Exo 25 | EE | STEP | The LORD said to Moses:

Exodus 25

Gifts for the tabernacle

1 The LORD said to Moses: 2 ‘Tell the Israelites that they must bring me a gift. Every person who wants to give can do so. You must receive the gifts for me. 3 These are the gifts that you must receive from the people:

gold
silver and bronze
4 blue, purple and red material
and special white material
goat’s hair,
5 red sheep skins and badger skins
wood from acacia trees
6 olive oil for the lights
sweet powder from plants for the special oil, to make a lovely smell
7 many different stones, all valuable, to fix on to the priest‘s special clothes.’ ^{▼▼25:7 Gold, silver and bronze are valuable metals. The blue, purple and red material would perhaps be cotton. The white material was linen. People make this from a plant called flax. Acacia wood is very strong and hard. Sweet powder comes from many different plants. The Israelites mixed it with olive oil.}

8 ‘You must command the Israelites to make a special place for me. Then I will come and live among them. 9 I will show you how to make this tabernacle and everything inside it. But you must make it completely as I tell you.

The Ark

10 The Israelites must make a box of acacia wood. It must be one metre long, three quarters of a metre wide and three quarters of a metre high. 11 Cover it with gold, both inside and outside, and then build up the edges with gold. 12 Make four gold rings and fix them to the feet of the box. Fix two rings on one side and two rings on the other side. 13 Then make two sticks out of acacia wood and cover them with gold. 14 Push the sticks into the rings on the sides of the box. This is how you will carry it. 15 The sticks must remain in the rings of this Ark. You must not remove them. 16 Then put into the Ark the words of the covenant that I have written. I will give these to you.

17 Make a gold lid for the Ark. Make it one metre long and three quarters of a metre wide. 18 And make two angels from gold. Use a hammer to make them the right shape. 19 Make one angel on one end of the lid and the second angel on the other end. The two angels, one at each end, must be part of the lid. 20 The angels‘wings must point to the sky and they must make a shadow over the lid. Each angel‘s face must look toward the other angel and toward the lid. 21 Put the lid on the top of the Ark. Put the words of the covenant that I have written into the Ark. I will give these words to you. 22 I will meet with you there, above the lid, between the two angels. The angels are over the Ark of the covenant. I will meet with you and I will give to you all my commands for the Israelites.

The table

23 Make a table out of acacia wood. Make it one metre long, half a metre wide and three quarters of a metre high. 24 Cover it with gold, and then build up the edges with gold. 25 Also, fix an extra piece of wood round it, 7 centimetres wide, and build up these edges with gold.

26 Make four gold rings for the table. Fix them to the four corners, where the four legs of the table are. 27 The rings must be very near to the extra piece of wood. They will hold the sticks that you will use to carry the table. 28 Make the sticks out of acacia wood and cover them with gold. Use them to carry the table. 29 Make the plates and the spoons out of gold, also the pots and the dishes. You will use these to pour out the gifts of drink. 30 Put the special loaves of bread on this table. They must be there in front of me always.

The lampstand

31 Make a lampstand out of gold. Use a hammer to make it the right shape. Make its cups like open almond flowers and some that are not yet open. You must make every part of the lampstand from one piece of gold. 32 Make six branches on the lampstand, three branches on each side of it. 33 Put three cups like almond flowers on one branch and three on the next branch. Make some of these flowers open and some not yet open. Put three cups on each of the six branches of the lampstand. 34 On the lampstand itself, put four cups like almond flowers, some open and some not yet open. 35 Put one flower, not yet open, under the first pair of branches. Put a second flower, not yet open, under the second pair of branches. Put the third flower, not yet open, under the third pair of branches. There are six branches on the lampstand. 36 You must make the flowers and the branches from the same piece of gold as the lampstand. Use a hammer to make the gold into the right shape.

37 Then make 7 lamps and fix them to the lampstand. Fix them so that they will light the space in front of it. 38 You must make small tools from gold, with which to clean the lamps. You must also make dishes for it. 39 You must make the lampstand and all its tools and dishes from 34 kilos of gold. 40 Be careful how you make all these things. You must copy them completely as you saw them on the mountain.