Exodus 34

Moses Gets New Stone Tablets

1 The Lord said to Moses, “Cut two more stone tablets like the first two, and I will write the same words on them that were on the first two stones which you broke.2 Be ready tomorrow morning, and then come up on Mount Sinai. Stand before me there on the top of the mountain.

3 No one may come with you or even be seen any place on the mountain. Not even the flocks or herds may eat grass near that mountain.”
4 So Moses cut two stone tablets like the first ones. Then early the next morning he went up Mount Sinai, just as the Lord had commanded him, carrying the two stone tablets with him.

5 Then the Lord came down in the cloud and stood there with Moses, and the Lord called out his name: the Lord.
6 The Lord passed in front of Moses and said, “I am the Lord. The Lord is a God who shows mercy, who is kind, who doesn’t become angry quickly, who has great love and faithfulness

7 and is kind to thousands of people. The Lord forgives people for evil, for sin, and for turning against him, but he does not forget to punish guilty people. He will punish not only the guilty people, but also their children, their grandchildren, their great-grandchildren, and their great-great-grandchildren.”
8 Then Moses quickly bowed to the ground and worshiped.

9 He said, “Lord, if you are pleased with me, please go with us. I know that these are stubborn people, but forgive our evil and our sin. Take us as your own people.”
10 Then the Lord said, “I am making this agreement with you. I will do miracles in front of all your people—things that have never before been done for any other nation on earth—and the people with you will see my work. I, the Lord, will do wonderful things for you.11 Obey the things I command you today, and I will force out the Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites ahead of you.12 Be careful that you don’t make an agreement with the people who live in the land where you are going, because it will bring you trouble.13 Destroy their altars, break their stone pillars, and cut down their Asherah idols.

14 Don’t worship any other god, because I, the Lord, the Jealous One, am a jealous God.
15 “Be careful that you don’t make an agreement with the people who live in that land. When they worship their gods, they will invite you to join them. Then you will eat their sacrifices.

16 If you choose some of their daughters as wives for your sons and those daughters worship gods, they will lead your sons to do the same thing.

17 “Do not make gods of melted metal.

18 “Celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread. For seven days you must eat bread made without yeast as I commanded you. Do this during the month I have chosen, the month of Abib, because in that month you came out of Egypt.
19 “The firstborn of every mother belongs to me, including every firstborn male animal that is born in your flocks and herds.

20 You may buy back a donkey by paying for it with a lamb, but if you don’t want to buy back a donkey, you must break its neck. You must buy back all your firstborn sons.
“No one is to come before me without a gift.

21 “You must work for six days, but on the seventh day you must rest—even during the planting season and the harvest season.

22 “Celebrate the Feast of Weeks when you gather the first grain of the wheat harvest. And celebrate the Feast of Shelters in the fall.
23 “Three times each year all your males must come before the Lord God, the God of Israel.

24 I will force out nations ahead of you and expand the borders of your land. You will go before the Lord your God three times each year, and at that time no one will try to take your land from you.

25 “Do not offer the blood of a sacrifice to me with anything containing yeast, and do not leave any of the sacrifice of the Feast of Passover until the next morning.

26 “Bring the best first crops that you harvest from your ground to the Tent of the Lord your God.
“You must not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.”

27 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write down these words, because with these words I have made an agreement with you and Israel.”

28 Moses stayed there with the Lord forty days and forty nights, and during that time he did not eat food or drink water. And Moses wrote the words of the Agreement—the Ten Commandments—on the stone tablets.

The Face of Moses Shines

29 Then Moses came down from Mount Sinai, carrying the two stone tablets of the Agreement in his hands. But he did not know that his face was shining because he had talked with the Lord.30 When Aaron and all the people of Israel saw that Moses’ face was shining, they were afraid to go near him.31 But Moses called to them, so Aaron and all the leaders of the people returned to Moses, and he talked with them.

32 After that, all the people of Israel came near him, and he gave them all the commands that the Lord had given him on Mount Sinai.
33 When Moses finished speaking to the people, he put a covering over his face.34 Anytime Moses went before the Lord to speak with him, Moses took off the covering until he came out. Then Moses would come out and tell the Israelites what the Lord had commanded.35 They would see that Moses’ face was shining. So he would cover his face again until the next time he went in to speak with the Lord.

Exodus 35

Rules About the Sabbath

1 Moses gathered all the Israelite community together and said to them, “These are the things the Lord has commanded you to do.2 You are to work for six days, but the seventh day will be a holy day, a Sabbath of rest to honor the Lord. Anyone who works on that day must be put to death.

3 On the Sabbath day you must not light a fire in any of your houses.”
4 Moses said to all the Israelites, “This is what the Lord has commanded:5 From what you have, take an offering for the Lord. Let everyone who is willing bring this offering to the Lord: gold, silver, bronze,6 blue, purple and red thread, and fine linen, goat hair7 and male sheepskins that are colored red. They may also bring fine leather, acacia wood,8 olive oil for the lamps, spices for the special olive oil used for appointing priests and for the sweet-smelling incense,

9 onyx stones, and other jewels to be put on the holy vest and chest covering of the priests.
10 “Let all the skilled workers come and make everything the Lord commanded:11 the Holy Tent, its outer tent and its covering, the hooks, frames, crossbars, posts, and bases;12 the Ark of the Agreement, its poles, lid, and the curtain in front of it;13 the table, and its poles, all the things that go with the table, and the bread that shows we are in God’s presence;14 the lampstand for the light and all the things that go with it, the lamps, and olive oil for the light;15 the altar of incense and its poles, the special oil and the sweet-smelling incense, the curtain for the entrance of the Meeting Tent;16 the altar of burnt offering and its bronze screen, its poles and all its tools, the bronze bowl and its base;17 the curtains around the courtyard, their posts and bases, and the curtain at the entry to the courtyard;18 the pegs of the Holy Tent and of the courtyard and their ropes;

