Exodus 27

Make an altar of acacia wood. It is to be five cubits long and five cubits wide, so the altar is square, and three cubits high.

1And thou shalt make an altar of shittim wood, five cubits long, and five cubits broad; the altar shall be foursquare: and the height thereof shall be three cubits.

NoteA cubit was about eighteen inches, roughly the length of a forearm from elbow to fingertip. The altar is therefore about seven and a half feet square and four and a half feet high. An altar was a raised structure on which animals and grain were burned as offerings; this one stood in the open courtyard, not inside the tent. Acacia is a hard, dense desert wood, the main timber available in Sinai.

2Make horns for it on its four corners. The horns are to be all one piece with the altar, and you are to cover the altar with bronze.

2And thou shalt make the horns of it upon the four corners thereof: his horns shall be of the same: and thou shalt overlay it with brass.

NoteThe horns were four upward projections, one at each top corner, made from the same block as the corners rather than attached separately. Blood from offerings was smeared on them, and someone in danger of death could seek protection by taking hold of them. Bronze (an alloy of copper and tin, called "brass" in the King James) was the toughest common metal of the time and is used throughout for the outdoor fittings, where gold is used inside the tent.

3Make its pots for taking away the ashes, and its shovels, its bowls, its forks for the meat, and its pans for carrying fire. Make all its tools of bronze.

3And thou shalt make his pans to receive his ashes, and his shovels, and his basons, and his fleshhooks, and his firepans: all the vessels thereof thou shalt make of brass.

NoteThe pots were for carrying away the greasy ash left by burnt offerings; the forks were long hooks for lifting and turning pieces of meat on the fire; the firepans held live coals being moved from one place to another.

4Make a grating for it, a mesh of bronze, and on the mesh make four bronze rings, one at each of its four corners.

4And thou shalt make for it a grate of network of brass; and upon the net shalt thou make four brasen rings in the four corners thereof.

5Put the grating under the rim of the altar, low down, so that the mesh reaches halfway up the altar.

5And thou shalt put it under the compass of the altar beneath, that the net may be even to the midst of the altar.

NoteThe rim, or ledge, is a shelf running round the outside of the altar. The bronze mesh sat below it, inside the hollow altar box, so the fire rested halfway up rather than at ground level.

6Make poles for the altar, poles of acacia wood, and cover them with bronze.

6And thou shalt make staves for the altar, staves of shittim wood, and overlay them with brass.

7The poles are to be put through the rings, so that the poles are along the two sides of the altar when it is carried.

7And the staves shall be put into the rings, and the staves shall be upon the two sides of the altar, to bear it.

NoteThe whole sanctuary was portable, designed to be dismantled and carried through the desert, so the altar has permanent rings and poles like a stretcher rather than being lifted directly.

8Make the altar hollow, out of boards. It is to be made just as you were shown on the mountain.

8Hollow with boards shalt thou make it: as it was shewed thee in the mount, so shall they make it.

NoteThe mountain is Sinai, where Moses is being given these instructions; the pattern he was shown is referred to earlier in the same set of directions.

9Also make the courtyard of the tabernacle. For the south side, facing south, there are to be hangings for the courtyard made of fine twisted linen, a hundred cubits long for that one side,

9And thou shalt make the court of the tabernacle: for the south side southward there shall be hangings for the court of fine twined linen of an hundred cubits long for one side:

NoteThe tabernacle is the portable tent-sanctuary being described from chapter 25 onward. The courtyard is the fenced enclosure around it: not a wall but linen sheets hung between posts, marking off the area where the altar stood. A hundred cubits is about a hundred and fifty feet.

10with twenty posts and twenty bronze bases for them. The hooks on the posts and the bands around them are to be of silver.

10And the twenty pillars thereof and their twenty sockets shall be of brass; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets shall be of silver.

