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Chapter Summary
Make an altar for burning incense. The Israelites shall each give half a shekel. Make a bronze laver. Make anointing oil and incense.
1“You shall also make an altar, for the burning of incense, from setim wood, 2having one cubit in length, and another in width, that is, four equal sides, and two cubits in height. Horns shall proceed from the same. 3And you shall clothe it with the purest gold, both its grating and the walls around it, and also the horns. And you shall make for it a crown of gold in a circle, 4and two gold rings under the crown on each side, so that the bars may be set in them and the altar may be carried. 5Also, you shall make its bars of setim wood, and you shall overlay them with gold. 6And you shall set the altar opposite the veil, which hangs in front of the ark of the testimony, before the propitiatory with which the testimony is covered, where I will speak to you. 7And Aaron shall burn incense upon it, a sweet fragrance, in the morning. When he lights the lamps, he shall burn it. 8And when he assembles them in the evening, he shall burn an everlasting incense before the Lord throughout your generations. 9You shall not offer upon it incense of another composition, nor an oblation, nor a victim; neither shall you offer libations. 10And Aaron shall pray over its horns once a year, with the blood of what was offered for sin. And he shall make atonement over it in your generations. It shall be the Holy of holies to the Lord.”
11And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 12“When you have taken the sum of the sons of Israel, according to their number, each shall give a price for their souls to the Lord, and there will be no scourge among them, when they will be reviewed. 13Then all those who pass shall give by name: one half shekel, according to the measure at the temple. A shekel has twenty obols. The half part of a shekel shall be offered to the Lord. 14He who has been numbered from twenty years and above shall give the price. 15The rich shall not add to the half shekel, and the poor shall diminish nothing. 16And the money received, which was collected from the sons of Israel, you shall deliver for the uses of the tabernacle of the testimony, so that it may be a memorial of them before the Lord, and he may act favorably toward their souls.”
17And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 18“You shall also make a bronze washtub with its base to wash in; and you shall place it between the tabernacle of the testimony and the altar. And when water has been added, 19Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and feet in it: 20when they enter the tabernacle of the testimony, and when they approach to the altar so as to offer incense to the Lord upon it, 21otherwise, they may die. This shall be an everlasting law to him, and to his offspring, throughout their successions.”
22And the Lord spoke to Moses, 23saying: “Take for yourself aromatics: of the first and best myrrh, five hundred shekels, and of cinnamon half as much, that is, two hundred and fifty shekels; of sweet flag similarly two hundred and fifty, 24but of cassia, five hundred shekels by the weight of the sanctuary, and of the oil of olives the measure of a hin. 25And you shall make the holy oil of unction, an ointment composed with the skills of a perfumer, 26and with it you shall anoint the tabernacle of the testimony, and the ark of the testament, 27and the table with its vessels, and the lampstand and its utensils, the altars of incense 28and of holocaust, and all the items that pertain to their rituals. 29And you shall sanctify everything, and they shall be the Holy of holies. He who will touch them must be sanctified. 30You shall anoint Aaron and his sons, and you shall sanctify them, so that they may exercise the priesthood for me. 31Likewise, you shall say to the sons of Israel: ‘This oil of unction will be holy to me throughout your generations. 32The flesh of man shall not be anointed from it, and you shall not make any similar compound, for it has been sanctified and it shall be holy to you. 33Whatever man will have composed such a thing and have given it to a stranger, he shall be exterminated from his people.’”
34And the Lord said to Moses: “Take to yourself aromatics: stacte, and onycha, galbanum of sweet odor, and the clearest frankincense, all these shall be of equal weight. 35And you shall make incense composed with the skills of a perfumer, diligently mixed, and pure, and most worthy of sanctification. 36And when you have crushed all these into a very fine powder, you shall place some of it before the tabernacle of the testimony, in the place where I will appear to you. The Holy of holies shall this incense be to you. 37You shall not make such a compound for your own uses, because it is holy to the Lord. 38Whatever man will have made anything similar, so as to thoroughly enjoy its smell, he shall perish from his people.”