19 the special clothes that the priest will wear in the Holy Place. These are the holy clothes for Aaron the priest and his sons to wear when they serve as priests.”
20 Then all the people of Israel went away from Moses.21 Everyone who wanted to give came and brought a gift to the Lord for making the Meeting Tent, all the things in the Tent, and the special clothes.22 All the men and women who wanted to give brought gold jewelry of all kinds—pins, earrings, rings, and bracelets. They all presented their gold to the Lord.23 Everyone who had blue, purple, and red thread, and fine linen, and anyone who had goat hair or male sheepskins colored red or fine leather brought them to the Lord.24 Everyone who could give silver or bronze brought that as a gift to the Lord, and everyone who had acacia wood to be used in the work brought it.25 Every skilled woman used her hands to make the blue, purple, and red thread, and fine linen, and they brought what they had made.26 All the women who were skilled and wanted to help made thread of the goat hair.27 The leaders brought onyx stones and other jewels to put on the holy vest and chest covering for the priest.28 They also brought spices and olive oil for the sweet-smelling incense, the special oil, and the oil to burn in the lamps.

29 All the men and women of Israel who wanted to help brought gifts to the Lord for all the work the Lord had commanded Moses and the people to do.
30 Then Moses said to the Israelites, “Look, the Lord has chosen Bezalel son of Uri the son of Hur, from the tribe of Judah.31 The Lord has filled Bezalel with the Spirit of God and has given him the skill, ability, and knowledge to do all kinds of work.32 He is able to design pieces to be made of gold, silver, and bronze,33 to cut stones and jewels and put them in metal, to carve wood, and to do all kinds of work.34 Also, the Lord has given Bezalel and Oholiab, the son of Ahisamach from the tribe of Dan, the ability to teach others.35 The Lord has given them the skill to do all kinds of work. They are able to cut designs in metal and stone. They can plan and sew designs in the fine linen with the blue, purple, and red thread. And they are also able to weave things.

Exodus 36

1 So Bezalel, Oholiab, and every skilled person will do the work the Lord has commanded, because he gave them the wisdom and understanding to do all the skilled work needed to build the Holy Tent.”
2 Then Moses called Bezalel, Oholiab, and all the other skilled people to whom the Lord had given skills, and they came because they wanted to help with the work.3 They received from Moses everything the people of Israel had brought as gifts to build the Holy Tent. The people continued to bring gifts each morning because they wanted to.4 So all the skilled workers left the work they were doing on the Holy Tent,

5 and they said to Moses, “The people are bringing more than we need to do the work the Lord commanded.”
6 Then Moses sent this command throughout the camp: “No man or woman should make anything else as a gift for the Holy Tent.” So the people were kept from giving more,

7 because what they had was already more than enough to do all the work.

The Holy Tent

8 Then the skilled workers made the Holy Tent. They made the ten curtains of blue, purple, and red cloth, and they sewed designs of creatures with wings on the curtains.9 Each curtain was the same size—forty-two feet long and six feet wide.10 Five of the curtains were fastened together to make one set, and the other five were fastened together to make another set.11 Then they made loops of blue cloth along the edge of the end curtain on the first set of five, and they did the same thing with the other set of five.12 There were fifty loops on one curtain and fifty loops on the other curtain, with the loops opposite each other.

13 They made fifty gold hooks to join the two curtains together so that the Holy Tent was joined together as one piece.
14 Then the workers made another tent of eleven curtains made of goat hair, to put over the Holy Tent.15 All eleven curtains were the same size—forty-five feet long and six feet wide.16 The workers sewed five curtains together into one set and six together into another set.17 They made fifty loops along the edge of the outside curtain of one set and fifty loops along the edge of the outside curtain of the other set.18 Then they made fifty bronze rings to join the two sets of cloth together and make the tent one piece.

19 They made two more coverings for the outer tent—one made of male sheepskins colored red and the other made of fine leather.
20 Then they made upright frames of acacia wood for the Holy Tent.21 Each frame was fifteen feet tall and twenty-seven inches wide,22 and there were two pegs side by side on each one. Every frame of the Holy Tent was made this same way.23 They made twenty frames for the south side of the Tent,24 and they made forty silver bases that went under the twenty frames. There were two bases for every frame—one for each peg of each frame.25 They also made twenty frames for the north side of the Holy Tent26 and forty silver bases—two to go under each frame.27 They made six frames for the rear or west end of the Holy Tent28 and two frames for the corners at the rear of the Holy Tent.29 These two frames were doubled at the bottom and joined at the top with a metal ring. They did this for each of these corners.

30 So there were eight frames and sixteen silver bases—two bases under each frame.
31 Then they made crossbars of acacia wood to connect the upright frames of the Holy Tent. Five crossbars held the frames together on one side of the Tent,32 and five held the frames together on the other side. Also, five crossbars held the frames together on the west end, at the rear of the Tent.33 They made the middle crossbar run along the entire length of each side and rear of the Tent. It was set halfway up the frames.

34 They made gold rings on the sides of the frames to hold the crossbars, and they covered the frames and the crossbars with gold.
35 Then they made the curtain of blue, purple, and red thread, and fine linen. A skilled craftsman sewed designs of creatures with wings on it.36 They made four posts of acacia wood for it and covered them with gold. Then they made gold hooks for the posts, as well as four silver bases in which to set the posts.37 For the entrance to the Tent, they made a curtain of blue, purple, and red thread, and fine linen. A person who sewed well sewed designs on it.38 Then they made five posts and hooks for it. They covered the tops of the posts and their bands with gold, and they made five bronze bases for the posts.