NoteThe bases were heavy sockets that sat on the ground and held the posts upright. The hooks carried the linen hangings; the bands were rings or rods of silver around the posts. Fifty cubits is about seventy-five feet.

11In the same way, along the north side there are to be hangings a hundred cubits long, with twenty posts and twenty bronze bases for them, and with silver hooks on the posts and silver bands around them.

11And likewise for the north side in length there shall be hangings of an hundred cubits long, and his twenty pillars and their twenty sockets of brass; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets of silver.

12Across the width of the courtyard on the west side there are to be hangings fifty cubits long, with ten posts and ten bases.

12And for the breadth of the court on the west side shall be hangings of fifty cubits: their pillars ten, and their sockets ten.

13The width of the courtyard on the east side, facing the sunrise, is to be fifty cubits.

13And the breadth of the court on the east side eastward shall be fifty cubits.

NoteThe east side, facing the sunrise, is the entrance end; the hangings described next leave a gap in the middle for the gate.

14The hangings on one side of the gate are to be fifteen cubits long, with three posts and three bases.

14The hangings of one side of the gate shall be fifteen cubits: their pillars three, and their sockets three.

15On the other side there are to be hangings fifteen cubits long, with three posts and three bases.

15And on the other side shall be hangings fifteen cubits: their pillars three, and their sockets three.

16For the gate of the courtyard there is to be a curtain twenty cubits long, made of blue, purple, and scarlet yarn and fine twisted linen, worked with embroidery. It is to have four posts and four bases.

16And for the gate of the court shall be an hanging of twenty cubits, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, wrought with needlework: and their pillars shall be four, and their sockets four.

NoteBlue, purple and scarlet were costly dyes (the first two from shellfish, the third from an insect) and mark this curtain as more elaborate than the plain white linen of the rest of the fence. Twenty cubits is about thirty feet.

17All the posts around the courtyard are to have silver bands around them. Their hooks are to be of silver, and their bases of bronze.

17All the pillars round about the court shall be filleted with silver; their hooks shall be of silver, and their sockets of brass.

18The courtyard is to be a hundred cubits long and fifty cubits wide all through, with hangings of fine twisted linen five cubits high, and bases of bronze.

18The length of the court shall be an hundred cubits, and the breadth fifty every where, and the height five cubits of fine twined linen, and their sockets of brass.

NoteFive cubits is about seven and a half feet, higher than a person, so the courtyard could not be seen into from outside.

19All the tools of the tabernacle, used for any of its work, and all its tent pegs, and all the tent pegs of the courtyard, are to be made of bronze.

19All the vessels of the tabernacle in all the service thereof, and all the pins thereof, and all the pins of the court, shall be of brass.

NoteTent pegs were driven into the ground to hold the guy ropes that kept the posts and hangings taut, as with any large tent.

20You are to command the Israelites to bring you pure oil from crushed olives for the light, to keep the lamp burning all the time.

20And thou shalt command the children of Israel, that they bring thee pure oil olive beaten for the light, to cause the lamp to burn always.

NoteOil from crushed olives means oil from the first crushing, before heat or heavy pressing, which is clearest and burns with least smoke and soot. The lamp is the seven-branched lampstand described in chapter 25.

21In the tent of meeting, outside the curtain that hangs in front of the Testimony, Aaron and his sons are to tend the lamp from evening until morning before the LORD. This is to be a lasting rule for the Israelites, for all their generations.

21In the tabernacle of the congregation without the vail, which is before the testimony, Aaron and his sons shall order it from evening to morning before the LORD: it shall be a statute for ever unto their generations on the behalf of the children of Israel.

NoteThe tent of meeting is another name for the tabernacle, the place where God was said to meet Moses. The curtain divides the tent into two rooms; the Testimony is the pair of stone tablets of the covenant, kept in the chest in the inner room. "Before the LORD" means in the sanctuary, in God's presence. A lasting rule is a standing regulation meant to hold for future generations, not a one-off instruction.