Exodus 25

EasyEnglish Bible

The tabernacle

25 The Lord said to Moses: ² ‘Tell the Israelites to bring me an offering. Every person who wants to give can make a gift to me. You must receive their gifts. ³ These are the gifts that you must receive from the people as an offering:

⁸ You must tell the Israelites to make a special place to be my home. Then I will live among them. ⁹ I will show you how to make this tabernacle and everything that you will put inside it. But you must make everything in the way that I tell you.

The Covenant Box

¹⁰ The Israelites must use acacia wood to make a big box. It must be 1 metre long, 75 centimetres wide and 75 centimetres high. ¹¹ Cover the wood with gold, both inside and outside. Build up the edges of the box with gold. ¹² Make four gold rings and fix them to the four feet of the box. Fix two rings on one side and two rings on the other side. ¹³ Then use acacia wood to make two poles. Cover them with gold too. ¹⁴ Push the poles through the rings on the sides of the box. You will use the poles to carry the box. ¹⁵ The poles must remain along the side of the box, in the rings. Never remove them. ¹⁶ Then put into the box the two flat stones with the words of the covenant on them. I will give those to you.

¹⁷ Use pure gold to make a lid for the box. Make the lid 1 metre long and 75 centimetres wide. ¹⁸ Use gold to make images of two cherubs. Use a hammer to make them the right shape. They will stand at the two ends of the lid. ¹⁹ One cherub will stand at one end of the lid, and one cherub will stand at the other end. The two cherubs and the lid must be one piece of gold. ²⁰ The cherubs must look towards each other and watch over the lid. Their wings must touch each other over the top of the lid. ²¹ Then put the lid on the top of the box. Put the flat stones with the words of the covenant into the box. I will give those to you.

²² I will meet with you there, between the two cherubs that are above the lid. They watch over the Covenant Box. In that place I will give you all my commands for the Israelites.

The table for special bread

²³ Use acacia wood to make a table. It must be one 1 metre long, 50 centimetres wide and 75 centimetres high. ²⁴ Cover the wood with gold. Build up the edges of the table with gold. ²⁵ Also, fix an extra piece of wood around its edge. It must be 7 centimetres wide. Build up the edges of this piece with gold.

²⁶ Make four gold rings for the table. Fix them to the four corners, one beside each leg of the table. ²⁷ The rings must be near to the extra piece of wood. They will hold the poles that you will use to carry the table. ²⁸ Use acacia wood to make the poles. Cover them with gold. Use the poles to carry the table. ²⁹ Use pure gold to make plates, big spoons, jars and bowls. You will use these things to pour out drink offerings. ³⁰ Put the Lord's special bread on this table. The bread must always be there for me.

The lampstand

³¹ Use one piece of pure gold to make a lampstand. Use a hammer to make it the right shape. Use the gold to make its base, its middle pole and the cups to hold the oil. The cups will be like open flowers and closed flowers. ³² Make six branches on the lampstand, three branches on each side of the middle pole. ³³ Put three cups in the shape of almond flowers and their leaves on each branch. Each of the six branches of the lampstand will have three cups like that. ³⁴ On the lampstand itself, put four cups in the shape of almond flowers and their leaves. ³⁵ Put one closed flower under the first pair of branches. Put a second closed flower under the second pair of branches. Put the third closed flower under the third pair of branches. So there will be three closed flowers for the six branches on the lampstand. ³⁶ You must make the flowers and the branches from the same piece of pure gold as the lampstand. Use a hammer to make the gold into the right shape.

³⁷ Then make seven lamps and fix them to the lampstand. Fix them so that they light the space in front of the lampstand. ³⁸ Also use pure gold to make small tools and dishes to take care of the lamps. ³⁹ Use 34 kilograms of pure gold to make the lampstand and all the tools to take care of it.

⁴⁰ Be careful to make all these things like the plan that I have shown you on the mountain.