Exodus 30

¹ ‘You must make an altar on which to burn incense;[*a] you are to make it out of acacia wood.

² It is to be one cubit long, and one cubit wide – that is to say, square – and to stand two cubits high; its horns are to be of one piece with it.

³ The top of it, its surrounding sides, and its horns, are to be plated with pure gold, and decorated with a gold moulding all round.

⁴ You are to fix two gold rings to it below the moulding on its two opposite sides: these are to take the shafts used for carrying it.

⁵ These shafts you must make of acacia wood and plate with gold.

⁶ You are to set up the altar before the veil that is in front of the ark of Testimony, opposite the throne of mercy that covers the Testimony, the place appointed for my meeting with you.

⁷ There Aaron must burn fragrant incense each morning when he trims the lamps,

⁸ and between the two evenings, when Aaron puts the lamps back, he must burn it again. You must make these offerings of incense before Yahweh unfailingly from generation to generation.

⁹ You must not offer profane incense on it, no holocaust, no oblation; and you must pour no libation on it.

¹⁰ Once a year Aaron is to perform the rite of atonement on the horns of the altar; with the blood of the sacrifice offered for sin he is to perform the rite of atonement once a year. And you shall do the same in the generations to come. This altar of supreme holiness is to be consecrated to Yahweh’.

¹¹ Yahweh spoke to Moses and said,

¹² ‘When you take a census and make a register of the sons of Israel, each is to pay Yahweh a ransom for his life, so that no plague comes on them when the census is being made.

¹³ Everyone subject to the census must pay half a shekel, reckoning by the sanctuary shekel which is twenty gerahs, and this half-shekel shall be set aside for Yahweh.

¹⁴ Everyone subject to the census, that is to say of twenty years and over, must pay the sum set aside for Yahweh.

¹⁵ The rich man is not to give more, nor the poor man less, than half a shekel as payment of the sum set aside for Yahweh, the ransom for your lives.

¹⁶ You will devote this ransom money given to you by the sons of Israel to the service of the Tent of Meeting. It will remind Yahweh of the sons of Israel and will be the ransom for your lives’.

¹⁷ Yahweh spoke to Moses and said,

¹⁸ ‘You must also make a bronze basin on a stand, for washing. You must place it between the Tent of Meeting and the altar and put water in it.

¹⁹ In this Aaron and his sons must wash their hands and feet.

²⁰ When they are to enter the Tent of Meeting they must wash in water for fear they die, and when they have to approach the altar for their service, to burn the offering burnt in honour of Yahweh.

²¹ They must wash their hands and feet for fear they die. This is a lasting ordinance for them, for Aaron and his descendants from generation to generation’.

²² Yahweh spoke to Moses and said,

²³ ‘Take the choicest spices: of liquid myrrh five hundred shekels, half this weight of fragrant cinnamon – that is, two hundred and fifty shekels – and of scented cane two hundred and fifty shekels;

²⁴ of cassia five hundred shekels (reckoning by the sanctuary shekel) and one hin of olive oil.

²⁵ These you are to compound into a holy chrism, such a blend as the perfumer might make; it is to be a holy chrism.

²⁶ With it you are to anoint the Tent of Meeting and the ark of the Testimony,

²⁷ the table and all its furnishings, the lamp-stand and all its accessories, the altar of incense,

²⁸ the altar of holocaust with all its furnishings, and the basin with its stand.

²⁹ These you are to consecrate. Thus they will excel in holiness, and whatever touches them will be holy.

³⁰ You must also anoint Aaron and his sons and consecrate them, so that they may be priests in my service.

³¹ Then you are to say this to the sons of Israel, ‘You must hold this chrism holy from generation to generation.

³² It is not to be poured on the bodies of common men, nor are you to make any other of the same mixture. It is a holy thing; you must consider it holy.

³³ Whoever copies the composition of it or uses it on a layman shall be outlawed from his people”‘.

³⁴ Yahweh said to Moses, ‘Take sweet spices: storax, onycha, galbanum, sweet spices and pure frankincense in equal parts,

³⁵ and compound an incense, such a blend as the perfumer might make, salted, pure, and holy.

³⁶ Crush a part of it into a fine powder, and put some of this in front of the Testimony in the Tent of Meeting, the place appointed for my meetings with you. You must regard it as most holy.

³⁷ You are not to make any incense of similar composition for your own use. You must hold it to be a holy thing, reserved for Yahweh. Whoever copies it for use as perfume shall be outlawed from his people’.