The Incense Altar
30 1 Make an altar for burning incense; make it of acacia wood. 2 Square: about eighteen inches long, eighteen inches wide, and about three feet high, its horns of one piece with it. 3 Cover it in pure gold — its top, sides all around, and horns — then add a gold rim around it. 4 Make two gold rings below its molding, on two opposite sides, to hold the carrying poles. 5 Make the poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold. 6 Set it before the curtain that is by the ark of the testimony, before the cover over the testimony, where I will meet you. 7 Every morning when he tends the lamps, Aaron shall burn fragrant incense on it. 8 When Aaron sets up the lamps at dusk, he shall burn it — a continual incense before me, through your generations. 9 Do not offer unauthorized incense, burnt offering, or grain offering on it; do not pour a drink offering on it. 10 Once a year Aaron shall atone on its horns; once a year, with the blood of the sin offering of atonement, he shall atone for it throughout your generations. It is most holy to me.
The Census Ransom
11 Our Father said to Moses,
12 When you take a census of the Israelites to count them, each must give me a ransom for his life at that counting, so no plague comes on them as they are counted. 13 Everyone counted must give about a fifth of an ounce of silver, by the sanctuary standard, as an offering to me. 14 Everyone who is counted, twenty years old and upward, shall give this offering to me. 15 The rich must not give more, nor the poor less, than this fifth of an ounce, when you offer it to me to atone for your lives. 16 Take the atonement money from the Israelites; give it for the tent of meeting's service. It will be a memorial for the Israelites before me, to atone for your lives.
The Bronze Basin
17 Our Father said to Moses,
18 Make a bronze basin with its bronze stand, for washing. Set it between the tent of meeting and the altar; put water in it. 19 so that Aaron and his sons can use it to wash their hands and feet. 20 Entering the tent of meeting, they must wash with water so they won't die; or approaching the altar to serve, to burn a food offering to me, 21 They must wash their hands and feet, or they will die. It is a lasting rule for Aaron and his descendants, generation after generation.
The Holy Anointing Oil
22 Our Father said to Moses,
23 Take the finest spices: 12½ pounds of liquid myrrh, half as much — 6¼ pounds — of fragrant cinnamon, and 6¼ pounds of fragrant cane, 24 and twelve and a half pounds of cassia, measured by the sanctuary shekel, and a gallon of olive oil. 25 Make it a holy anointing oil, a blended perfume, the work of a perfumer — a holy anointing oil. 26 With it anoint the tent of meeting, the ark of the testimony, 27 the table and all its utensils, the lampstand and its utensils, the altar of incense, 28 the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils, and the basin with its stand. 29 Dedicate them so they are most holy; whatever touches them becomes holy. 30 Anoint Aaron and his sons; dedicate them to serve me as priests. 31 Say to the Israelites, 'This shall be my holy anointing oil throughout your generations. 32 Don't pour it on anyone's body, and don't make anything like it by its formula. It is holy — it shall be holy to you. 33 Whoever blends anything like it, or puts it on an outsider, will be cut off from his people.
Sacred Incense
34 Our Father said to Moses, "Take fragrant spices — stacte, onycha, and galbanum — these fragrant spices with pure frankincense, in equal parts." a a v34 Stacte, onycha, and galbanum are aromatic plant resins used in ancient Near Eastern incense blends. 35 and make them into fragrant incense, the work of a perfumer, seasoned with salt, pure and holy. 36 Grind some of it very fine and put some before the testimony in the tent of meeting, where I will meet you. It remains most holy to you. 37 Don't make incense to this formula for yourselves; it is holy to you, for it belongs to me. 38 Whoever makes any like it to enjoy its fragrance shall be cut off from his people."
