The Message Bible MSG
English Standard Version ESV
1 "Bezalel and Oholiab, along with everyone whom God has given the skill and know-how for making everything involved in the worship of the Sanctuary as commanded by God, are to start to work."
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“Bezalel and Oholiab and every craftsman in whom the Lord has put skill and intelligence to know how to do any work in the construction of the sanctuary shall work in accordance with all that the Lord has commanded. ”
2 Moses summoned Bezalel and Oholiab along with all whom God had gifted with the ability to work skillfully with their hands. The men were eager to get started and engage in the work.
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And Moses called Bezalel and Oholiab and every craftsman in whose mind the Lord had put skill, everyone whose heart stirred him up to come to do the work.
3 They took from Moses all the offerings that the Israelites had brought for the work of constructing the Sanctuary. The people kept on bringing in their freewill offerings, morning after morning.
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And they received from Moses all the contribution that the people of Israel had brought for doing the work on the sanctuary. They still kept bringing him freewill offerings every morning,
4 All the artisans who were at work making everything involved in constructing the Sanctuary came, one after another,
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so that all the craftsmen who were doing every sort of task on the sanctuary came, each from the task that he was doing,
5 to Moses, saying, "The people are bringing more than enough for doing this work that God has commanded us to do!"
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and said to Moses, “The people bring much more than enough for doing the work that the Lord has commanded us to do. ”
6 So Moses sent out orders through the camp: "Men! Women! No more offerings for the building of the Sanctuary!"
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So Moses gave command, and word was proclaimed throughout the camp, “Let no man or woman do anything more for the contribution for the sanctuary. ” So the people were restrained from bringing,
7 There was plenty of material for all the work to be done. Enough and more than enough. The Tapestries
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for the material they had was sufficient to do all the work, and more.
8 Then all the skilled artisans on The Dwelling made ten tapestries of fine twisted linen and blue, purple, and scarlet fabric with an angel-cherubim design worked into the material.
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And all the craftsmen among the workmen made the tabernacle with ten curtains. They were made of fine twined linen and blue and purple and scarlet yarns, with cherubim skillfully worked.
9 Each panel of tapestry was forty-six feet long and six feet wide.
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The length of each curtain was twenty-eight cubits, and the breadth of each curtain four cubits. All the curtains were the same size.
10 Five of the panels were joined together, and then the other five.
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He coupled five curtains to one another, and the other five curtains he coupled to one another.
11 Loops of blue were made along the edge of the outside panel of the first set, and the same on the outside panel of the second set.
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He made loops of blue on the edge of the outermost curtain of the first set. Likewise he made them on the edge of the outermost curtain of the second set.
12 They made fifty loops on each panel, with the loops opposite each other.
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He made fifty loops on the one curtain, and he made fifty loops on the edge of the curtain that was in the second set. The loops were opposite one another.
13 Then they made fifty gold clasps and joined the tapestries together so that The Dwelling was one whole.
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And he made fifty clasps of gold, and coupled the curtains one to the other with clasps. So the tabernacle was a single whole.
14 Next they made tapestries of woven goat hair for a tent that would cover The Dwelling. They made eleven panels of these tapestries.
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He also made curtains of goats’ hair for a tent over the tabernacle. He made eleven curtains.
15 The length of each panel was forty-five feet long and six feet wide.
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The length of each curtain was thirty cubits, and the breadth of each curtain four cubits. The eleven curtains were the same size.
16 They joined five of the panels together, and then the other six,
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He coupled five curtains by themselves, and six curtains by themselves.
17 by making fifty loops along the edge of the end panel and fifty loops along the edge of the joining panel,
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And he made fifty loops on the edge of the outermost curtain of the one set, and fifty loops on the edge of the other connecting curtain.
18 then making fifty clasps of bronze, connecting the clasps to the loops, bringing the tent together.
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And he made fifty clasps of bronze to couple the tent together that it might be a single whole.
19 They finished it off by covering the tapestries with tanned rams' skins dyed red, and covered that with dolphin skins. The Framing
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And he made for the tent a covering of tanned rams’ skins and goatskins.
20 They framed The Dwelling with vertical planks of acacia wood,
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Then he made the upright frames for the tabernacle of acacia wood.
21 each section of frame fifteen feet long and two and a quarter feet wide,
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Ten cubits was the length of a frame, and a cubit and a half the breadth of each frame.
22 with two pegs for securing them. They made all the frames identical:
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Each frame had two tenons for fitting together. He did this for all the frames of the tabernacle.
23 twenty frames for the south side,
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The frames for the tabernacle he made thus: twenty frames for the south side.
24 with forty silver sockets to receive the two tenons from each of the twenty frames;
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And he made forty bases of silver under the twenty frames, two bases under one frame for its two tenons, and two bases under the next frame for its two tenons.
25 they repeated that construction on the north side of The Dwelling.
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For the second side of the tabernacle, on the north side, he made twenty frames
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and their forty bases of silver, two bases under one frame and two bases under the next frame.
27 For the rear of The Dwelling facing west, they made six frames,
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For the rear of the tabernacle westward he made six frames.
28 with two additional frames for the rear corners.
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He made two frames for corners of the tabernacle in the rear.
29 Both of the two corner frames were double in thickness from top to bottom and fit into a single ring
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And they were separate beneath but joined at the top, at the first ring. He made two of them this way for the two corners.
30 - eight frames altogether with sixteen sockets of silver, two under each frame.
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There were eight frames with their bases of silver: sixteen bases, under every frame two bases.
31 They made crossbars of acacia wood, five for the frames on one side of The Dwelling,
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He made bars of acacia wood, five for the frames of the one side of the tabernacle,
32 five for the other side, and five for the back side facing west.
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and five bars for the frames of the other side of the tabernacle, and five bars for the frames of the tabernacle at the rear westward.
33 The center crossbar ran from end to end halfway up the frames.
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And he made the middle bar to run from end to end halfway up the frames.
34 They covered the frames with a veneer of gold, made gold rings to hold the crossbars, and covered the crossbars with a veneer of gold.
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And he overlaid the frames with gold, and made their rings of gold for holders for the bars, and overlaid the bars with gold.
35 They made the curtain of blue, purple, and scarlet material and fine twisted linen. They wove a design of angel-cherubim into it.
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He made the veil of blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen; with cherubim skillfully worked into it he made it.
36 They made four posts of acacia wood, covered them with a veneer of gold, and cast four silver bases for them.
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And for it he made four pillars of acacia and overlaid them with gold. Their hooks were of gold, and he cast for them four bases of silver.
37 They made a screen for the door of the tent, woven from blue, purple, and scarlet material and fine twisted linen with embroidery.
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He also made a screen for the entrance of the tent, of blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen, embroidered with needlework,
38 They framed the weaving with five poles of acacia wood covered with a veneer of gold, and made gold hooks to hang the weaving and five bronze bases for the poles.
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and its five pillars with their hooks. He overlaid their capitals, and their fillets were of gold, but their five bases were of bronze.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®) © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved. ESV Text Edition: 2025