Exodus 30
30
The Incense Altar
1“You are to make an altar for the burning of incense; make it of acacia wood.#Ex 37:25; Rv 8:3 2It must be square, eighteen inches long and eighteen inches wide;#30:2 Lit one cubit its length and one cubit its width it must be thirty-six inches high.#30:2 Lit wide; and two cubits its height Its horns must be of one piece with it. 3Overlay its top, all around its sides, and its horns with pure gold; make a gold molding all around it. 4Make two gold rings for it under the molding on two of its sides; put these on opposite sides of it to be holders for the poles to carry it with. 5Make the poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold.
6“You are to place the altar in front of the curtain by the ark of the testimony — in front of the mercy seat that is over the testimony — where I will meet with you. 7Aaron must burn fragrant incense on it; he must burn it every morning when he tends the lamps.#Ex 27:21; 1Sm 2:28; 1Ch 23:13; Lk 1:9 8When Aaron sets up the lamps at twilight, he must burn incense. There is to be an incense offering before the Lord throughout your generations. 9You must not offer unauthorized incense on it,#Lv 10:1 or a burnt or grain offering; you are not to pour a drink offering on it.
10“Once a year Aaron is to perform the atonement ceremony for the altar. Throughout your generations he is to perform the atonement ceremony for#30:10 Or on it once a year, with the blood of the sin offering for atonement on the horns.#Lv 16:18 The altar is especially holy to the Lord.”
The Atonement Money
11The Lord spoke to Moses: 12“When you take a census#Nm 1:2; 2Sm 24:2 of the Israelites to register them, each of the men must pay a ransom#Nm 31:50; Mt 20:28 for his life to the Lord as they are registered. Then no plague#Ex 12:13; 2Sm 24:13,21,25 will come on them as they are registered. 13Everyone who is registered must pay half a shekel#30:13 A shekel is about two-fifths of an ounce of silver according to the sanctuary shekel (twenty gerahs to the shekel). This half shekel is a contribution to the Lord.#Ex 38:26; Nm 3:47; Mt 17:24 14Each man who is registered, twenty years old or more, must give this contribution to the Lord. 15The wealthy may not give more and the poor may not give less#Pr 22:2; Eph 6:9 than half a shekel when giving the contribution to the Lord to atone for#30:15 Or to ransom, also in v. 16 your lives. 16Take the atonement price#30:16 Lit the silver of the atonement from the Israelites and use it for the service of the tent of meeting. It will serve as a reminder for the Israelites before the Lord to atone for your lives.”#Ex 38:25–28; Nm 16:40
The Bronze Basin
17The Lord spoke to Moses: 18“Make a bronze basin#Ex 38:8; 40:7,30; 1Kg 7:38 for washing and a bronze stand for it. Set it between the tent of meeting and the altar, and put water in it. 19Aaron and his sons must wash their hands and feet from the basin. 20Whenever they enter the tent of meeting or approach the altar to minister by burning a food offering to the Lord, they must wash with water so that they will not die. 21They must wash their hands and feet so that they will not die; this is to be a permanent statute#Ex 27:21; 28:43 for them, for Aaron and his descendants throughout their generations.”
The Anointing Oil
22The Lord spoke to Moses: 23“Take for yourself the finest spices:#Sg 4:14; Ezk 27:22 12½ pounds#30:23 Lit 500 (shekels), also in v. 24 of liquid myrrh, half as much (6¼ pounds#30:23 Lit 250 (shekels)) of fragrant cinnamon, 6¼ pounds of fragrant cane, 2412½ pounds of cassia (by the sanctuary shekel), and a gallon#30:24 Lit a hin of olive oil.#Ex 29:40; Ps 45:8 25Prepare from these a holy anointing oil, a scented blend, the work of a perfumer; it will be holy anointing oil.#Ex 37:29; Nm 35:25
26“With it you are to anoint#Ex 40:9; Lv 8:10; Nm 7:1 the tent of meeting, the ark of the testimony, 27the table with all its utensils, the lampstand with its utensils, the altar of incense, 28the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils, and the basin with its stand. 29Consecrate them and they will be especially holy. Whatever touches them will be consecrated. 30Anoint Aaron and his sons and consecrate#Ex 29:7; Lv 8:12,30 them to serve me as priests.
31“Tell the Israelites: This will be my holy anointing oil throughout your generations. 32It must not be used for ordinary anointing on a person’s body, and you must not make anything like it using its formula. It is holy, and it must be holy to you. 33Anyone who blends something like it or puts some of it on an unauthorized person must be cut off#Gn 17:14; Ex 30:38 from his people.”
The Sacred Incense
34The Lord said to Moses, “Take fragrant spices: stacte, onycha, and galbanum; the spices and pure frankincense are to be in equal measures. 35Prepare expertly blended incense from these; it is to be seasoned with salt, pure and holy. 36Grind some of it into a fine powder and put some in front of the testimony in the tent of meeting, where I will meet with you. It must be especially holy#Ex 29:37; Lv 2:3 to you. 37As for the incense you are making, you must not make any for yourselves using its formula. It is to be regarded by you as holy — belonging to the Lord. 38Anyone who makes something like it to smell its fragrance must be cut off from his people.”
