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Make an altar from acacia wood for burning incense. 2 It is to be square, one-half meter on each side. It is to be one meter high. Make {projections that look like} horns on the same block of wood as the altar. 3 Cover the top and the four sides, including the projections, with pure gold. Put a gold molding all around it. 4 Make two gold rings and attach them to the altar below the molding, one on each side of the altar. These rings are to hold the poles for carrying the altar. 5 Make these two poles from acacia wood and cover them with gold. 6 Put this incense altar outside the curtain that hangs in front of the sacred chest. (The chest that has a lid covering the stone slabs, where I will talk with you.) 7 Aaron must burn sweet-smelling incense on this altar. He must burn some every morning when he takes care of the lamps, 8 and he must burn some in the evening when he lights the lamps. Always keep incense burning for me throughout all future generations. 9 Do not burn on the altar any incense that I have not told you to burn, or burn any animal on it, or any flour offering for me, nor pour any wine on it as an offering. 10 Once a year, Aaron must take the purifying blood from the annual sacrifice that covers up the bad things people do and put it on the projections on the altar to cover the altar’s flaws. {Each high priest} will cover the altar’s flaws{this way} throughout all future generations. The altar will be very holy, dedicated to me, Yahweh.”
11 Yahweh said to Moses, 12 “Whenever {your leaders} count to find out how many Israelites there are, each man who {they} count must pay a price to me to save his life. This is so I do not cause the people to become sick and die when {the leaders} count them. 13 When a man walks by a leader so he can count him he must pay {silver} that weighs half of a standard weight. (Use the official tabernacle weight standard, which is about 11 grams.) This half-weight {of silver} is an offering to me, Yahweh. 14 Every man who is at least 20 years old must pay this amount to me, Yahweh, when he walks by a leader so the leader can count him. 15 Rich men must not pay more than this amount, and poor men must not pay less than this amount when they pay this money to me, Yahweh, to save their lives. 16 Take the life-saving money from the Israelites and use it for work on the sacred tent. It will remind me, Yahweh, that the Israelites have paid money to save their lives.”
17 Yahweh said to Moses, 18 “Make a bronze washbasin and a bronze base for it. Put it between the sacred tent and the altar and fill it with water. 19 Aaron and his sons must wash their hands and their feet in the basin. 20 They must wash with water before they enter the sacred tent so they will not die. Before they come to the altar to burn offerings as sacrifices to me, Yahweh, 21 they must wash their hands and their feet so that they will not die. This will be a ritual for them and every generation of men descended from Aaron for all time.”
22 Yahweh said to Moses, 23 “Collect to yourself some of the finest spices—six kilograms of liquid myrrh, and then half that much: three kilograms of sweet-smelling cinnamon, three kilograms of a sweet-smelling cane, 24 and six kilograms of cassia. {Weigh everything} according to the tabernacle standard. Also, {collect} four liters of olive oil. 25 Make a sacred oil for anointing with these ingredients. A perfume mixer must mix this mixed perfume. It will be a sacred oil for anointing. 26 Use this oil to anoint the sacred tent, the sacred chest, 27 the table and all the things that the priests use with it, the lampstand and all the things that the priests use to take care of it, the altar for burning incense, 28 and the altar for burning sacrifices, and all the things that the priests use with it, and the washbasin and its base. 29 {In that way,} you will dedicate those items to me. They will be so very holy that they will make anything that touches them holy too.
30 Dedicate Aaron and his sons to be my priests by anointing them. 31 Tell the Israelites, ‘This oil will be my sacred oil for anointing throughout all future generations. 32 You must not pour it on the bodies of people {who are not priests}, and you must not make other oil to be like it by mixing those same things. This oil is reserved for me, and you must consider it sacred. 33 You must drive out from Israel anyone who makes a perfume like this or who puts it on anyone who is not a priest.’”
34 Yahweh also said to Moses, “Collect equal parts of several sweet spices: stacte, onycha, galbanum, and pure frankincense. 35 A perfume mixer must mix these, along with salt, into a perfumed incense. It will be clean and sacred. 36 Beat some of it into a fine powder. Then take some of it into the sacred tent and set it in front of the sacred chest where I meet you. You all must consider this incense to be very sacred. 37 The people must not mix the same spices to make this incense for themselves. They must consider this incense sacred, only for me, Yahweh. 38 You must drive out from Israel anyone who makes a perfume like this.”