Exodus 30; Exodus 31; Exodus 32

Exodus 30

1 "Make an altar out of acacia wood for burning incense.

2 Make it square -- eighteen inches long and eighteen inches wide -- and make it thirty-six inches high. The corners that stick out like horns must be one piece with the altar.

3 Cover its top, its sides, and its corners with pure gold, and put a gold strip all around the altar.

4 Make two gold rings beneath the gold strip on opposite sides of the altar, and slide poles through them to carry the altar.

5 Make the poles from acacia wood and cover them with gold.

6 Put the altar of incense in front of the curtain that is near the Ark of the Agreement, in front of the lid that covers that Ark. There I will meet with you.

7 "Aaron must burn sweet-smelling incense on the altar every morning when he comes to take care of the oil lamps.

8 He must burn incense again in the evening when he lights the lamps, so incense will burn before the Lord every day from now on.

9 Do not use this altar for offering any other incense, or burnt offering, or any kind of grain offering, or drink offering.

10 Once a year Aaron must make the altar ready for service to God by putting blood on its corners -- the blood of the animal offered to remove sins. He is to do this once a year from now on. This altar belongs completely to the Lord's service."

11 The Lord said to Moses,

12 "When you count the people of Israel, every person must buy back his life from the Lord so that no terrible things will happen to the people when you number them.

13 Every person who is counted must pay one-fifth of an ounce of silver. (This is set by using one-half of the Holy Place measure, which weighs two-fifths of an ounce.) This amount is a gift to the Lord.

14 Every person who is counted and is twenty years old or older must give this amount to the Lord.

15 A rich person must not give more than one-fifth of an ounce, and a poor person must not give less. You are paying this to the Lord to buy back your lives.

16 Gather from the people of Israel this money paid to buy back their lives, and spend it on things for the service in the Meeting Tent. This payment will remind the Lord that the Israelites' lives have been bought back."

17 The Lord said to Moses,

18 "Make a bronze bowl, on a bronze stand, for washing. Put the bowl and stand between the Meeting Tent and the altar, and put water in the bowl.

19 Aaron and his sons must wash their hands and feet with the water from this bowl.

20 Each time they enter the Meeting Tent they must wash with water so they will not die. Whenever they approach the altar to serve as priests and offer a sacrifice to the Lord by fire,

21 they must wash their hands and their feet so they will not die. This is a rule which Aaron and his descendants are to keep from now on."

22 Then the Lord said to Moses,

23 "Take the finest spices: twelve pounds of liquid myrrh, half that amount (that is, six pounds) of sweet-smelling cinnamon, six pounds of sweet-smelling cane,

24 and twelve pounds of cassia. Weigh all these by the Holy Place measure. Also take four quarts of olive oil,

25 and mix all these things like a perfume to make a holy olive oil. This special oil must be put on people and things to make them ready for service to God.

26 Put this oil on the Meeting Tent and the Ark of the Agreement,

27 on the table and all its dishes, on the lampstand and all its tools, and on the incense altar.

28 Also, put the oil on the altar for burnt offerings and on all its tools, as well as on the bowl and the stand under the bowl.

29 You will prepare all these things for service to God, and they will be very holy. Anything that touches these things must be holy.

30 "Put the oil on Aaron and his sons to give them for service to me, that they may serve me as priests.

31 Tell the Israelites, 'This is to be my holy olive oil from now on. It is to be put on people and things to make them ready for service to God.

32 Do not pour it on the bodies of ordinary people, and do not make perfume the same way you make this oil. It is holy, and you must treat it as holy.

33 If anyone makes perfume like it or puts it on someone who is not a priest, that person must be cut off from his people.'" Incense

34 Then the Lord said to Moses, "Take these sweet-smelling spices: resin, onycha, galbanum, and pure frankincense. Be sure that you have equal amounts of each.

35 Make incense as a person who makes perfume would do. Add salt to it to keep it pure and holy.

36 Beat some of the incense into a fine powder, and put it in front of the Ark of the Agreement in the Meeting Tent, where I will meet with you. You must use this incense powder only for its very special purpose.

37 Do not make incense for yourselves the same way you make this incense. Treat it as holy to the Lord.

38 Whoever makes incense like this to use as perfume must be cut off from his people."

Exodus 31

1 Then the Lord said to Moses,

2 "See, Ihave chosen Bezalel son of Uri from the tribe of Judah. (Uri was the son of Hur.)

3 I have filled Bezalel with the Spirit of God and have given him the skill, ability, and knowledge to do all kinds of work.

4 He is able to design pieces to be made from gold, silver, and bronze,

5 to cut jewels and put them in metal, to carve wood, and to do all kinds of work.

6 I have also chosen Oholiab son of Ahisamach from the tribe of Dan to work with Bezalel. I have given skills to all the craftsmen, and they will be able to make all these things I have commanded you:

7 the Meeting Tent, the Ark of the Agreement, the lid that covers the Ark, and everything in the Tent.

8 This includes the table and everything on it, the pure gold lampstand and everything with it, the altar of incense,

9 the altar for burnt offerings and everything used with it, and the bowl and the stand under it.

10 They will make the woven clothes and the holy clothes for Aaron and the clothes for his sons to wear when they serve as priests.

11 They will also make the special olive oil used in appointing people and things to the service of the Lord, and the sweet-smelling incense for the Holy Place. "These workers will make all these things just as I have commanded you."

