Exodus 29-32

Exodus 29

¹This is what you are to do to make them holy, to do the work of priests to me: Take one young ox and two male sheep, without any mark on them,

²And unleavened bread, and unleavened cakes mixed with oil, and thin unleavened cakes on which oil has been put, made of the best bread-meal;

³Put these in a basket and take them, with the ox and the two sheep.

⁴And let Aaron and his sons come to the door of the Tent of meeting, and there let them be washed with water.

⁵Take the robes, and put the coat and the dress and the ephod and the priest's bag on Aaron; put the band of needlework round him,

⁶And let the head-dress be placed on his head and the holy crown on the head-dress.

⁷Then take the oil and put it on his head.

⁸And take his sons and put their robes on them;

⁹And put the linen bands round Aaron and his sons, and the head-dresses on them, to make them priests by my order for ever: so you are to make Aaron and his sons holy to me.

¹⁰Then let the ox be taken in front of the Tent of meeting: and let Aaron and his sons put their hands on its head.

¹¹And you are to put the ox to death before the Lord at the door of the Tent of meeting.

¹²Then take some of the blood of the ox, and put it on the horns of the altar with your finger, draining out all the rest of the blood at the base of the altar.

¹³And take all the fat covering the inside of the ox, and the fat joining the liver and the two kidneys with the fat round them, and let them be burned on the altar;

¹⁴But the flesh of the ox and its skin and its waste parts are to be burned outside the circle of the tents, for it is a sin-offering.

¹⁵Then take one of the sheep, and let Aaron and his sons put their hands on its head.

¹⁶Then let it be put to death, so that the sides of the altar are marked with its blood.

¹⁷Then the sheep is to be cut up into its parts, and after washing its legs and its inside parts, you are to put them with the parts and the head,

¹⁸And let them all be burned on the altar as a burned offering to the Lord: a sweet smell, an offering made by fire to the Lord.

¹⁹Then take the other sheep; and after Aaron and his sons have put their hands on its head,

²⁰You are to put the sheep to death, and take some of its blood and put it on the point of Aaron's right ear, and of the right ears of his sons, and on the thumbs of their right hands and the great toes of their right feet, dropping the rest of the blood on the sides of the altar.

²¹Then take some of the blood on the altar, and the oil, and put it on Aaron and his robes and on his sons and on their robes, so that he and his robes and his sons and their robes may be made holy.

²²Then take the fat of the sheep, the fat tail, the fat covering the insides, and the fat joining the liver and the two kidneys with the fat round them, and the right leg; for by the offering of this sheep they are to be marked out as priests:

²³And take one bit of bread and one cake of oiled bread and one thin cake out of the basket of unleavened bread which is before the Lord:

²⁴And put them all on the hands of Aaron and of his sons, to be waved for a wave offering before the Lord.

²⁵Then take them from their hands, and let them be burned on the burned offering on the altar, a sweet smell before the Lord, an offering made by fire to the Lord.

²⁶Then take the breast of Aaron's sheep, waving it before the Lord; and it is to be your part of the offering.

²⁷So you are to make holy the breast of the sheep which is waved and the leg which is lifted up on high, that is, of the sheep which is offered for Aaron and his sons;

²⁸And it will be their part as a right for ever from the children of Israel, it is a special offering from the children of Israel, made from their peace-offerings, a special offering lifted up to the Lord.

²⁹And Aaron's holy robes will be used by his sons after him; they will put them on when they are made priests.

³⁰For seven days the son who becomes priest in his place will put them on when he comes into the Tent of meeting to do the work of the holy place.

³¹Then take the sheep of the wave offering and let its flesh be cooked in water in a holy place.

³²And let Aaron and his sons make a meal of it, with the bread in the basket, at the door of the Tent of meeting.

³³All those things which were used as offerings to take away sin, and to make them holy to be priests, they may have for food: but no one who is not a priest may have them, for they are holy food.

