Chapter 27
Altar of Burnt Offering. 1 “You shall make an altar out of acacia wood. It is to be five cubits long and five cubits wide. The altar shall be square and be three cubits high. 2 Make horns[a] for its four corners and the horns and altar are one piece. You shall then cover it with bronze. 3 Fashion vessels to take away its ashes, as well as shovels, and basins, and forks, and fire pans. All of its utensils are to be made of bronze. 4 Make a grating for it, a network of bronze. Upon the net you shall fashion four rings made of bronze at its four corners. 5 Set it under the edge of the altar so that the net will hang halfway down the altar. 6 You shall also make poles for the altar. They shall be made of acacia wood covered with bronze. 7 The poles are to be placed through the rings, so that they are on either side of the altar for carrying it. 8 Make the altar with boards, hollow in the middle. It is to be made just as was shown to you on the mountain.
The Courtyard. 9 “You shall make a courtyard[b] for the tabernacle. On the south side there shall be a drape of fine twisted linen, one hundred cubits long, to form the first side. 10 There are to be twenty columns with twenty bronze bases. The hooks of the pillars and their rings are to be made of silver.
11 “Likewise on the north side, there must be a drape one hundred cubits long, its twenty pillars with their twenty bronze bases. The hooks of the pillars and their rings are to be made of silver. 12 Along the width of the courtyard on the west side there shall be fifty cubits of drapes with ten columns and ten bases. 13 The width of the courtyard on the east side shall be fifty cubits. 14 On one side there are to be fifteen cubits of drapes with three columns and three bases, 15 and on the other side there are to be fifteen cubits of drapes with three columns and three bases.
16 “For the gate of the courtyard there shall be a curtain twenty cubits long, made of blue and purple and scarlet cloth and fine twisted linen with four columns and their four bases. 17 All the columns around the courtyard are to be filleted with silver. Their hooks shall be made of silver and their bases of bronze. 18 The length of the courtyard must be one hundred cubits, the width fifty, and the height five cubits, made of fine twisted linen with the bases made of bronze. 19 All the utensils of the tabernacle for whatever use and all the pegs of the courtyard are to be made of bronze.
20 The Oil for the Lampstand.“You shall order the children of Israel to obtain pure oil pressed from olives for the light, so that a lamp may burn continually. 21 It shall be in the meeting tent[c] outside the veil that is in front of the Testimony. Aaron and his sons shall tend it from evening until morning so that it may be before the Lord. This is a statute for the children of Israel throughout all their generations.
Footnotes
- Exodus 27:2 The horns are protuberances at the four corners of the altar. They are especially holy: they are to be smeared with the blood of victims (see Ex 29:12), like the horns of the altar of incense (Ex 30:10). Anyone touching them could claim asylum (1 Ki 1:50; 2:28).
- Exodus 27:9 The courtyard is the sacred space around the sanctuary that was as far as the Israelites could enter; only priests were permitted beyond it and into the tabernacle space. Even the courtyard was limited in how many people could enter at one time.
- Exodus 27:21 The meeting tent is another term for the tabernacle, the place where God and his people meet.