Exodus 30

Modern

Literal

The Altar of Incense

¹“You are also to make an altar of acacia wood for the burning of incense.

¹“ And you shall make an altar to burn incense. Of acacia wood you shall make it.

²It is to be square, a cubit long, a cubit wide, and two cubits high.^a Its horns must be of one piece.

²A cubit its length, and a cubit its width. It shall be square, and two cubits its height. from it its horns shall be.

³Overlay with pure gold the top and all the sides and horns, and make a molding of gold around it.

³And you shall overlay it with pure gold, its top and its sides all around, and its horns; and you shall make for it a molding of gold all around.

⁴And make two gold rings below the molding on opposite sides to hold the poles used to carry it.

⁴And you shall make two gold rings for it, under its molding, on two of its sides. You shall place them on both of its flanks, and they will be as holders for poles, to carry it with them.

⁵Make the poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold.

⁵And you shall make the poles of acacia wood, and you shall overlay them with gold.

⁶Place the altar in front of the veil that is before the ark of the Testimony—^abefore the mercy seat that is over the Testimony—where I will meet with you.

⁶And you shall put it before the face of the veil that is over the ark of the Testimony, before the face of the mercy seat that is over the Testimony, where I will meet with you there.

⁷And Aaron is to burn fragrant incense on it every morning when he tends the lamps.

⁷And Aaron shall burn on it incense of spices morning by morning; when he makes good the lamps, he shall burn incense on it.

⁸When Aaron sets up the lamps at twilight,^a he must burn the incense perpetually before the LORD for the generations to come.

⁸And when Aaron lifts up the lamps between the evenings, he shall burn incense continually before the face of YHWH throughout your generations.

⁹On this altar you must not offer unauthorized^a incense or a burnt offering or grain offering; nor are you to pour a drink offering on it.

⁹You shall not lift up strange incense on it, and a burnt offering, and a grain offering; and a drink offering you shall not pour on it.

¹⁰Once a year Aaron shall make atonement on the horns of the altar. Throughout your generations he shall make atonement on it annually with the blood of the sin offering^a of atonement. The altar is most holy to the LORD.”

¹⁰And Aaron shall make atonement upon its horns once in the year from the blood of the sin offering of the atonements; once in the year he shall make atonement upon it. Throughout your generations it is holy of holies to YHWH.”

The Census Offering

¹¹Then the LORD said to Moses,

¹¹And YHWH spoke to Moses, saying,

¹²“When you take a census of the Israelites to number them, each man must pay the LORD a ransom for his life when he is counted. Then no plague will come upon them when they are numbered.

¹²“When you take up the census of the sons of Israel for their number, then they shall give each man a ransom for his soul to YHWH when numbering them, and there shall not be a plague among them when numbering them.

¹³Everyone who crosses over to those counted must pay a half shekel,^a according to the sanctuary shekel, which weighs twenty gerahs.^b This half shekel is an offering to the LORD.

¹³This they shall give—everyone passing over among those who are numbered—a half shekel according to the shekel of the sanctuary (twenty gerahs is the shekel). The half shekel is a contribution to YHWH.

¹⁴Everyone twenty years of age or older who crosses over must give this offering to the LORD.

¹⁴Everyone passing over among those who are numbered, from a son of twenty years and above, shall give a contribution of YHWH.

¹⁵In making the offering to the LORD to atone for your lives, the rich shall not give more than a half shekel, nor shall the poor give less.

¹⁵The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less than the half shekel, to give a contribution of YHWH to make atonement upon your souls.

¹⁶Take the atonement money from the Israelites and use it for the service of the Tent of Meeting. It will serve as a memorial for the Israelites before the LORD to make atonement for your lives.”

¹⁶And you shall take the silver of the atonements from the sons of Israel, and you shall give it to the service of the Tent of Meeting, and it shall be for the sons of Israel, for a memorial before the face of YHWH, to make atonement upon your souls.”

The Bronze Basin

¹⁷And the LORD said to Moses,

¹⁷And YHWH spoke to Moses, saying,

¹⁸“You are to make a bronze basin with a bronze stand for washing. Set it between the Tent of Meeting and the altar, and put water in it,

¹⁸“And you shall make a basin of bronze, and its stand of bronze, for washing. And you shall put it between the Tent of Meeting and between the altar, and you shall put water in it.