³⁴And if any of the flesh of the offering or of the bread is over till the morning, let it be burned with fire; it is not to be used for food, for it is holy.

³⁵All these things you are to do to Aaron and his sons as I have given you orders: for seven days the work of making them priests is to go on.

³⁶Every day an ox is to be offered as a sin-offering, to take away sins: and by this offering on it, you will make the altar clean from sin; and you are to put oil on it and make it holy.

³⁷For seven days you are to make offerings for the altar and make it holy, so that it may become completely holy, and anything touching it will become holy.

³⁸Now this is the offering which you are to make on the altar: two lambs in their first year, every day regularly.

³⁹One lamb is to be offered in the morning and the other in the evening:

⁴⁰And with the one lamb, a tenth part of an ephah of the best meal, mixed with a fourth part of a hin of clear oil; and the fourth part of a hin of wine for a drink offering.

⁴¹And the other lamb is to be offered in the evening, and with it the same meal offering and drink offering, for a sweet smell, an offering made by fire to the Lord.

⁴²This is to be a regular burned offering made from generation to generation, at the door of the Tent of meeting before the Lord, where I will come face to face with you and have talk with you.

⁴³There I will come face to face with the children of Israel, and the Tent will be made holy by my glory

⁴⁴I will make holy the Tent of meeting and the altar: and Aaron and his sons I will make holy, to be my priests

⁴⁵Among the children of Israel I will make my living-place, and I will be their God.

⁴⁶And they will see that I am the Lord their God, who took them out of the land of Egypt, so that I might be ever with them: I am the Lord their God.

Exodus 30

¹And you are to make an altar for the burning of perfume; of hard wood let it be made.

²The altar is to be square, a cubit long and a cubit wide, and two cubits high, and its horns are to be made of the same.

³It is to be plated with the best gold, the top of it and the sides and the horns, with an edging of gold all round it.

⁴Under the edge on the two opposite sides, you are to make two gold rings, to take the rods for lifting it.

⁵And make these rods of the same wood, plating them with gold.

⁶And let it be placed in front of the veil before the ark of the law, before the cover which is over the law, where I will come face to face with you.

⁷And on this altar sweet spices are to be burned by Aaron every morning when he sees to the lights.

⁸And every evening, when he puts the lights up in their places, the spices are to be burned, a sweet-smelling smoke going up before the Lord from generation to generation for ever.

⁹No strange perfume, no burned offering or meal offering, and no drink offering is to be offered on it.

¹⁰And once every year Aaron is to make its horns clean: with the blood of the sin-offering he is to make it clean once every year from generation to generation: it is most holy to the Lord.

¹¹And the Lord said to Moses,

¹²When you are taking the number of the children of Israel, let every man who is numbered give to the Lord a price for his life, so that no disease may come on them when they are numbered.

¹³And this is what they are to give; let every man who is numbered give half a shekel, by the scale of the holy place: (the shekel being valued at twenty gerahs:) this money is an offering to the Lord.

¹⁴Everyone who is numbered, from twenty years old and over, is to give an offering to the Lord.

¹⁵The man of wealth is to give no more and the poor man no less than the half-shekel of silver, when the offering is made to the Lord as the price for your lives.

¹⁶And you are to take this money from the children of Israel to be used for the work of the Tent of meeting, to keep the memory of the children of Israel before the Lord and to be the price of your lives.

¹⁷And the Lord said to Moses,

¹⁸You are to make a brass washing-vessel, with a brass base; and put it between the Tent of meeting and the altar, with water in it;

¹⁹That it may be used by Aaron and his sons for washing their hands and feet;

²⁰Whenever they go into the Tent of meeting they are to be washed with water, to keep them from death; and whenever they come near to do the work of the altar, or to make an offering by fire to the Lord,

²¹Their hands and feet are to be washed. so that they may be safe from death: this is an order to them for ever; to him and his seed from generation to generation.

