Exodus 30:12-22

12 ¹"When you take the census of the people of Israel, then each shall give ²a ransom for his life to the LORD when you number them, that there be no plague among them when you number them.

13 Each one who is numbered in the census shall give this: half a shekel^[a] according to the ³shekel of the sanctuary (the ⁴shekel is twenty gerahs),^[b]⁵half a shekel as an offering to the LORD.

14 Everyone who is numbered in the census, from twenty years old and upward, shall give the LORD's offering.

15 The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less, than ⁶the half shekel, when you give the LORD's offering to make atonement for your lives.

16 You shall take the atonement money from the people of Israel and shall ⁷give it for the service of the tent of meeting, that it may bring the people of Israel to ⁸remembrance before the LORD, so as to make atonement for your lives."

The Bronze Basin

17 The LORD said to Moses,

18 "You shall also make a ⁹basin of bronze, with its stand of bronze, for washing. ¹⁰You shall put it between the tent of meeting and the altar, and you shall put water in it,

19 with which Aaron and his sons ¹¹shall wash their hands and their feet.

20 When they go into the tent of meeting, or when they come near the altar to minister, to burn a food offering^[c] to the LORD, they shall wash with water, so that they may not die.

21 They shall wash their hands and their feet, so that they may not die. It shall ¹²be a statute forever to them, even to him and to his offspring throughout their generations."

The Anointing Oil and Incense

22 The LORD said to Moses,

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Exodus 30:12-22 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO EXODUS 30

This chapter treats of the altar of incense, its form and use, Ex 30:1-10 of the ransom of the Israelites, with the half shekel when numbered, Ex 30:11-16 of the laver for the priests to wash their hands and feet at before service, Ex 30:17-21 of the anointing oil, the ingredients of it, and what was to be done with it, Ex 30:22-33, and of the perfume, the composition and use of it, Ex 30:34-38.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 12

1. Numbers 1:2-4; Numbers 26:2; 2 Samuel 24:2
2. Exodus 21:30; Numbers 31:50; [Psalms 49:7]
3. Exodus 38:24; Leviticus 5:15; Leviticus 27:3, 25
4. Leviticus 27:25; Numbers 3:47; Numbers 18:16; Ezekiel 45:12
5. Exodus 38:26; Matthew 17:24; [Genesis 24:22]
6. [See ver. 13 above]
7. See Exodus 38:25-31
8. [Exodus 28:12; Exodus 39:7; Numbers 16:40]
9. Exodus 40:7, 30; [1 Kings 7:38]
10. Exodus 40:7, 30; [1 Kings 7:38]
11. Exodus 40:31, 32; Psalms 26:6; [Isaiah 52:11; Hebrews 10:22]
12. See Exodus 27:21

Footnotes 3

[a]. A shekel was about 2/5 ounce or 11 grams
[b]. A gerah was about 1/50 ounce or 0.6 gram
[c]. Or an offering by fire

The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.