¹⁹with which Aaron and his sons are to wash their hands and feet.

¹⁹And Aaron and his sons shall wash from it their hands and their feet.

²⁰Whenever they enter the Tent of Meeting or approach the altar to minister by presenting a food offering to the LORD, they must wash with water so that they will not die.

²⁰When they go into the Tent of Meeting they shall wash with water, and they shall not die; or when they draw near to the altar to minister, to burn a fire offering to YHWH.

²¹Thus they are to wash their hands and feet so that they will not die; this shall be a permanent statute for Aaron and his descendants for the generations to come.”

²¹And they shall wash their hands and their feet, and they shall not die; and it shall be to them a statute forever, to him and to his seed throughout their generations.”

The Anointing Oil

²²Then the LORD said to Moses,

²²And YHWH spoke to Moses, saying,

²³“Take the finest spices: 500 shekels of liquid myrrh,^a half that amount (250 shekels) of fragrant cinnamon,^b 250 shekels of fragrant cane,^c

²³“And you, take for yourself the finest myrrh: five hundred shekels of liquid spices; and half as much sweet-smelling cinnamon, two hundred and fifty shekels; and sweet-smelling cane, two hundred and fifty shekels;

²⁴500 shekels of cassia—^aall according to the sanctuary shekel—and a hin of olive oil.^b

²⁴and cassia, five hundred shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary; and olive oil, a hin.

²⁵Prepare from these a sacred anointing oil, a fragrant blend, the work of a perfumer; it will be a sacred anointing oil.

²⁵And you shall make it holy anointing oil, a compounded ointment, the work of a perfumer; it shall be a holy anointing oil.

²⁶Use this oil to anoint the Tent of Meeting, the ark of the Testimony,

²⁶And you shall anoint with it the Tent of Meeting and the Ark of the Testimony,

²⁷the table and all its utensils, the lampstand and its utensils, the altar of incense,

²⁷and the table and all its vessels, and the lampstand and its vessels, and the altar of incense,

²⁸the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils, and the basin with its stand.

²⁸and the altar of the burnt offering and all its vessels, and the basin and its stand.

²⁹You are to consecrate them so that they will be most holy. Whatever touches them shall be holy.

²⁹And you shall sanctify them, that they may be holy of holies. Anything that touches them shall be holy.

³⁰Anoint Aaron and his sons and consecrate them to serve Me as priests.

³⁰And you shall anoint Aaron and his sons and sanctify them to minister as priests to Me.

³¹And you are to tell the Israelites, ‘This will be My sacred anointing oil for the generations to come.

³¹And you shall speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘A holy anointing oil this is to Me throughout your generations.

³²It must not be used to anoint an ordinary man, and you must not make anything like it with the same formula. It is holy, and it must be holy to you.

³²On the flesh of man it shall not be poured, and with its proportion you shall make no other like it. It is holy; it shall be holy to you.

³³Anyone who mixes perfume like it or puts it on an outsider shall be cut off from his people.’”

³³A man who compounds like it, and whoever puts from it on an outsider, he shall be cut off from his people.’”

The Incense

³⁴The LORD also said to Moses, “Take fragrant spices—gum resin, onycha, galbanum, and pure frankincense—in equal measures,

³⁴And YHWH said to Moses, “Take unto you spices—gum resin, and onycha, and galbanum—spices and pure frankincense; there shall be part for part.

³⁵and make a fragrant blend of incense, the work of a perfumer, seasoned with salt, pure and holy.

³⁵And you shall make it incense, a compound, the work of a perfumer; salted, pure, and holy.

³⁶Grind some of it into fine powder and place it in front of the Testimony^a in the Tent of Meeting, where I will meet with you. It shall be most holy to you.

³⁶And you shall grind some of it very fine and put some of it before the face of the Testimony in the Tent of Meeting, where I will meet with you there. It shall be holy of holies to you.

³⁷You are never to use this formula to make incense for yourselves; you shall regard it as holy to the LORD.

³⁷And the incense that you shall make with its proportion, you shall not make for yourselves. It shall be holy to you for YHWH.

³⁸Anyone who makes something like it to enjoy its fragrance shall be cut off from his people.”

³⁸A man who makes something like it to smell it, he shall be cut off from his people.”