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Exodus 30: CSB
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© 2017 Holman Bible Publishers
Exodus 30
30
1 AND YOU shall make an altar to burn incense upon; of acacia wood you shall make it.
2 A cubit shall be its length and a cubit its breadth; its top shall be square and it shall be two cubits high. Its horns shall be of one piece with it.
3 And you shall overlay it with pure gold, its top and its sides round about and its horns, and you shall make a crown (a rim or molding) of gold around it.
4 You shall make two golden rings under the rim of it, on the two ribs on the two opposite sides of it; and they shall be holders for the poles with which to carry it.
5 And you shall make the poles of acacia wood, overlaid with gold.
6 You shall put the altar [of incense] in front and outside of the veil that screens the ark of the Testimony, before the mercy seat that is over the Testimony (the Law, the tables of stone), where I will meet with you.
7 And Aaron shall burn on it incense of sweet spices; every morning when he trims and fills the lamps he shall burn it. [Ps. 141:2; Rev. 5:8; 8:3, 4.]
8 And when Aaron lights the lamps in the evening, he shall burn it, a perpetual incense before the Lord throughout your generations.
9 You shall offer no unholy incense on the altar nor burnt sacrifice nor cereal offering; and you shall pour no libation (drink offering) on it.
10 Aaron shall make atonement upon the horns of it once a year; with the blood of the sin offering of atonement once in the year shall he make atonement upon and for it throughout your generations. It is most holy to the Lord.
11 And the Lord said to Moses,
12 When you take the census of the Israelites, every man shall give a ransom for himself to the Lord when you number them, that no plague may fall upon them when you number them. [Rom. 8:1-4.]
13 This is what everyone shall give as he joins those already numbered: a half shekel, in terms of the sanctuary shekel, a shekel being twenty gerahs; a half shekel as an offering to the Lord.
14 Everyone from twenty years old and upward, as he joins those already numbered, shall give this offering to the Lord. [Matt. 10:24; I Pet. 1:18, 19.]
15 The rich shall not give more and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel when [you] give this offering to the Lord to make atonement for yourselves.
16 And you shall take the atonement money of the Israelites and use it [exclusively] for the service of the Tent of Meeting, that it may bring the Israelites to remembrance before the Lord, to make atonement for yourselves.
17 And the Lord said to Moses,
18 You shall also make a laver or large basin of bronze, and its base of bronze, for washing; and you shall put it [outside in the court] between the Tent of Meeting and the altar [of burnt offering], and you shall put water in it;
19 There Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet. [Tit. 3:5.]
20 When they go into the Tent of Meeting, they shall wash with water, that they die not; or when they come near to the altar to minister, to burn an offering made by fire to the Lord, [John 13:6-8.]
21 So they shall wash their hands and their feet, lest they die; it shall be a perpetual statute for [Aaron] and his descendants throughout their generations.
22 Moreover, the Lord said to Moses,
23 Take the best spices: of liquid myrrh 500 shekels, of sweet-scented cinnamon half as much, 250 shekels, of fragrant calamus 250 shekels,
24 And of cassia 500 shekels, in terms of the sanctuary shekel, and of olive oil a hin.
25 And you shall make of these a holy anointing oil, a perfume compounded after the art of the perfumer; it shall be a sacred anointing oil.
26 And you shall anoint the Tent of Meeting with it, and the ark of the Testimony,
27 And the [showbread] table and all its utensils, and the lampstand and its utensils, and the altar of incense,
28 And the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils, and the laver [for cleansing] and its base.
29 You shall sanctify (separate) them, that they may be most holy; whoever and whatever touches them must be holy (set apart to God).
30 And you shall anoint Aaron and his sons and sanctify (separate) them, that they may minister to Me as priests.
31 And say to the Israelites, This is a holy anointing oil [symbol of the Holy Spirit], sacred to Me alone throughout your generations. [Rom. 8:9; I Cor. 12:3.]
32 It shall not be poured upon a layman's body, nor shall you make any other like it in composition; it is holy, and you shall hold it sacred.
33 Whoever compounds any like it or puts any of it upon an outsider shall be cut off from his people.
34 Then the Lord said to Moses, Take sweet spices–stacte, onycha, and galbanum, sweet spices with pure frankincense, an equal amount of each–
35 And make of them incense, a perfume after the perfumer's art, seasoned with salt and mixed, pure and sacred.
36 You shall beat some of it very small and put some of it before the Testimony in the Tent of Meeting, where I will meet with you; it shall be to you most holy.
37 And the incense which you shall make according to its composition you shall not make for yourselves; it shall be to you holy to the Lord.
38 Whoever makes any like it for perfume shall be cut off from his people.
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