36 “So Bezalel, Oholiab, and all the other skilled men must do the work the Lord has commanded. The Lord has given these men the wisdom and understanding to do all the skilled work needed to build this holy place.”
2 Then Moses called Bezalel, Oholiab, and all the other skilled men who the Lord had given special skills to. And they came because they wanted to help with the work. 3 Moses gave them everything the Israelites had brought as gifts, and they used these things to build the holy place. The people continued to bring gifts each morning. 4 Finally, all the skilled workers left the work they were doing on the holy place, and they went to speak to Moses. They said, 5 “The people have brought too much. We have more than we need to finish the work the Lord told us to do.”
6 Then Moses sent this message throughout the camp: “No man or woman should make anything else as a gift for the holy place.” So the people were forced to stop giving more. 7 The people had brought more than enough things to finish the work of building God’s holy place.
The Holy Tent
8 Then the skilled workers began making the Holy Tent. They made the ten curtains from fine linen and blue, purple, and red yarn. And they sewed pictures of Cherub angels with wings into the curtains. 9 Each curtain was the same size—28 cubits[a] long and 4 cubits[b] wide. 10 The workers joined the curtains together into two groups of curtains. They joined five curtains together to make one group and five curtains together to make the other group. 11 Then they used blue cloth to make loops along the edge of the end curtain of one group. And they did the same on the end curtain in the other group. 12 There were 50 loops on the end curtain in one group and 50 loops on the end curtain in the other group. The loops were opposite each other. 13 Then they made 50 gold rings to join the two curtains together. So the Holy Tent was joined together into one piece.
14 Then the workers made another tent to cover the Holy Tent. They used goat hair to make eleven curtains. 15 All the curtains were the same size—30 cubits[c] long and 4 cubits wide. 16 The workers joined five curtains together into one group and six curtains together into another group. 17 They put 50 loops along the edge of the end curtain of one group. And they did the same on the end curtain of the other group. 18 The workers made 50 bronze rings to join the two groups of curtains together to form one tent. 19 Then they made two more coverings for the Holy Tent. One covering was made from ram skins dyed red. The other covering was made from fine leather.
20 Then the workers made frames from acacia wood to support the Holy Tent. 21 Each frame was 10 cubits[d] long and 1 1/2 cubits[e] wide. 22 There were two side poles joined together with cross pieces to make each frame. Every frame for the Holy Tent was made the same. 23 They made 20 frames for the south side of the Holy Tent. 24 Then they made 40 silver bases for the frames. There were two bases for each frame—one base for each side pole. 25 They also made 20 frames for the other side (the north side) of the Holy Tent. 26 They made 40 silver bases for the frames—two bases for each frame. 27 They made six more frames for the back (the west side) of the Holy Tent. 28 They also made two frames for the corners at the back of the Holy Tent. 29 These frames were joined together at the bottom. And at the top a ring held the corner frames together. They did the same for both corners. 30 There were eight frames for the west side of the Holy Tent. And there were 16 silver bases—two bases for each frame.
31 Then the workers used acacia wood to make the braces for the frames—five braces for the first side of the Holy Tent, 32 five braces for the other side, and five braces for the back of the Holy Tent (that is, the west side). 33 They made the middle brace so that it passed through the frames from one end to the other. 34 They covered these frames with gold. Then they used gold to make the rings to hold the braces, and they covered the braces with gold.
35 They used fine linen and blue, purple, and red yarn to make the special curtain for the entrance to the Most Holy Place. And they sewed pictures of Cherub angels into the curtain. 36 They made four posts using acacia wood, and they covered the posts with gold. Then they made gold hooks for the posts and four silver bases for the posts. 37 Then they made the curtain to cover the entrance to the Tent. They used blue, purple, and red yarn and fine linen to make this curtain. And they wove pictures into it. 38 Then they made the five posts and the hooks for this curtain over the entrance. They covered the tops of the posts and the curtain rods[f] with gold. And they made the five bronze bases for the posts.
Footnotes
- Exodus 36:9 28 cubits 47' 7 3/8" (14.5 m).
- Exodus 36:9 4 cubits 6' 9 5/8" (2.1 m). Also in verse 15.
- Exodus 36:15 30 cubits 51' 3/16" (15.55 m).
- Exodus 36:21 10 cubits 17' 1/16" (5.18 m).
- Exodus 36:21 1 1/2 cubits 30 5/8" (77.75 cm). Also in 37:1.
- Exodus 36:38 curtain rods Or “fasteners.”