30

1“You shall make an altar to burn incense on. You shall make it of acacia wood. 2Its length shall be a cubit, and its width a cubit. It shall be square, and its height shall be two cubits. Its horns shall be of one piece with it. 3You shall overlay it with pure gold, its top, its sides around it, and its horns; and you shall make a gold molding around it. 4You shall make two golden rings for it under its molding; on its two ribs, on its two sides you shall make them; and they shall be for places for poles with which to bear it. 5You shall make the poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold. 6You shall put it before the veil that is by the ark of the covenant, before the mercy seat that is over the covenant, where I will meet with you. 7Aaron shall burn incense of sweet spices on it every morning. When he tends the lamps, he shall burn it. 8When Aaron lights the lamps at evening, he shall burn it, a perpetual incense before Yahweh throughout your generations. 9You shall offer no strange incense on it, nor burnt offering, nor meal offering; and you shall pour no drink offering on it. 10Aaron shall make atonement on its horns once in the year; with the blood of the sin offering of atonement once in the year he shall make atonement for it throughout your generations. It is most holy to Yahweh.”

11Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 12“When you take a census of the children of Israel, according to those who are counted among them, then each man shall give a ransom for his soul to Yahweh when you count them, that there be no plague among them when you count them. 13They shall give this, everyone who passes over to those who are counted, half a shekel according to the shekel of the sanctuary (the shekel is twenty gerahs); half a shekel for an offering to Yahweh. 14Everyone who passes over to those who are counted, from twenty years old and upward, shall give the offering to Yahweh. 15The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less, than the half shekel, when they give the offering of Yahweh, to make atonement for your souls. 16You shall take the atonement money from the children of Israel, and shall appoint it for the service of the Tent of Meeting; that it may be a memorial for the children of Israel before Yahweh, to make atonement for your souls.”

17Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 18“You shall also make a basin of bronze, and its base of bronze, in which to wash. You shall put it between the Tent of Meeting and the altar, and you shall put water in it. 19Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet in it. 20When they go into the Tent of Meeting, they shall wash with water, that they not die; or when they come near to the altar to minister, to burn an offering made by fire to Yahweh. 21So they shall wash their hands and their feet, that they not die. This shall be a statute forever to them, even to him and to his descendants throughout their generations.”

22Moreover Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 23“Also take fine spices: of liquid myrrh, five hundred shekels; and of fragrant cinnamon half as much, even two hundred and fifty; and of fragrant cane, two hundred and fifty; 24and of cassia five hundred, according to the shekel of the sanctuary; and a hin of olive oil. 25You shall make it into a holy anointing oil, a perfume compounded after the art of the perfumer: it shall be a holy anointing oil. 26You shall use it to anoint the Tent of Meeting, the ark of the covenant, 27the table and all its articles, the lamp stand and its accessories, the altar of incense, 28the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils, and the basin with its base. 29You shall sanctify them, that they may be most holy. Whatever touches them shall be holy. 30You shall anoint Aaron and his sons, and sanctify them, that they may minister to me in the priest’s office. 31You shall speak to the children of Israel, saying, ‘This shall be a holy anointing oil to me throughout your generations. 32It shall not be poured on man’s flesh, and do not make any like it, according to its composition. It is holy. It shall be holy to you. 33Whoever compounds any like it, or whoever puts any of it on a stranger, he shall be cut off from his people.’”

34Yahweh said to Moses, “Take to yourself sweet spices, gum resin, onycha, and galbanum: sweet spices with pure frankincense. There shall be an equal weight of each. 35You shall make incense of it, a perfume after the art of the perfumer, seasoned with salt, pure and holy. 36You shall beat some of it very small, and put some of it before the covenant in the Tent of Meeting, where I will meet with you. It shall be to you most holy. 37You shall not make this incense, according to its composition, for yourselves: it shall be to you holy for Yahweh. 38Whoever shall make any like that, to smell of it, he shall be cut off from his people.”

