Instructions for Making the Incense Altar

“And you will make an altar for burning incense; you will make it of acacia wood, ² a cubit its length and a cubit its width—it will be square—and two cubits its height, its horns of one piece with it.^{[a] 3} And you will overlay it with pure gold, its top and its sides all around and its horns, and you will make for it a gold molding all around. ⁴ And you will make two gold rings for it; under its molding on two opposite sides^[b] you will make them as holders^[c] for poles to carry it with them. ⁵ You will make the poles of acacia wood, and you will overlay them with gold. ⁶ And you will put it before the curtain that is upon the ark of the testimony, before the atonement cover, which is on the testimony, there where I will meet with you.

⁷ “And on it Aaron will turn fragrant incense into smoke; each morning^[d] when he tends the lamps, he will turn it into smoke. ⁸ And when Aaron sets up the lamps at twilight,^[e] he will turn it into smoke—incense of continuity—before Yahweh throughout your generations. ⁹ You will not offer on it strange incense or a burnt offering or a grain offering, and you will not pour a libation on it. ¹⁰ And Aaron will make atonement on its horns one time in the year from the blood of the sin offering of the atonement; one time in the year he will make atonement on it throughout your generations; it is a most holy thing for Yahweh.”

Instructions for Numbering the People

¹¹ And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ¹² “When you take a census of^[f] the Israelites^[g] to count them, they will each give the ransom of his life for Yahweh when counting them, and a plague will not be among them when counting them. ¹³ This they will give, everyone who is counted,^[h] the half shekel, according to the sanctuary shekel, which is twenty gerahs per shekel. The half shekel is a contribution for Yahweh. ¹⁴ Everyone who is counted^[i] from twenty years old^[j] and above will give the contribution of Yahweh. ¹⁵ The rich will not give more, and the poor will not give less than the half shekel to give the contribution of Yahweh to make atonement for their lives. ¹⁶ And you will take the atonement money from the Israelites^[k] and give it to the service of the tent of assembly, and it will be as a memorial for the Israelites^[l] before Yahweh to make atonement for your lives.”

Instructions for Making the Basin

¹⁷ And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁸ “And you will make a basin of bronze and its bronze stand for washing, and you will put it between the tent of assembly and the altar, and you will put water there. ¹⁹ And Aaron and his sons will wash their hands and their feet with it. ²⁰ When they come to the tent of assembly, they will wash with water so that they do not die, or when they approach the altar to serve by turning to smoke an offering made by fire to Yahweh. ²¹ And they will wash their hands and their feet so that they do not die, and it will be a lasting rule for them—to him and to his offspring throughout their generations.

Instructions for Making Anointing Oil and Incense

²² And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ²³ “And take for yourself top quality balsam oils, five hundred shekels of flowing myrrh, half as much—two hundred and fifty shekels of fragrant cinnamon, and two hundred and fifty shekels of fragrant reed, ²⁴ and five hundred shekels of cassia, according to the sanctuary shekel, and a hin of olive oil. ²⁵ And you will make it into holy anointing oil, a spice blend of a fragrant ointment the work of a perfumer; it will be holy anointing oil. ²⁶ And you will anoint with it the tent of assembly and the ark of the testimony, ²⁷ and the table and all its equipment and the lampstand and its equipment and the incense altar, ²⁸ and the altar of burnt offering and all its equipment and the basin and its stand. ²⁹ And you will consecrate them, and they will be most holy things; anyone who^[m] touches them will be holy. ³⁰ And you will anoint Aaron and his sons, and you will consecrate them to serve as priests for me.

³¹ “And you will speak to the Israelites,^[n] saying, ‘This will be my holy anointing oil throughout your generations. ³² It will not be poured on human flesh, and with its measurements^[o] you will not make any like it; it is holy; it will be holy to you. ³³ Anyone who compounds perfume like it and who puts it on a stranger will be cut off from his people.’”

³⁴ And Yahweh said to Moses, “Take for yourself fragrant perfumes—stacte resin and onycha and galbanum—fragrant perfumes and pure frankincense, an equal part of each,^{[p] 35} and make it into a compound of incense, the work of a perfumer, salted, pure, holy. ³⁶ And you will grind part of it to powder, and you will put part of it before the testimony in the tent of assembly where I will meet with you; it will be a most holy thing to you. ³⁷ And the incense that you will make with its measurements^[q] you will not make for yourselves; it will be holy to you for Yahweh. ³⁸ Anyone who makes any like it to smell it will be cut off from his people.”

Footnotes

1. Exodus 30:2 Literally “from it”
2. Exodus 30:4 Literally “on two of its sides you will make on two of its sides”
3. Exodus 30:4 Literally “houses”
4. Exodus 30:7 Literally “in the morning in the morning”
5. Exodus 30:8 Literally “between the two evenings”
6. Exodus 30:12 Literally “when you lift up the heads of”
7. Exodus 30:12 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
8. Exodus 30:13 Literally “all of the going over to the being counted”
9. Exodus 30:14 Literally “all of the going over to the being counted”
10. Exodus 30:14 Literally “a son of twenty years”
11. Exodus 30:16 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
12. Exodus 30:16 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
13. Exodus 30:29 Or “anything that”; literally “all touching”
14. Exodus 30:31 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
15. Exodus 30:32 Or “recipe” or “formula”
16. Exodus 30:34 Literally “part by part it will be”
17. Exodus 30:37 Or “recipe” or “formula”