²²And the Lord said to Moses,

²³Take the best spices, five hundred shekels' weight of liquid myrrh, and of sweet cinnamon half as much, that is, two hundred and fifty shekels, and two hundred and fifty shekels of sweet calamus,

²⁴And of cassia, five hundred shekels' weight measured by the scale of the holy place, and of olive oil a hin:

²⁵And make these into a holy oil, a perfume made by the art of the perfume-maker; it is to be a holy oil.

²⁶This oil is to be put on the Tent of meeting, and on the ark of the law,

²⁷And on the table and all its vessels, and on the support for the lights, with its vessels, and on the altar for burning spices,

²⁸And on the altar of burned offerings with its vessels, and on the washing-vessel and its base.

²⁹And you are to make them most holy; anything touching them will become holy.

³⁰And put the oil on Aaron and his sons, making them holy to do the work of priests to me.

³¹And say to the children of Israel, This is to be the Lord's holy oil, from generation to generation.

³²It is not to be used for man's flesh, and no other is to be made like it: holy it is, and you are to keep it holy.

³³Whoever makes any like it, or puts it on one who is not a priest, will be cut off from his people.

³⁴And the Lord said to Moses, Take sweet spices, stacte and onycha and galbanum, with the best frankincense, in equal weights;

³⁵And make from them a perfume, such as is made by the art of the perfume-maker, mixed with salt, and clean and holy.

³⁶And put some of it, crushed very small, in front of the ark in the Tent of meeting, where I will come face to face with you; it is to be most holy.

³⁷You are not to make any perfume like it for yourselves: it is to be kept holy to the Lord.

³⁸Whoever makes any like it, for its sweet smell, will be cut off from his people.

Exodus 31

¹And the Lord said to Moses,

²I have made selection of Bezalel, the son of Uri, by name, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah:

³And I have given him the spirit of God and made him wise and full of knowledge and expert in every sort of handwork,

⁴To do all sorts of delicate work in gold and silver and brass;

⁵In cutting stones for framing, and to do every form of woodwork.

⁶And I have made selection of Oholiab with him, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan; and in the hearts of all who are wise I have put the knowledge to make whatever I have given you orders to have made;

⁷The Tent of meeting, and the ark of the law, and the cover which is on it, and all the things for the tent,

⁸And the table with its vessels, and the holy light-support with all its vessels, and the altar for the burning of spices,

⁹And the altar of burned offerings with all its vessels, and the washing-vessel with its base,

¹⁰And the robes of needlework, the holy robes for Aaron and for his sons, for their use when acting as priests,

¹¹And the holy oil, and the perfume of sweet spices for the holy place; they will do whatever I have given you orders to have done.

¹²And the Lord said to Moses,

¹³Say to the children of Israel that they are to keep my Sabbaths; for the Sabbath day is a sign between me and you through all your generations; so that you may see that I am the Lord who makes you holy.

¹⁴So you are to keep the Sabbath as a holy day; and anyone not honouring it will certainly be put to death: whoever does any work on that day will be cut off from his people.

¹⁵Six days may work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of complete rest, holy to the Lord; whoever does any work on the Sabbath day is to be put to death.

¹⁶And the children of Israel are to keep the Sabbath holy, from generation to generation, by an eternal agreement.

¹⁷It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever; because in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he took his rest and had pleasure in it.

¹⁸And when his talk with Moses on Mount Sinai was ended, he gave him the two stones of the law, two stones on which was the writing made by the finger of God.

Exodus 32

¹And when the people saw that Moses was a long time coming down from the mountain, they all came to Aaron and said to him, Come, make us a god to go before us: as for this Moses, who took us up out of the land of Egypt, we have no idea what has become of him.

²Then Aaron said to them, Take off the gold rings which are in the ears of your wives and your sons and your daughters, and give them to me.

³And all the people took the gold rings from their ears and gave them to Aaron.

