The Altar of Incense

(Exodus 37:25-29)

1And you shall make an altar to burn incense on: of shittim wood shall you make it. 2A cubit shall be the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof; foursquare shall it be: and two cubits shall be the height thereof: the horns thereof shall be of the same. 3And you shall overlay it with pure gold, the top thereof, and the sides thereof round about, and the horns thereof; and you shall make to it a crown of gold round about. 4And two golden rings shall you make to it under the crown of it, by the two corners thereof, on the two sides of it shall you make it; and they shall be for places for the staves to bear it with. 5And you shall make the staves of shittim wood, and overlay them with gold. 6And you shall put it before the veil that is by the ark of the testimony, before the mercy seat that is over the testimony, where I will meet with you. 7And Aaron shall burn thereon sweet incense every morning: when he dresses the lamps, he shall burn incense on it. 8And when Aaron lights the lamps at even, he shall burn incense on it, a perpetual incense before the LORD throughout your generations. 9You shall offer no strange incense thereon, nor burnt sacrifice, nor meat offering; neither shall you pour drink offering thereon. 10And Aaron shall make an atonement on the horns of it once in a year with the blood of the sin offering of atonements: once in the year shall he make atonement on it throughout your generations: it is most holy to the LORD.

The Atonement Money

11And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 12When you take the sum of the children of Israel after their number, then shall they give every man a ransom for his soul to the LORD, when you number them; that there be no plague among them, when you number them. 13This they shall give, every one that passes among them that are numbered, half a shekel after the shekel of the sanctuary: (a shekel is twenty gerahs:) an half shekel shall be the offering of the LORD. 14Every one that passes among them that are numbered, from twenty years old and above, shall give an offering to the LORD. 15The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel, when they give an offering to the LORD, to make an atonement for your souls. 16And you shall take the atonement money of the children of Israel, and shall appoint it for the service of the tabernacle of the congregation; that it may be a memorial to the children of Israel before the LORD, to make an atonement for your souls.

The Bronze Basin

17And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 18You shall also make a laver of brass, and his foot also of brass, to wash with: and you shall put it between the tabernacle of the congregation and the altar, and you shall put water therein. 19For Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet thereat: 20When they go into the tabernacle of the congregation, they shall wash with water, that they die not; or when they come near to the altar to minister, to burn offering made by fire to the LORD: 21So they shall wash their hands and their feet, that they die not: and it shall be a statute for ever to them, even to him and to his seed throughout their generations.

The Anointing Oil

22Moreover the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 23Take you also to you principal spices, of pure myrrh five hundred shekels, and of sweet cinnamon half so much, even two hundred and fifty shekels, and of sweet calamus two hundred and fifty shekels, 24And of cassia five hundred shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary, and of oil olive an hin: 25And you shall make it an oil of holy ointment, an ointment compound after the are of the apothecary: it shall be an holy anointing oil. 26And you shall anoint the tabernacle of the congregation therewith, and the ark of the testimony, 27And the table and all his vessels, and the candlestick and his vessels, and the altar of incense, 28And the altar of burnt offering with all his vessels, and the laver and his foot. 29And you shall sanctify them, that they may be most holy: whatever touches them shall be holy. 30And you shall anoint Aaron and his sons, and consecrate them, that they may minister to me in the priest's office. 31And you shall speak to the children of Israel, saying, This shall be an holy anointing oil to me throughout your generations. 32On man's flesh shall it not be poured, neither shall you make any other like it, after the composition of it: it is holy, and it shall be holy to you. 33Whoever compounds any like it, or whoever puts any of it on a stranger, shall even be cut off from his people.

The Incense

34And the LORD said to Moses, Take to you sweet spices, stacte, and onycha, and galbanum; these sweet spices with pure frankincense: of each shall there be a like weight: 35And you shall make it a perfume, a confection after the are of the apothecary, tempered together, pure and holy: 36And you shall beat some of it very small, and put of it before the testimony in the tabernacle of the congregation, where I will meet with you: it shall be to you most holy. 37And as for the perfume which you shall make, you shall not make to yourselves according to the composition thereof: it shall be to you holy for the LORD. 38Whoever shall make like to that, to smell thereto, shall even be cut off from his people.