Exodus 38

He made the altar for burnt offerings out of acacia wood. It was five cubits long and five cubits wide, so it was square, and it was three cubits high.

1And he made the altar of burnt offering of shittim wood: five cubits was the length thereof, and five cubits the breadth thereof; it was foursquare; and three cubits the height thereof.

NoteA cubit was about eighteen inches (45 cm), roughly the length of a forearm from elbow to fingertip, so this altar was about seven and a half feet square and four and a half feet high. A "burnt offering" was a sacrifice burned up entirely on the altar rather than eaten. Acacia is a hard, dense desert wood.

2He made its horns on its four corners, and the horns were of one piece with the altar. He covered the altar with bronze.

2And he made the horns thereof on the four corners of it; the horns thereof were of the same: and he overlaid it with brass.

NoteThe horns were four upward-pointing projections, one at each corner, carved as part of the altar rather than attached. Blood from sacrifices was smeared on them, and someone seeking protection could take hold of them.

3He made all the equipment for the altar out of bronze: the pots, the shovels, the bowls, the meat forks, and the firepans. Every one of these he made of bronze.

3And he made all the vessels of the altar, the pots, and the shovels, and the basons, and the fleshhooks, and the firepans: all the vessels thereof made he of brass.

NoteThe bowls were for catching and throwing sacrificial blood; the firepans were shovels or trays for carrying live coals and ash away from the altar. "Bronze" is what the King James calls "brass": an alloy of copper and tin, the ordinary hard metal of the period.

4For the altar he made a bronze grate of mesh, set under its ledge and reaching halfway up from the bottom.

4And he made for the altar a brasen grate of network under the compass thereof beneath unto the midst of it.

5He cast four rings for the four ends of the bronze grate, to hold the poles.

5And he cast four rings for the four ends of the grate of brass, to be places for the staves.

6He made the poles out of acacia wood and covered them with bronze.

6And he made the staves of shittim wood, and overlaid them with brass.

7He put the poles into the rings on the sides of the altar, so that the altar could be carried with them. He made the altar hollow, out of boards.

7And he put the staves into the rings on the sides of the altar, to bear it withal; he made the altar hollow with boards.

8He made the basin of bronze, and its stand of bronze, out of the mirrors of the women who gathered at the entrance of the tent of meeting.

8And he made the laver of brass, and the foot of it of brass, of the lookingglasses of the women assembling, which assembled at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.

NoteMirrors then were discs of bronze polished until they reflected, not glass. The Hebrew word for what these women were doing at the entrance means to serve or do duty, the same word used elsewhere of the Levites' work at the sanctuary, and it is not stated here what their service consisted of.

9He made the courtyard. On the south side, facing south, the curtains of the courtyard were of finely twisted linen and ran a hundred cubits.

9And he made the court: on the south side southward the hangings of the court were of fine twined linen, an hundred cubits:

NoteThe courtyard was the fenced open enclosure surrounding the tent, its wall made of linen curtains hung between posts. A hundred cubits is about a hundred and fifty feet.

10They had twenty posts and twenty bronze bases. The hooks on the posts and the bands around them were silver.

10Their pillars were twenty, and their brasen sockets twenty; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets were of silver.

NoteThe bases were heavy metal blocks that the posts stood in, holding them upright the way a weighted foot does. The bands were silver rings or rods running around the posts.

11On the north side the curtains also ran a hundred cubits, with twenty posts and twenty bronze bases. The hooks on the posts and the bands around them were silver.

11And for the north side the hangings were an hundred cubits, their pillars were twenty, and their sockets of brass twenty; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets of silver.

12On the west side the curtains ran fifty cubits, with ten posts and ten bases. The hooks on the posts and the bands around them were silver.

12And for the west side were hangings of fifty cubits, their pillars ten, and their sockets ten; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets of silver.

13On the east side, facing east, it was fifty cubits.

13And for the east side eastward fifty cubits.

14The curtains on one side of the gate were fifteen cubits long, with three posts and three bases.

14The hangings of the one side of the gate were fifteen cubits; their pillars three, and their sockets three.

15On the other side of the courtyard gate, on this side and on that side, the curtains were fifteen cubits long, with three posts and three bases.

15And for the other side of the court gate, on this hand and that hand, were hangings of fifteen cubits; their pillars three, and their sockets three.

16All the curtains around the courtyard were made of finely twisted linen.

16All the hangings of the court round about were of fine twined linen.

17The bases for the posts were bronze. The hooks on the posts and the bands around them were silver, and the covering on the tops of the posts was silver. Every post of the courtyard had silver bands.

17And the sockets for the pillars were of brass; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets of silver; and the overlaying of their chapiters of silver; and all the pillars of the court were filleted with silver.

