Preparations for Worship in the Sanctuary

1 And you shall make an altar on which to burn fragrant incense; you shall make it of acacia wood. 2 A cubit long and a cubit wide, it shall be square, and 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 all around, and its horns. And you shall make a crown of gold all around it, 4 and you shall make two rings of gold for it under its crown, on its two sides, on both sides of it; and they shall be holders for the poles by which to carry it. 5 And you shall make the poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold. 6 And you shall put it in front of the veil that is over the ark of the testimony, in front of the Mercy Seat that is over the testimony, where I will appoint My Memra to meet you. 7 And Aaron shall burn fragrant incense on it every morning; when he tends the lamps, he shall burn it. 8 And when Aaron lights the lamps at twilight, he shall burn it, a continual incense before the Lord throughout your generations. 9 You shall not offer strange incense on it, or a burnt offering, or a grain offering, and you shall not pour a drink offering on it. 10 And 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 on it throughout your generations. It is most holy before the Lord. 11 And the Lord spoke with Moses, saying, 12 When you take a census of the sons of Israel according to their number, each man shall give a ransom for his life before the Lord when you count them, so that there may be no death among them when you count them. 13 This is what they shall give: everyone who passes over to those who are counted, half a shekel, by the shekel of the sanctuary, with twenty gerahs to the shekel, half a shekel as an offering set apart before the Lord. 14 Everyone who passes over to those who are counted, from twenty years old and upward, shall give the offering before 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 before the Lord to make atonement for your lives. 16 And you shall take the atonement money from the sons of Israel, and give it for the service of the Tent of Meeting; and it shall be a memorial for the sons of Israel before the Lord, to make atonement for your lives. 17 And the Lord spoke with Moses, saying, 18 You shall make a Basin of bronze, with its stand of bronze, for washing; and you shall put it between the Tent of Meeting and the altar, and put water in it. 19 And Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet from 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 the altar to minister, to offer an offering before the Lord, 21 they shall wash their hands and their feet, so that they do not die. And it shall be an everlasting statute for them, for him and for his descendants throughout their generations. 22 And the Lord spoke with Moses, saying, 23 Take also for yourself the finest spices: pure myrrh,⁠a five hundred shekels; and fragrant cinnamon, half as much, two hundred and fifty shekels by weight; and fragrant cane, two hundred and fifty shekels; 24 and cassia, five hundred shekels, by the shekel of the sanctuary; and a hin of olive oil; 25 and make of it a holy anointing oil, a fragrant blend, the work of a perfumer; it shall be a holy anointing oil. 26 And with it you shall anoint the Tent of Meeting and the ark of the testimony, 27 and the table and all its vessels, and the lampstand and its vessels, and the altar of incense, 28 and the altar of burnt offering and all its vessels, and the basin and its stand; 29 and you shall consecrate them, so that they may be most holy; whoever touches them shall be consecrated. 30 And you shall anoint Aaron and his sons, and consecrate them to minister before Me. 31 And you shall speak to the sons of Israel, saying, This shall be a holy anointing oil to Me throughout your generations. 32 It shall not be poured on anyone's body, and you shall not make anything like it in its composition; it is holy, and it shall be holy to you. 33 Whoever blends any like it, or whoever puts any of it on an outsider, shall be cut off from his people. 34 And the Lord said to Moses, Take for yourself spices: stacte and onycha and galbanum, spices with pure frankincense, equal amounts of each; 35 and you shall make of it incense, a fragrant blend, the work of a perfumer, salted, pure, and holy. 36 And you shall grind some of it very fine, and put some of it before the testimony in the Tent of Meeting, where I will appoint My Memra to meet you; it shall be most holy to you. 37 And the incense that you shall make, you shall not make for yourselves in the same composition; it shall be holy to you before the Lord. 38 Whoever makes any like it, to enjoy its smell, shall be cut off from his people.