Exodus
Chapter 30
1 Make an altar for burning incense from acacia wood.
2 The length will be one cubit and the width one cubit; it will be square. The height will be two cubits, and the horns will be part of it.
3 Cover it with pure gold—the top, sides, and horns—and make a gold border around it.
4 Make two gold rings for it below its molding on opposite sides to hold the poles used to carry it.
5 Make the poles from acacia wood and cover them with gold.
6 Place it in front of the curtain near the Ark of the Agreement, before the cover above the Agreement, where I will meet with you.
7 Aaron must burn sweet-smelling incense there every morning: when he prepares the lamps, he must burn incense on it.
8 When Aaron lights the lamps in the evening, he must burn incense on it, a continuous offering of incense before God for all time to come.
9 Do not burn any other incense, make burnt offerings, or grain offerings on it, nor pour a drink offering on it.
10 Aaron must make amends on its horns once a year using the blood from the sacrifice for sins. Every year he must do this for all your future generations. It is very holy to God.
11 God spoke to Moses and said,
12 When you count the people of Israel, each one must pay God to save their life, so that no disease comes when you count them.
13 Everyone counted must give this: half a shekel based on the sanctuary’s shekel (which is twenty gerahs). Half a shekel is the donation to God.
14 Everyone who is counted, age twenty and older, must give an offering to God.
15 Rich people should not give more, and poor people should not give less than half a shekel when they give an offering to God to atone for your souls.
16 Take the atonement money from the Israelites and use it for the work of the meeting tent; it will remind the Israelites of God, who makes amends for your lives.
17 God spoke to Moses and said,
18 Make a basin of bronze with a bronze stand for washing. Place it between the tent of meeting and the altar, and fill it with water.
19 Aaron and his sons must wash their hands and feet there.
20 When they enter the meeting tent, they must wash with water so they will not die; or when they approach the altar to serve, to burn a fire offering to God.
21 They must wash their hands and feet so they won’t die. This rule will last forever for them, their children, and for all future generations.
22 God spoke to Moses, saying,
23 Get the best spices for yourself: 500 shekels of pure myrrh, half as much sweet cinnamon, which is 250 shekels, and 250 shekels of sweet calamus.
24 Five hundred shekels of cassia, by the holy shekel, and an hin of olive oil.
25 Make a holy oil, a mixed ointment like a perfume maker’s craft; it will be a sacred anointing oil.
26 You will use the oil to anoint the tent where people meet and the chest that holds the laws.
27 The table and all its dishes, the lampstand and its tools, and the altar for burning incense,
28 The altar for burnt offerings with all its tools, and the washbasin with its base.
29 Make these things holy, so they will be very holy; whatever touches them will become holy.
30 You will anoint Aaron and his sons, prepare them, so they can serve me as priests.
31 Tell the people of Israel: This oil will be special for anointing, to be used for me by all your future generations.
32 Do not pour it on human skin, and do not make anything similar to it. It is special, and it must be kept special for you.
33 Anyone who makes something similar, or who puts some on a non-Israelite, must be separated from their community.
34 God told Moses, “Take sweet spices, stacte, onycha, and galbanum; mix these sweet spices with pure frankincense, using equal weights of each.”
35 Make it a scented mixture, crafted by a perfumer, mixed well, clean and sacred.
36 Grind some of it into fine powder and place it in front of the covenant box in the tent of meeting, where I will come to you. It shall be very holy for you.
37 Make the perfume as I have instructed you. Do not make any for yourselves using this recipe. It is special and only for God.
38 Anyone who makes perfume like that to smell it will be separated from their people.