18The curtain for the gate of the courtyard was embroidered work of blue, purple, and scarlet yarn with finely twisted linen. It was twenty cubits long, and across its width it stood five cubits high, matching the curtains of the courtyard.

18And the hanging for the gate of the court was needlework, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen: and twenty cubits was the length, and the height in the breadth was five cubits, answerable to the hangings of the court.

NoteBlue, purple, and scarlet were the costliest dyes known (the first two extracted from sea snails, the third from an insect), so the colors themselves signaled expense.

19It had four posts and four bronze bases. Their hooks were silver, and the covering on their tops and their bands were silver.

19And their pillars were four, and their sockets of brass four; their hooks of silver, and the overlaying of their chapiters and their fillets of silver.

20All the tent pegs for the tabernacle, and for the courtyard all around it, were bronze.

20And all the pins of the tabernacle, and of the court round about, were of brass.

21This is the count of the materials for the tabernacle, the tabernacle of the testimony, as it was counted at Moses' command. It was work done by the Levites under the direction of Ithamar, son of Aaron the priest.

21This is the sum of the tabernacle, even of the tabernacle of testimony, as it was counted, according to the commandment of Moses, for the service of the Levites, by the hand of Ithamar, son to Aaron the priest.

Note"The testimony" means the two inscribed stone tablets kept inside the chest at the heart of the tent; the tent is named after them. The Levites were the tribe assigned to transport and care for the sanctuary. Ithamar was Aaron's youngest son.

22Bezaleel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, made everything the LORD had commanded Moses.

22And Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, made all that the LORD commanded Moses.

23With him was Aholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, an engraver, a skilled workman, and an embroiderer in blue, purple, and scarlet yarn and fine linen.

23And with him was Aholiab, son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, an engraver, and a cunning workman, and an embroiderer in blue, and in purple, and in scarlet, and fine linen.

24All the gold used for the work, in all the work of the holy place, the gold that had been given as an offering, came to twenty-nine talents and seven hundred thirty shekels, by the sanctuary shekel.

24All the gold that was occupied for the work in all the work of the holy place, even the gold of the offering, was twenty and nine talents, and seven hundred and thirty shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary.

NoteA talent weighed roughly seventy-five pounds (34 kg) and contained three thousand shekels; a shekel was about two-fifths of an ounce (11.5 g). The gold here therefore came to about a ton. "By the sanctuary shekel" means measured against the official standard weight kept at the sanctuary, since local weights varied.

25The silver from those of the community who were counted came to a hundred talents and one thousand seven hundred seventy-five shekels, by the sanctuary shekel.

25And the silver of them that were numbered of the congregation was an hundred talents, and a thousand seven hundred and threescore and fifteen shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary:

NoteThis silver was not donated freely but collected as a fixed payment from every man counted in the census, about three and three-quarter tons in all.

26This was one beka for each man, that is, half a shekel by the sanctuary shekel, for every man who came to be counted, from twenty years old and up. There were six hundred three thousand five hundred fifty men.

26A bekah for every man, that is, half a shekel, after the shekel of the sanctuary, for every one that went to be numbered, from twenty years old and upward, for six hundred thousand and three thousand and five hundred and fifty men.

NoteA beka was a standard weight of about a fifth of an ounce (5.7 g). Counting "from twenty years old and up" was the standard way of registering men old enough for military service, so the figure counts adult men only, not the whole population.

27From the hundred talents of silver the bases of the sanctuary and the bases of the inner curtain were cast: a hundred bases from the hundred talents, one talent for each base.

27And of the hundred talents of silver were cast the sockets of the sanctuary, and the sockets of the vail; an hundred sockets of the hundred talents, a talent for a socket.

NoteA talent of silver per base means each of these foundation blocks weighed about seventy-five pounds. The "inner curtain" is the screen dividing off the innermost room of the tent, where the chest holding the tablets stood.

28From the one thousand seven hundred seventy-five shekels he made hooks for the posts, covered the tops of the posts, and made bands for them.

28And of the thousand seven hundred seventy and five shekels he made hooks for the pillars, and overlaid their chapiters, and filleted them.

29The bronze that had been given as an offering came to seventy talents and two thousand four hundred shekels.

29And the brass of the offering was seventy talents, and two thousand and four hundred shekels.

NoteAbout two and a half tons of bronze.

30With it he made the bases for the entrance of the tent of meeting, the bronze altar, the bronze grate for it, and all the equipment of the altar,

30And therewith he made the sockets to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and the brasen altar, and the brasen grate for it, and all the vessels of the altar,

31and the bases around the courtyard, the bases for the courtyard gate, all the tent pegs for the tabernacle, and all the tent pegs around the courtyard.

31And the sockets of the court round about, and the sockets of the court gate, and all the pins of the tabernacle, and all the pins of the court round about.