31

1Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 2“Behold, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. 3I have filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all kinds of workmanship, 4to devise skillful works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in bronze, 5and in cutting of stones for setting, and in carving of wood, to work in all kinds of workmanship. 6Behold, I myself have appointed with him Oholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan; and in the heart of all who are wise-hearted I have put wisdom, that they may make all that I have commanded you: 7the Tent of Meeting, the ark of the covenant, the mercy seat that is on it, all the furniture of the Tent, 8the table and its vessels, the pure lamp stand with all its vessels, the altar of incense, 9the altar of burnt offering with all its vessels, the basin and its base, 10the finely worked garments—the holy garments for Aaron the priest, the garments of his sons to minister in the priest’s office— 11the anointing oil, and the incense of sweet spices for the holy place: according to all that I have commanded you they shall do.”

12Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 13“Speak also to the children of Israel, saying, ‘Most certainly you shall keep my Sabbaths; for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am Yahweh who sanctifies you. 14You shall keep the Sabbath therefore, for it is holy to you. Everyone who profanes it shall surely be put to death; for whoever does any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. 15Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to Yahweh. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day shall surely be put to death. 16Therefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. 17It is a sign between me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days Yahweh made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.’”

18When he finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, he gave Moses the two tablets of the covenant, stone tablets, written with God’s finger.

32

1When the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron, and said to him, “Come, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we don’t know what has become of him.”

2Aaron said to them, “Take off the golden rings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them to me.”

3All the people took off the golden rings which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron. 4He received what they handed him, fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made it a molded calf. Then they said, “These are your gods, Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt.”

5When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made a proclamation, and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to Yahweh.”

6They rose up early on the next day, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.

7Yahweh spoke to Moses, “Go, get down; for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves! 8They have turned away quickly out of the way which I commanded them. They have made themselves a molded calf, and have worshiped it, and have sacrificed to it, and said, ‘These are your gods, Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt.’”

9Yahweh said to Moses, “I have seen these people, and behold, they are a stiff-necked people. 10Now therefore leave me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them, and that I may consume them; and I will make of you a great nation.”

11Moses begged Yahweh his God, and said, “Yahweh, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, that you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? 12Why should the Egyptians talk, saying, ‘He brought them out for evil, to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the surface of the earth?’ Turn from your fierce wrath, and turn away from this evil against your people. 13Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your offspring as the stars of the sky, and all this land that I have spoken of I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.’”

14So Yahweh turned away from the evil which he said he would do to his people.

15Moses turned, and went down from the mountain, with the two tablets of the covenant in his hand; tablets that were written on both their sides. They were written on one side and on the other. 16The tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets.

17When Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, “There is the noise of war in the camp.”

18He said, “It isn’t the voice of those who shout for victory. It is not the voice of those who cry for being overcome; but the noise of those who sing that I hear.” 19As soon as he came near to the camp, he saw the calf and the dancing. Then Moses’ anger grew hot, and he threw the tablets out of his hands, and broke them beneath the mountain. 20He took the calf which they had made, and burned it with fire, ground it to powder, and scattered it on the water, and made the children of Israel drink it.

21Moses said to Aaron, “What did these people do to you, that you have brought a great sin on them?”

22Aaron said, “Don’t let the anger of my lord grow hot. You know the people, that they are set on evil. 23For they said to me, ‘Make us gods, which shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we don’t know what has become of him.’ 24I said to them, ‘Whoever has any gold, let them take it off.’ So they gave it to me; and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf.”

25When Moses saw that the people were out of control, (for Aaron had let them lose control, causing derision among their enemies), 26then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, “Whoever is on Yahweh’s side, come to me!”

All the sons of Levi gathered themselves together to him. 27He said to them, “Yahweh, the God of Israel, says, ‘Every man put his sword on his thigh, and go back and forth from gate to gate throughout the camp, and every man kill his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbor.’” 28The sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses. About three thousand men fell of the people that day. 29Moses said, “Consecrate yourselves today to Yahweh, for every man was against his son and against his brother, that he may give you a blessing today.”

30On the next day, Moses said to the people, “You have sinned a great sin. Now I will go up to Yahweh. Perhaps I shall make atonement for your sin.”

31Moses returned to Yahweh, and said, “Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made themselves gods of gold. 32Yet now, if you will, forgive their sin—and if not, please blot me out of your book which you have written.”

33Yahweh said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me, I will blot him out of my book. 34Now go, lead the people to the place of which I have spoken to you. Behold, my angel shall go before you. Nevertheless, in the day when I punish, I will punish them for their sin.” 35Yahweh struck the people, because of what they did with the calf, which Aaron made.