The Living Bible (28 page)

Exodus
24

The Lord now instructed Moses, “Come up here with Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel. All of you except Moses are to worship at a distance.
²
 Moses alone shall come near to the Lord; and remember, none of the ordinary people are permitted to come up into the mountain at all.”

    
³
 Then Moses announced to the people all the laws and regulations God had given him; and the people answered in unison, “We will obey them all.”

    
⁴
 Moses wrote down the laws; and early the next morning he built an altar at the foot of the mountain, with twelve pillars around the altar because there were twelve tribes of Israel.
⁵
 Then he sent some of the young men to sacrifice the burnt offerings and peace offerings to the Lord.
⁶
 Moses took half of the blood of these animals and drew it off into basins. The other half he splashed against the altar.

    
⁷
 And he read to the people the Book he had written—the Book of the Covenant—containing God’s directions and laws. And the people said again, “We solemnly promise to obey every one of these rules.”

    
⁸
 Then Moses threw the blood from the basins toward the people and said, “This blood confirms and seals the covenant the Lord has made with you in giving you these laws.”

    
⁹
 Then Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up into the mountain.
¹⁰
 And they saw the God of Israel; under his feet there seemed to be a pavement of brilliant sapphire stones, as clear as the heavens.

    
¹¹
 Yet, even though the elders saw God, he did not destroy them; and they had a meal together before the Lord.

    
¹²
 And the Lord said to Moses, “Come up to me into the mountain, and remain until I give you the laws and commandments I have written on tablets of stone, so that you can teach the people from them.”
¹³
 So Moses and Joshua, his assistant, went up into the mountain of God.

    
¹⁴
 He told the elders, “Stay here and wait for us until we come back; if there are any problems while I am gone, consult with Aaron and Hur.”

    
¹⁵
 Then Moses went up the mountain and disappeared into the cloud at the top.
¹⁶
 And the glory of the Lord rested upon Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days; the seventh day he called to Moses from the cloud.
¹⁷
 Those at the bottom of the mountain saw the awesome sight: the glory of the Lord on the mountaintop looked like a raging fire.
¹⁸
 And Moses disappeared into the cloud-covered mountaintop, and was there for forty days and forty nights.

Exodus
25

Jehovah said to Moses, “Tell the people of Israel that everyone who wants to may bring me an offering from this list: gold, silver, bronze, blue cloth, purple cloth, scarlet cloth, fine-twined linen, goats’ hair, red-dyed rams’ skins, goatskins, acacia wood, olive oil for the lamps, spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense, onyx stones, stones to be set in the ephod and in the breastplate.

    
⁸
 “For I want the people of Israel to make me a sacred Temple where I can live among them.

    
⁹
 “This home of mine shall be a tent pavilion—a Tabernacle. I will give you a drawing of the construction plan and the details of each furnishing.

    
¹⁰
 “Using acacia wood, make an Ark 3
³
/
4
feet long, 2
¹
/
4
feet wide, and 2
¹
/
4
feet high.
¹¹
 Overlay it inside and outside with pure gold, with a molding of gold all around it.
¹²
 Cast four rings of gold for it and attach them to the four lower corners, two rings on each side.
^13-14
 Make poles from acacia wood overlaid with gold, and fit the poles into the rings at the sides of the Ark to carry it.
¹⁵
 These carrying poles shall never be taken from the rings, but are to be left there permanently.
¹⁶
 When the Ark is finished, place inside it the tablets of stone I will give you, with the Ten Commandments engraved on them.
*

    
¹⁷
 “And make a lid of pure gold, 3
³
/
4
feet long and 2
¹
/
4
feet wide. This is the place of mercy for your sins.
*
¹⁸
 Then make two statues of Guardian Angels
*
using beaten gold, and place them at the two ends of the lid of the Ark.
¹⁹
 They shall be one piece with the mercy place, one at each end.
²⁰
 The Guardian Angels shall be facing each other, looking down upon the place of mercy, and shall have wings spread out above the gold lid.
²¹
 Install the lid upon the Ark, and place within the Ark the tablets of stone I shall give you.
²²
 And I will meet with you there and talk with you from above the place of mercy between the Guardian Angels; and the Ark will contain the laws of my covenant. There I will tell you my commandments for the people of Israel.

    
²³
 “Then make a table of acacia wood 3 feet long, 1
¹
/
2
feet wide, and 2
¹
/
4
feet high.
²⁴
 Overlay it with pure gold, and run a rib of gold around it.
²⁵
 Put a molding four inches wide around the edge of the top, and a gold ridge along the molding, all around.
^26-27
 Make four gold rings and put the rings at the outside corner of the four legs, close to the top; these are rings for the poles that will be used to carry the table.
²⁸
 Make the poles from acacia wood overlaid with gold.
²⁹
 And make gold dishes, spoons, pitchers, and flagons;
³⁰
 and always keep the special Bread of the Presence on the table before me.

