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36 The Lord has given to Bezalel, Oholiab, and others the skills needed for building a place of worship, and they will follow the Lord's instructions.

Then Moses brought together these workers who were eager to work, and he gave them the gifts that the people of Israel had donated for building the place of worship. In fact, so much was being given each morning, that finally everyone stopped working and said, “Moses, there is already more than we need for what the Lord has assigned us to do.” So Moses sent word for the people to stop giving, and they did. But there was already more than enough to do what needed to be done.

The Curtains and Coverings for the Sacred Tent

(Exodus 26.1-14)

8-9 The skilled workers got together to make the sacred tent and its linen curtains that were woven with blue, purple, and red wool and embroidered with figures of winged creatures. Each of the ten panels was twelve meters long and two meters wide, 10 and they were sewn together to make two curtains with five panels each. 11-13 Then 50 loops of blue cloth were put along one of the wider sides of each curtain, and the two curtains were fastened together at the loops with 50 gold hooks.

14-15 As the material for protecting the tent, goat hair was used to weave eleven sections 13 meters by 2 meters each. 16 These eleven sections were joined to make two panels, one with five and the other with six sections. 17 Fifty loops were put along one of the wider sides of each panel, 18 and the two panels were fastened at the loops with 50 bronze hooks. 19 Two other coverings were made—one with fine leather and the other with ram skins dyed red.

The Framework for the Sacred Tent

(Exodus 26.15-30)

20 Acacia wood was used to build the framework for the walls of the sacred tent. 21 Each frame was 4 meters high and 66 centimeters wide 22-26 with two wooden pegs near the bottom. Then two silver stands were placed under each frame with sockets for the pegs, so they could be joined together. Twenty of these frames were used along the south side and 20 more along the north. 27 Six frames were used for the back wall along the west side 28-29 with two more at the southwest and northwest corners. These corner frames were joined from top to bottom. 30 Altogether, along the back wall there were eight frames with two silver stands under each of them.

31-33 Five crossbars were made for each of the wooden frames, with the center crossbar running the full length of the wall. 34 The frames and crossbars were covered with gold, and gold rings were attached to the frames to run the crossbars through.

The Inside Curtain for the Sacred Tent

(Exodus 26.31-37)

35 They made the inside curtain[a] of fine linen woven with blue, purple, and red wool, and embroidered with figures of winged creatures. 36 They also made four acacia wood posts and covered them with gold. Then gold rings were fastened to the posts, which were set on silver stands.

37 For the entrance to the tent, they used a curtain of fine linen woven with blue, purple, and red wool and embroidered with fancy needlework. 38 They made five posts, covered them completely with gold, and set each of them on a gold-covered bronze stand. Finally, they attached hooks for the curtain.

Footnotes

  1. 36.35 inside curtain: Separating the holy place from the most holy place.

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