Chapter 38
The Altar of Burnt Offering. 1 He made an altar out of acacia wood. It was five cubits long and five cubits wide and three cubits high. 2 It had horns on its four corners and they were all one piece with it. It was covered with bronze. 3 He also made the accessories for the altar: vessels to take away its ashes, shovels, basins, forks, and firepans. All of its utensils were made out of bronze. 4 He made a grating for the altar, a network of bronze. He placed it under the edge of the altar so that the net hung halfway down the altar. 5 He made four rings of bronze and placed them at the four corners of the bronze grating so that poles could be inserted. 6 He made poles out of acacia wood and covered them with bronze. 7 He placed the poles through the rings on the sides of the altar so it could be carried. He made the altar out of boards, hollow in the middle.
The Basin for Washing. 8 He made the basin of bronze and its base of bronze from the mirrors[a] of the women who ministered at the door to the meeting tent.
The Courtyard. 9 He made the courtyard. On the south side of the courtyard there was a drape of fine twisted linen, one hundred cubits long. 10 There were twenty columns with twenty bronze bases. The hooks of the pillars and their rings were made out of silver. 11 Likewise on the north side there was a drape one hundred cubits long. There were twenty columns with twenty bronze bases. The hooks of the pillars and their rings were made out of silver. 12 On the west side there were fifty cubits of drapes with ten columns and ten bases. The hooks of the pillars and their rings were made out of silver. 13 On the east side there were fifty cubits. 14 There was fifteen cubits of draping with three columns and three bases on one side. 15 On the other side of the entrance to the courtyard, there was fifteen cubits of draping with three columns and three bases. 16 All of the drapes that formed the courtyard were made of fine twisted linen. 17 The bases of the columns were made out of bronze. The hooks of the columns and the rings were made out of silver. The overlaying of their capitals and the columns of the courtyard were filleted with silver.
18 The screen for the entrance to the courtyard was made of needlework of blue, purple, and scarlet cloth and fine twisted linen. It was twenty cubits long and five cubits high, that is, wide, like the drapes of the courtyard. 19 It had four columns with their four bases out of bronze. Their hooks and the overlaying of their capitals and their bars were made out of silver. 20 All the pegs of the tabernacle and of the surrounding courtyard were made out of bronze.
21 The Materials Used.[b] These are the expenses for the tabernacle, the dwelling place of the Testimony, that Moses ordered the Levites to calculate under the direction of Ithamar, the son of Aaron the priest. 22 Bezalel, the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, completed what the Lord had commanded Moses to do. 23 He did this together with Oholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, who was an engraver and a skillful craftsman, and a weaver of blue, purple, and scarlet cloth and fine twisted linen.
24 All the gold that was used in the work—that is, for all the work of the sanctuary, which was the gold from the offering—was twenty-nine talents and seven hundred and thirty shekels, measured by the shekel of the sanctuary. 25 The silver of the assembly was measured to be one hundred talents and one thousand seven hundred and seventy-five shekels, measured by the shekel of the sanctuary. 26 Every person who was counted in the census twenty years old and up gave a bekah, which is worth a half-shekel according to the measure of the sanctuary. There were six hundred and three thousand, five hundred and fifty men. 27 The one hundred talents were used to make the bases of the sanctuary and the bases for the veil. One hundred talents were used for the one hundred bases, or one talent for each base. 28 The one thousand seven hundred and seventy-five shekels were used for the hooks for the pillars, and for overlaying and filleting their tops. 29 The bronze presented in the offering amounted to seventy talents and two thousand four hundred shekels. 30 With it were made the bases for the entrance to the meeting tent, the altar of bronze with the netting of bronze, and all the accessories for the altar, 31 the bases for the courtyard, the bases for the gate to the courtyard, and all the pegs of the tabernacle and all the pegs of the surrounding courtyard.
Footnotes
- Exodus 38:8 In antiquity mirrors were made of polished bronze.
- Exodus 38:21 According to the account, a ton of gold and five tons of silver were used; the figures are certainly exaggerated in order to make the point that there is no such thing as too much beauty when it comes to honoring the presence of God in the midst of humanity.