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36 “Bezalel, Oholiab, and all the other workers to whom the Lord has given skill and understanding, who know how to make everything needed to build the sacred Tent, are to make everything just as the Lord has commanded.”

The People Bring Many Gifts

Moses called Bezalel, Oholiab, and all the other skilled men to whom the Lord had given ability and who were willing to help, and Moses told them to start working. They received from him all the offerings which the Israelites had brought for constructing the sacred Tent. But the people of Israel continued to bring Moses their offerings every morning. Then the skilled men who were doing the work went and told Moses, “The people are bringing more than is needed for the work which the Lord commanded to be done.”

So Moses sent a command throughout the camp that no one was to make any further contribution for the sacred Tent; so the people did not bring any more. What had already been brought was more than enough to finish all the work.

Making the Tent of the Lord's Presence(A)

The most skilled men among those doing the work made the Tent of the Lord's presence. They made it out of ten pieces of fine linen woven with blue, purple, and red wool and embroidered with figures of winged creatures. Each piece was the same size, 14 yards long and 2 yards wide. 10 They sewed five of them together in one set and did the same with the other five. 11 They made loops of blue cloth on the edge of the outside piece in each set. 12 They put fifty loops on the first piece of the first set and fifty loops matching them on the last piece of the second set. 13 They made fifty gold hooks, with which to join the two sets into one piece.

14 Then they made a cover for the Tent out of eleven pieces of cloth made of goats' hair. 15 They made them all the same size, 15 yards long and 2 yards wide. 16 They sewed five of them together in one set and the other six in another set. 17 They put fifty loops on the edge of the last piece of one set and fifty loops on the edge of the other set. 18 They made fifty bronze hooks to join the two sets, so as to form one cover. 19 They made two more coverings, one of rams' skin dyed red and the other of fine leather, to serve as an outer cover.

20 They made upright frames of acacia wood for the Tent. 21 Each frame was 15 feet tall and 27 inches wide, 22 with two matching projections, so that the frames could be joined together. All the frames had these projections. 23 They made twenty frames for the south side 24 and forty silver bases to go under them, two bases under each frame to hold its two projections. 25 They made twenty frames for the north side of the Tent 26 and forty silver bases, two under each frame. 27 For the back of the Tent, on the west, they made six frames 28 and two frames for the corners. 29 These corner frames were joined at the bottom and connected all the way to the top. The two frames that formed the two corners were made in this way. 30 So there were eight frames and sixteen silver bases, two under each frame.

31 They made fifteen crossbars of acacia wood, five for the frames on one side of the Tent, 32 five for the frames on the other side, and five for the frames on the west end, at the back. 33 The middle crossbar, set halfway up the frames, extended from one end of the Tent to the other. 34 They covered the frames with gold and fitted them with gold rings to hold the crossbars, which were also covered with gold.

35 They made a curtain of fine linen, woven with blue, purple, and red wool and embroidered it with figures of winged creatures. 36 They made four posts of acacia wood to hold the curtain, covered them with gold, and fitted them with gold hooks. Then they made four silver bases to hold the posts. 37 For the entrance of the Tent they made a curtain of fine linen woven with blue, purple, and red wool and decorated with embroidery. 38 For this curtain they made five posts fitted with hooks, covered their tops and their rods with gold, and made five bronze bases for the posts.

36 So Bezalel, Oholiab and every skilled person(A) to whom the Lord has given skill and ability to know how to carry out all the work of constructing the sanctuary(B) are to do the work just as the Lord has commanded.”

Then Moses summoned Bezalel(C) and Oholiab(D) and every skilled person to whom the Lord had given ability and who was willing(E) to come and do the work. They received from Moses all the offerings(F) the Israelites had brought to carry out the work of constructing the sanctuary. And the people continued to bring freewill offerings morning after morning. So all the skilled workers who were doing all the work on the sanctuary left what they were doing and said to Moses, “The people are bringing more than enough(G) for doing the work the Lord commanded to be done.”

Then Moses gave an order and they sent this word throughout the camp: “No man or woman is to make anything else as an offering for the sanctuary.” And so the people were restrained from bringing more, because what they already had was more(H) than enough to do all the work.

The Tabernacle(I)

All those who were skilled among the workers made the tabernacle with ten curtains of finely twisted linen and blue, purple and scarlet yarn, with cherubim woven into them by expert hands. All the curtains were the same size—twenty-eight cubits long and four cubits wide.[a] 10 They joined five of the curtains together and did the same with the other five. 11 Then they made loops of blue material along the edge of the end curtain in one set, and the same was done with the end curtain in the other set. 12 They also made fifty loops on one curtain and fifty loops on the end curtain of the other set, with the loops opposite each other. 13 Then they made fifty gold clasps and used them to fasten the two sets of curtains together so that the tabernacle was a unit.(J)

14 They made curtains of goat hair for the tent over the tabernacle—eleven altogether. 15 All eleven curtains were the same size—thirty cubits long and four cubits wide.[b] 16 They joined five of the curtains into one set and the other six into another set. 17 Then they made fifty loops along the edge of the end curtain in one set and also along the edge of the end curtain in the other set. 18 They made fifty bronze clasps to fasten the tent together as a unit.(K) 19 Then they made for the tent a covering of ram skins dyed red, and over that a covering of the other durable leather.[c]

20 They made upright frames of acacia wood for the tabernacle. 21 Each frame was ten cubits long and a cubit and a half wide,[d] 22 with two projections set parallel to each other. They made all the frames of the tabernacle in this way. 23 They made twenty frames for the south side of the tabernacle 24 and made forty silver bases to go under them—two bases for each frame, one under each projection. 25 For the other side, the north side of the tabernacle, they made twenty frames 26 and forty silver bases—two under each frame. 27 They made six frames for the far end, that is, the west end of the tabernacle, 28 and two frames were made for the corners of the tabernacle at the far end. 29 At these two corners the frames were double from the bottom all the way to the top and fitted into a single ring; both were made alike. 30 So there were eight frames and sixteen silver bases—two under each frame.

31 They also made crossbars of acacia wood: five for the frames on one side of the tabernacle, 32 five for those on the other side, and five for the frames on the west, at the far end of the tabernacle. 33 They made the center crossbar so that it extended from end to end at the middle of the frames. 34 They overlaid the frames with gold and made gold rings to hold the crossbars. They also overlaid the crossbars with gold.

35 They made the curtain(L) of blue, purple and scarlet yarn and finely twisted linen, with cherubim woven into it by a skilled worker. 36 They made four posts of acacia wood for it and overlaid them with gold. They made gold hooks for them and cast their four silver bases. 37 For the entrance to the tent they made a curtain of blue, purple and scarlet yarn and finely twisted linen—the work of an embroiderer;(M) 38 and they made five posts with hooks for them. They overlaid the tops of the posts and their bands with gold and made their five bases of bronze.

Footnotes

  1. Exodus 36:9 That is, about 42 feet long and 6 feet wide or about 13 meters long and 1.8 meters wide
  2. Exodus 36:15 That is, about 45 feet long and 6 feet wide or about 14 meters long and 1.8 meters wide
  3. Exodus 36:19 Possibly the hides of large aquatic mammals (see 35:7)
  4. Exodus 36:21 That is, about 15 feet long and 2 1/4 feet wide or about 4.5 meters long and 68 centimeters wide