12 Then the Lord said to Moses,

13 "Tell the Israelites, 'You must keep the rules about my Sabbaths, because they will be a sign between you and me from now on. In this way you will know that I, the Lord, make you holy.

14 "'Make the Sabbath a holy day. If anyone treats the Sabbath like any other day, that person must be put to death; anyone who works on the Sabbath day must be cut off from his people.

15 There are six days for working, but the seventh day is a day of rest, a day holy for the Lord. Anyone who works during the Sabbath day must be put to death.

16 The Israelites must remember the Sabbath day as an agreement between them and me that will continue from now on.

17 The Sabbath day will be a sign between me and the Israelites forever, because in six days I, the Lord, made the sky and the earth. On the seventh day I did not work; I rested.'"

18 When the Lord finished speaking to Moses on Mount Sinai, he gave him the two stone tablets with the Agreement written on them, written by the finger of God.

Exodus 32

1 The people saw that a long time had passed and Moses had not come down from the mountain. So they gathered around Aaron and said, "Moses led us out of Egypt, but we don't know what has happened to him. Make us gods who will lead us."

2 Aaron said to the people, "Take off the gold earrings that your wives, sons, and daughters are wearing, and bring them to me."

3 So all the people took their gold earrings and brought them to Aaron.

4 He took the gold from the people and formed it with a tool and made a statue of a calf. Then the people said, "Israel, these are your gods who brought you out of the land of Egypt!"

5 When Aaron saw all this, he built an altar before the calf and announced, "Tomorrow there will be a special feast to honor the Lord."

6 The people got up early the next morning and offered whole burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. They sat down to eat and drink, and then they got up and sinned sexually.

7 Then the Lord said to Moses, "Go down from this mountain, because your people, the people you brought out of the land of Egypt, have ruined themselves.

8 They have quickly turned away from the things I commanded them to do. They have made for themselves a calf covered with gold, and they have worshiped it and offered sacrifices to it. They have said, 'Israel, these are your gods who brought you out of Egypt.'"

9 The Lord said to Moses, "I have seen these people, and I know that they are very stubborn.

10 So now do not stop me. I am so angry with them that I am going to destroy them. Then I will make you and your descendants a great nation."

11 But Moses begged the Lord his God and said, "Lord, don't let your anger destroy your people, whom you brought out of Egypt with your great power and strength.

12 Don't let the people of Egypt say, 'The Lord brought the Israelites out of Egypt for an evil purpose. He planned to kill them in the mountains and destroy them from the earth.' So stop being angry, and don't destroy your people.

13 Remember the men who served you -- Abraham, Isaac, and Israel. You promised with an oath to them and said, 'I will make your descendants as many as the stars in the sky. I will give your descendants all this land that I have promised them, and it will be theirs forever.'"

14 So the Lord changed his mind and did not destroy the people as he had said he might.

15 Then Moses went down the mountain, and in his hands he had the two stone tablets with the Agreement on them. The commands were written on both sides of each stone, front and back.

16 God himself had made the tablets, and God himself had written the commands on the tablets.

17 When Joshua heard the sound of the people shouting, he said to Moses, "It sounds like war down in the camp."

18 Moses answered: "It is not a shout of victory; it is not a cry of defeat. It is the sound of singing that I hear."

19 When Moses came close to the camp, he saw the gold calf and the dancing, and he became very angry. He threw down the stone tablets that he was carrying and broke them at the bottom of the mountain.

20 Then he took the calf that the people had made and melted it in the fire. He ground it into powder. Then he threw the powder into the water and forced the Israelites to drink it.

21 Moses said to Aaron, "What did these people do to you? Why did you cause them to do such a terrible sin?"

22 Aaron answered, "Don't be angry, master. You know that these people are always ready to do wrong.

23 The people said to me, 'Moses led us out of Egypt, but we don't know what has happened to him. Make us gods who will lead us.'

24 So I told the people, 'Take off your gold jewelry.' When they gave me the gold, I threw it into the fire and out came this calf!"

25 Moses saw that the people were acting wildly. Aaron had let them get out of control and become fools in front of their enemies.

26 So Moses stood at the entrance to the camp and said, "Let anyone who wants to follow the Lord come to me." And all the people from the family of Levi gathered around Moses.

27 Then Moses said to them, "The Lord, the God of Israel, says this: 'Every man must put on his sword and go through the camp from one end to the other. Each man must kill his brother, his friend, and his neighbor.'"

28 The people from the family of Levi obeyed Moses, and that day about three thousand of the Israelites died.

29 Then Moses said, "Today you have been given for service to the Lord. You were willing to kill your own sons and brothers, and God has blessed you for this."

30 The next day Moses told the people, "You have done a terrible sin. But now I will go up to the Lord. Maybe I can do something so your sins will be removed."

31 So Moses went back to the Lord and said, "How terribly these people have sinned! They have made for themselves gods from gold.

32 Now, please forgive them of this sin. If you will not, then erase my name from the book in which you have written the names of your people."

33 But the Lord told Moses, "I will erase from my book the names of the people who sin against me.

34 So now, go. Lead the people where I have told you, and my angel will lead you. When the time comes to punish, I will punish them for their sin."

35 So the Lord caused terrible things to happen to the people because of what they did with the calf Aaron had made.