The Alter of Incense
1 “You shall make an altar of acacia wood on which to burn incense. 2 The alter shall be square; eighteen inches in length and width, and shall stand 36 inches high. Its horns shall be made from the same piece. 3 You shall overlay it with pure gold, its top, its sides around it, and its horns; and you shall make a gold molding around it. 4 You shall make two golden rings on each side, on its two ribs, under its molding. They shall be places for the poles that will bear it. 5 You shall make the poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold.
6 You shall put it before the veil that is by the ark of the covenant, before the mercy seat that is over the covenant, where I will meet with you. 7 Aaron shall burn incense of sweet spices on it every morning. When he tends the lamps, he shall burn it. 8 When Aaron lights the lamps at evening, he shall burn it, a perpetual incense before the Lord throughout your generations. 9 You shall offer no unauthorized incense on it, nor burnt offering, nor grain offering; and do not pour a drink offering on it.
10 Aaron shall make atonement on its horns once a year with the blood of the sin offering of atonement. Once a year he shall make atonement for it throughout your generations. It is most holy to the Lord.”
The Atonement Money
11 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 12 “When you take a census of the Israelites, according to those who are counted among them, then each man shall give a ransom for himself to the Lord when you count them so that no plague will be among them when you count them. 13 Everyone who crosses over to those who are counted shall give half a shekel according to the shekel of the sanctuary (the shekel weighs twenty gerahs). This half a shekel is for an offering to the Lord.
14 Everyone who crosses over to those who are counted, from twenty years old and up, shall give the offering to the Lord.
15 The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less, than the half shekel when they give the offering of the Lord, to make atonement for your lives. 16 You shall take the atonement money from the Israelites and shall appoint it for the service of the Tent of Meeting, that it may be a memorial for the Israelites before the Lord, to make atonement for your lives.”
The Bronze Basin
17 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 18 “You shall make a basin of bronze, with its stand also of bronze, in which to wash. You shall put it between the Tent of Meeting and the altar, and you shall put water in it. 19 Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet in it. 20 When they go into the Tent of Meeting, they shall wash with water so that they do not die, or when they come near to the altar to minister, to burn an offering made by fire to the Lord. 21 So they shall wash their hands and their feet so that they do not die. This shall be a statute forever for Aaron and for his descendants throughout their generations.”
The Anointing Oil
22 Moreover the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 23 “Also take fine spices: of liquid myrrh, 12½ pounds; and half as much fragrant cinnamon, six and a quarter pounds; and of fragrant cane, 6¼ pounds; 24 and of cassia 12½ pounds, according to the shekel of the sanctuary; and a gallon of olive oil. 25 You shall make it into a holy anointing oil, a perfume compounded from the art of a perfumer. It shall be a holy anointing oil.
26 You shall use it to anoint the Tent of Meeting, the ark of the covenant, 27 the table and all its articles, the lamp stand and its accessories, the altar of incense, 28 the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils, and the basin with its base. 29 You shall consecrate them, that they may be most holy. Whatever touches them shall be holy. 30 You shall anoint Aaron and his sons and sanctify them, that they may minister as my priests.
31 You shall speak to the Israelites, saying, ‘This shall be a holy anointing oil to me throughout your generations. 32 It shall not be poured on man’s flesh and do not make any like it, according to its composition. It is holy. It shall be holy to you. 33 Whoever compounds any like it, or whoever puts any of it on a layman, he shall be cut off from his people.’ ”
The Incense
34 The Lord said to Moses, “Take fragrant spices, gum resin, onycha, and galbanum; fragrant spices with pure frankincense–an equal weight of each. 35 You shall make incense of it, a perfume from the art of a perfumer, seasoned with salt, pure and holy. 36 You shall beat some of it very small, and put some of it before the covenant in the Tent of Meeting, where I will meet with you. It shall be to you most holy. 37 As to the incense which you shall make, you shall not make its formula for yourselves. It shall be holy to you and treated as holy to the Lord. 38 Anyone who makes anything like that, to smell of its fragrance, he shall be cut off from his people.”