this: half a shekel, after the shekel of the Sanctuary (a shekel is twenty gerahs). The half- shekel shall be an offering to the LORD.

¹⁴ “All who are numbered, from twenty years old and above, shall give an offering to the LORD.

¹⁵ “The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less, than half a shekel, when you shall give an offering to the LORD for the redemption of your lives.

¹⁶ “So you shall take the money of the redemption of the children of Israel and shall put it to the use of the Tabernacle of the Congregation, so that it may be a memorial to the children of Israel before the LORD, for the redemption of your lives.”

¹⁷ Also, the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

¹⁸ “You shall also make a Basin of copper (and its pedestal of copper), to wash, and shall put it between the Tabernacle of the Congregation and the Altar. And you shall put water in it.

¹⁹ “For Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet there.

²⁰ “When they go into the Tabernacle of the Congregation, or when they go to the Altar to minister, to make the perfume from the burnt offering to the LORD, they shall wash themselves with water, lest they die.

²¹ “They shall wash their hands and their feet, so that they do not die. And this shall be to them an ordinance, forever, to him and to his seed, throughout their generations.”

²² Also, the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

²³ “Take the best spices for yourself: five hundred shekels of the most pure myrrh, half that much of sweet cinnamon (two hundred-fifty), two hundred-fifty of sweet calamus,

²⁴ “five hundred of cassia (according to the shekel of the Sanctuary), and a hin of olive oil.

²⁵ “And you shall make the oil of holy ointment from it, a most precious ointment after the art of the perfumer. This shall be the oil of holy ointment.

²⁶ “And you shall anoint the Tabernacle of the Congregation with it, and the Ark of the Testimony,

²⁷ “the Table and all its instruments, the Lampstand with all its instruments, the altar of incense,

²⁸ “the altar of burnt offering with all its instruments, and the basin and its pedestal.

²⁹ “So you shall sanctify them; and they shall be Most Holy. All that shall touch them, must be holy.

³⁰ “You shall also anoint Aaron and his sons, and shall consecrate them, so that they may minister to Me in the Priest’s office.

³¹ “Moreover, you shall speak to the children of Israel, saying, ‘This shall be a holy anointing oil to Me, throughout your generations.

³² “No one shall anoint man’s flesh with it, nor shall you make any composition like it. It is Holy and shall be holy to you.

³³ “Whoever shall make such an ointment, or whoever shall put any of it on a stranger, he shall be cut off from his people.’”

³⁴ And the LORD said to Moses, “Take sweet spices for yourself—pure myrrh and stacte and galbanum and odors with pure frankincense—each of equal weight.

³⁵ “Then you shall make incense from them, composed after the art of the perfumer, mingled together, pure, holy.

³⁶ “And you shall beat it to powder, and shall put it before the Testimony, in the Tabernacle of the Congregation, where I will meet with you. It shall be Most Holy to you.

³⁷ “And you shall not make any composition for yourself like this incense which you shall make. It shall be holy to you, for the LORD.

³⁸ “Whoever shall make any incense like it, he shall be cut off from his people.”