Exodus 31

Provision of Skilled People

1 And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,
2 "See, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri the son of Hur, from the tribe of Judah.
3 And I have filled him [with] the Spirit of God, with wisdom and with skill and with knowledge and with every [kind of] craftsmanship,
4 to devise designs, to work with gold and with silver and with bronze,
5 and in stonecutting for setting and in cutting wood, for doing every [kind of] craftsmanship.
6 And, look, I have given with him Oholiab the son of Ahisamach, from the tribe of Dan, and I have put skill in the heart of all [the] skilled of heart, and they will make all that I have commanded you--
7 the tent of assembly and the ark of the testimony and the atonement cover that [is] on it and all the equipment of the tent,
8 and the table and all its equipment, and the pure [gold] lampstand and all its equipment, and the incense altar,
9 and the altar of burnt offering and all its equipment, and the basin and its stand,
10 and the garments of woven material, and {the garments of the sanctuary} for Aaron the priest and the garments of his sons to serve as priests,
11 and the anointing oil and the fragrant incense for the sanctuary. According to all that I have commanded you, they will make [it].

Provision of Rest from Work

12 And Yahweh spoke to Moses [and] said,
13 "And you, speak to the {Israelites}, saying, 'Surely you must keep my Sabbaths, because it [is] a sign between me and you throughout your generations, [in order] to know that I [am] Yahweh, who consecrates you.
14 And you must keep the Sabbath, because it is holy for you; defilers of it will surely be put to death, because anyone who does work on it--that person will be cut off from among his people.
15 [On] six days work can be done, and on the seventh {is a Sabbath of complete rest}, {a holy day} for Yahweh; anyone doing work on the Sabbath day will surely be put to death.
16 The {Israelites} will pay attention to the Sabbath [in order] to fulfill the Sabbath throughout their generations [as] a lasting covenant.
17 It [is] a sign between me and the {Israelites} forever, because [in] six days Yahweh made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh he ceased and recovered."
18 And when he finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, he gave to Moses the two tablets of the testimony, stone tablets, written with the finger of God.

Images for Exodus 31

Footnotes 12

  • [a]. In other words, "specifically chosen"
  • [b]. Or "understanding," "discernment," "cleverness"
  • [c]. Literally "the garments of the holiness" or "the holy garments"
  • [d]. Literally "sons/children of Israel"
  • [e]. Or "profaners," those who treat it as common
  • [f]. Literally "a Sabbath of 'Sabbathation.'" "Sabbathation" is not a real word, but devised as an attempt to convey the sounds of the related nouns in the Hebrew phrase
  • [g]. Literally "holiness"
  • [h]. Literally "sons/children of Israel"
  • [i]. Or "keep the Sabbath to do/observe the Sabbath"
  • [j]. Literally "sons/children of Israel"
  • [k]. Or "rested"
  • [l]. Or "breathed freely," "got his breath"

Exodus 31 Commentaries

Scripture quotations marked (LEB) are from the Lexham English Bible. Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software.