Offerings for the Sanctuary

1Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2“Tell the children of Israel to take an offering for Me. From every man whose heart moves him [to give willingly] you shall take My offering. 3This is the offering you are to receive from them: gold, silver, and bronze, 4blue, purple, and scarlet fabric, fine twisted linen, goats’ hair, 5rams’ [a]skins dyed red, [b]porpoise skins, [c]acacia wood, 6[olive] oil for lighting, [d]balsam for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense, 7[e]onyx stones and setting stones for the [priest’s] ephod and for the breastpiece. 8Have them build a sanctuary for Me, so that I may dwell among them. 9You shall construct it in accordance with everything that I am going to show you, as the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furniture.

Ark of the Covenant

10“They shall make an ark of acacia wood two and a half [f]cubits long, one and a half cubits wide, and one and a half cubits high. 11You shall overlay the ark with pure gold, overlay it inside and out, and you shall make a gold border (frame) around its top. 12You shall cast four gold rings for it and attach them to the four feet, two rings on either side. 13You shall make [carrying] poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold, 14and put the poles through the rings on the sides of the ark, by which to carry it. 15The poles shall remain in the rings of the ark; they shall not be removed from it [so that the ark itself need not be touched]. 16You shall put into the ark the Testimony (Ten Commandments) which I will give you.

17“You shall make a [g]mercy seat (cover) of pure gold, two and a half cubits long and one and a half cubits wide. 18You shall make two cherubim (winged angelic figures) of [solid] hammered gold at the two ends of the mercy seat. 19Make one cherub at each end, making the cherubim of one piece with the mercy seat at its two ends. 20The cherubim shall have their wings spread upward, covering the mercy seat with their wings and facing each other. The faces of the cherubim are to be looking downward toward the mercy seat. 21You shall put the mercy seat on the top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the Testimony which I will give you. 22There I will meet with you; from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are on the ark of the Testimony, I will speak [intimately] with you regarding every commandment that I will give you for the Israelites.

The Table of Bread

23“You shall make a table of acacia wood, two cubits long, one cubit wide, and one and a half cubits high. 24You shall overlay it with pure gold and make a border of gold around the top of it. 25You shall make a rim of a hand width around it; you shall make a gold border for the rim around it. 26You shall make four gold rings for it and fasten them at the four corners that are on the table’s four legs. 27The rings shall be close against the rim as holders for the poles to carry the table. 28You shall make the poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold, so that the table may be carried with them. 29You shall make its plates [for the showbread] and its cups [for incense] and its pitchers and bowls for sacrificial drink offerings; you shall make them of pure gold. 30You shall set the bread of the [h]Presence (showbread) on the table before Me at all times.

The Golden Lampstand

31“You shall make a lampstand of pure gold. The [i]lampstand and its base and its shaft shall be made of hammered work; its cups, its [j]calyxes and its flowers shall be all of one piece with it. 32Six branches shall come out of its sides; three branches of the lampstand out of the one side and three branches of the lampstand out of its other side [the shaft being the seventh branch]. 33Three cups shall be made like almond blossoms, each with a calyx and a flower on one branch, and three cups made like almond blossoms on the other branch with a calyx and a flower--so for the six branches coming out of the lampstand; 34and in the [center shaft of the] lampstand [you shall make] four cups shaped like almond blossoms, with their calyxes and their flowers. 35A calyx shall be under the first pair of branches coming out of it, and a calyx under the second pair of branches coming out of it, and a calyx under the third pair of branches coming out of it, for the six branches coming out of the lampstand. 36Their calyxes and their branches shall be of one piece with it; all of it shall be one piece of hammered work of pure gold. 37Then you shall make the lamps [of the lampstand] [k]seven in number [with one lamp at the top of the shaft]. The priests shall set up its seven lamps so that they will light the space in front of it. 38Its snuffers and their trays shall be of pure gold. 39It shall be made from a talent (50-80 lbs.) of pure gold, including all these utensils. 40See that you make them [exactly] after their pattern which was shown to you on the mountain.

[a] 5 The finished product would be similar to morocco leather.
[b] 5 The meaning of the Hebrew word is not certain; some scholars have suggested that the material is instead a fine leather of unspecified origin.
[c] 5 The acacia tree grows wild in the Sinai region. The organic compounds in its wood, which is harder than oak, repel insects and grazing animals.
[d] 6 Various pleasantly scented plant products.
[e] 7 There is usually uncertainty about the identification of precious stones mentioned in the Bible.
[f] 10 Ancient measurements like the cubit were intended to be practical in that they usually were equivalent to something that was handy and readily available. The cubit was the distance from the elbow to the outstretched fingers, and the hand width (v 25)--as its name implies--was the width of the four fingers.
[g] 17 This was a special cover serving as the place of atonement for sin, where the high priest would sprinkle the blood of a sacrifice to reconcile the Israelites to God.
[h] 30 Lit Face.
[i] 31 In Hebrew, menorah.
[j] 31 Leaf-like outer part of the flower.
[k] 37 The first objective evidence of the sevenfold lamp was found during an excavation of Tel Beit Mirsim, south of Jerusalem, where seven-armed lamps dated about 1200 B.C. were found. The seventh season at the Dothan excavation uncovered three sevenfold lamps from the period 1400-1200 B.C.