    
³¹
 “Make a lampstand of pure, beaten gold. The entire lampstand and its decorations shall be one piece—the base, shaft, lamps, and blossoms.
^32-33
 It will have three branches going out from each side of the center shaft, each branch decorated with three almond flowers.
^34-35
 The central shaft itself will be decorated with four almond flowers—one placed between each set of branches; also, there will be one flower above the top set of branches and one below the bottom set.
³⁶
 These decorations and branches and the shaft are all to be one piece of pure, beaten gold.
³⁷
 Then make seven lamps for the lampstand, and set them so that they reflect their light forward.
³⁸
 The snuffers and trays are to be made of pure gold.
³⁹
 You will need about 95 pounds
*
of pure gold for the lampstand and its accessories.

    
⁴⁰
 “Be sure that everything you make follows the pattern I am showing you here on the mountain.

Exodus
26

“Make the tabernacle-tent from ten colored sheets of fine linen, 42 feet long and 6 feet wide, dyed blue, purple, and scarlet, with figures of Guardian Angels embroidered on them.
³
 Join five sheets end to end for each side of the tent, forming two long pieces, one for each side.
^4-5
 Use loops at the edges to join these two long pieces together side by side. There are to be fifty loops on each side, opposite each other.
⁶
 Then make fifty gold clasps to fasten the loops together, so that the Tabernacle, the dwelling place of God, becomes a single unit.

    
^7-8
 “The roof of the Tabernacle is made of goats’ hair tarpaulins. There are to be eleven of these tarpaulins, each 45 feet across and 6 feet wide.
⁹
 Connect five of these tarpaulins into one wide section; and use the other six for another wide section. (The sixth tarpaulin will hang down to form a curtain across the front of the sacred tent.)
^10-11
 Use fifty loops along the edges of each of these two wide pieces, to join them together with fifty bronze clasps. Thus the two widths become one.
¹²
 There will be a 1
¹
/
2
-foot length of this roof covering hanging down from the back of the tent,
¹³
 and a 1
¹
/
2
-foot length at the front.
¹⁴
 On top of these blankets is placed a layer of rams’ skins, dyed red, and over them a top layer of goatskins. This completes the roof covering.

    
^15-16
 “The framework of the sacred tent shall be made from acacia wood, each frame piece being 15 feet high and 2
¹
/
4
feet wide, standing upright,
¹⁷
 with grooves on each side to mortise into the next upright piece.
^18-19
 Twenty of these frames will form the south side of the sacred tent, with forty silver bases for the frames to fit into—two bases under each piece of the frame.
²⁰
 On the north side there will also be twenty of these frames,
²¹
 with their forty silver bases, two bases for each frame, one under each edge.
²²
 On the west side there will be six frames,
²³
 and two frames at each corner.
²⁴
 These corner frames will be connected at the bottom and top with clasps.
²⁵
 So, in all, there will be eight frames on that end of the building with sixteen silver bases for the frames—two bases under each frame.

    
^26-27
 “Make bars of acacia wood to run across the frames, five bars on each side of the Tabernacle. Also five bars for the rear of the building, facing westward.
²⁸
 The middle bar, halfway up the frames, runs all the way from end to end of the Tabernacle.
²⁹
 Overlay the frames with gold, and make gold rings to hold the bars; and also overlay the bars with gold.
³⁰
 Set up this Tabernacle-tent in the manner I showed you on the mountain.

    
³¹
 “Inside the Tabernacle,
*
make a curtain from fine linen, with blue, purple, and scarlet Guardian Angels embroidered into the cloth.
³²
 Hang this curtain on gold hooks set into four pillars made from acacia wood overlaid with gold. The pillars are to be set in silver bases.
³³
 Behind this curtain place the Ark containing the stone tablets engraved with God’s laws. The curtain will separate the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place.

    
³⁴
 “Now install the mercy place—the golden lid of the Ark—in the Most Holy Place.
³⁵
 Place the table and lampstand across the room from each other on the outer side of the veil, the lampstand on the south and the table on the north.

    
³⁶
 “As a screen for the door of the sacred tent, make another curtain from fine linen, skillfully embroidered in blue, purple, and scarlet.
³⁷
 Hang this curtain on gold hooks set into posts made from acacia wood overlaid with gold. The posts are to rest on bronze bases.