⁴And he took the gold from them and, hammering it with an instrument, he made it into the metal image of a young ox: and they said, This is your god, O Israel, who took you out of the land of Egypt.

⁵And when Aaron saw this, he made an altar before it, and made a public statement, saying, Tomorrow there will be a feast to the Lord.

⁶So early on the day after they got up and made burned offerings and peace-offerings; and took their seats at the feast, and then gave themselves to pleasure.

⁷And the Lord said to Moses, Go down quickly; for your people, whom you took out of the land of Egypt, are turned to evil ways;

⁸Even now they are turned away from the rule I gave them, and have made themselves a metal ox and given worship to it and offerings, saying, This is your god, O Israel, who took you up out of the land of Egypt.

⁹And the Lord said to Moses, I have been watching this people, and I see that they are a stiff-necked people.

¹⁰Now do not get in my way, for my wrath is burning against them; I will send destruction on them, but of you I will make a great nation.

¹¹But Moses made prayer to God, saying, Lord, why is your wrath burning against your people whom you took out of the land of Egypt, with great power and with the strength of your hand?

¹²Why let the Egyptians say, He took them out to an evil fate, to put them to death on the mountains, cutting them off from the earth? Let your wrath be turned away from them, and send not this evil on your people.

¹³Have in mind Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you gave your oath, saying, I will make your seed like the stars of heaven in number, and all this land will I give to your seed, as I said, to be their heritage for ever.

¹⁴So the Lord let himself be turned from his purpose of sending punishment on his people.

¹⁵Then Moses came down the mountain with the two stones of the law in his hand; the stones had writing on their two sides, on the front and on the back.

¹⁶The stones were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, cut on the stones.

¹⁷Now when the noise and the voices of the people came to the ears of Joshua, he said to Moses, There is a noise of war in the tents.

¹⁸And Moses said, It is not the voice of men who are overcoming in the fight, or the cry of those who have been overcome; it is the sound of songs which comes to my ear.

¹⁹And when he came near the tents he saw the image of the ox, and the people dancing; and in his wrath Moses let the stones go from his hands, and they were broken at the foot of the mountain.

²⁰And he took the ox which they had made, burning it in the fire and crushing it to powder, and he put it in the water and made the children of Israel take a drink of it.

²¹And Moses said to Aaron, What did the people do to you that you let this great sin come on them?

²²And Aaron said, Let not my lord be angry; you have seen how the purposes of this people are evil.

²³For they said to me, Make us a god to go before us: as for this Moses, who took us up out of the land of Egypt, we have no idea what has come to him.

²⁴Then I said to them, Whoever has any gold, let him take it off; so they gave it to me, and I put it in the fire, and this image of an ox came out.

²⁵And Moses saw that the people were out of control, for Aaron had let them loose to their shame before their haters:

²⁶Then Moses took his place at the way into the tents, and said, Whoever is on the Lord's side, let him come to me. And all the sons of Levi came together to him.

²⁷And he said to them, This is the word of the Lord, the God of Israel: Let every man take his sword at his side, and go from one end of the tents to the other, putting to death his brother and his friend and his neighbour.

²⁸And the sons of Levi did as Moses said; and about three thousand of the people were put to death that day.

²⁹And Moses said, You have made yourselves priests to the Lord this day; for every one of you has made the offering of his son and his brother; the blessing of the Lord is on you this day.

³⁰And on the day after, Moses said to the people, Great has been your sin: but I will go up to the Lord, and see if I may get forgiveness for your sin.

³¹Then Moses went back to the Lord and said, This people has done a great sin, making themselves a god of gold;

³²But now, if you will give them forgiveness — but if not, let my name be taken out of your book.

³³And the Lord said to Moses, Whoever has done evil against me will be taken out of my book.

³⁴But now, go, take the people into that place of which I have given you word; see, my angel will go before you: but when the time of my judging has come, I will send punishment on them for their sin.

³⁵And the Lord sent punishment on the people because they gave worship to the ox which Aaron made.