A modern English translation drawn directly from the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts. Translated word-for-word where possible, by a committee with scholarly oversight.
Uses the same source texts as the ESV, NASB, and most academic Bibles, including the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia and the Nestle-Aland critical edition.
Exodus 38
Exodus 38 is the thirty-eighth chapter of the book of Exodus and the chapter of the courtyard furnishings and the only material audit in the construction account. The 31-verse chapter covers the bronze altar of burnt offering, the bronze basin, the courtyard, and then closes with the unique gold/silver/bronze totals for the entire project.
The chapter opens with Bezalel making the altar of burnt offering of acacia wood overlaid with bronze, five cubits square and three cubits high, with four horns at the corners, all bronze utensils (pots, shovels, basins, meat forks, firepans), and a bronze grating with four bronze rings through which acacia poles overlaid with bronze are inserted for carrying.
The bronze basin comes next, with a distinctive note: it is made from the bronze mirrors of the women who served at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. Their personal items are repurposed for the priests' washing.
The courtyard hangings of fine twisted linen run a hundred cubits on the south and north sides, fifty cubits on the west, fifty on the east with a twenty-cubit entrance screen on four posts, hung from bronze posts with silver hooks and bands on bronze bases. All the pegs are bronze.
The chapter then identifies the supervising leadership: Bezalel of Judah and Oholiab of Dan, under the oversight of Ithamar son of Aaron the priest.
The closing section is the only material audit of the entire tabernacle account. The gold from the wave offering used for the sanctuary work totals 29 talents and 730 shekels by the sanctuary shekel. The silver from those numbered in the census, a half shekel from every man twenty years and older, came from 603,550 men, for a total of 100 talents and 1,775 shekels. The 100 talents were used to cast the 100 bases of the sanctuary and the veil. The 1,775 shekels were used for hooks, post overlay, and bands. The bronze totaled 70 talents and 2,400 shekels, used for the bases at the entrance, the bronze altar and its utensils, and the courtyard bases and pegs.
Verse 1. Bezalel constructed the altar of burnt offering from acacia wood. It was square, five cubits long, five cubits wide, and three cubits high.
Verse 2. He made a horn at each of its four corners, so that the horns and altar were of one piece, and he overlaid the altar with bronze.
Verse 3. He made all the altar’s utensils of bronze—its pots, shovels, sprinkling bowls, meat forks, and firepans.
Verse 4. He made a grate of bronze mesh for the altar under its ledge, halfway up from the bottom.
Verse 5. At the four corners of the bronze grate he cast four rings as holders for the poles.
Verse 6. And he made the poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with bronze.
Verse 7. Then he inserted the poles into the rings on the sides of the altar for carrying it. He made the altar with boards so that it was hollow.
Verse 8. Next he made the bronze basin and its stand from the mirrors of the women who served at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.
Verse 9. Then he constructed the courtyard. The south side of the courtyard was a hundred cubits long and had curtains of finely spun linen,
Verse 10. with twenty posts and twenty bronze bases, and with silver hooks and bands on the posts.
Verse 11. The north side was also a hundred cubits long, with twenty posts and twenty bronze bases. The hooks and bands of the posts were silver.
Verse 12. The west side was fifty cubits long and had curtains, with ten posts and ten bases. The hooks and bands of the posts were silver.
Verse 13. And the east side, toward the sunrise, was also fifty cubits long.
Verse 14. The curtains on one side of the entrance were fifteen cubits long, with three posts and three bases.
Verse 15. And the curtains on the other side were also fifteen cubits long, with three posts and three bases as well.
Verse 16. All the curtains around the courtyard were made of finely spun linen.
Verse 17. The bases for the posts were bronze, the hooks and bands were silver, and the plating for the tops of the posts was silver. So all the posts of the courtyard were banded with silver.
Verse 18. The curtain for the entrance to the courtyard was embroidered with blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, and finely spun linen. It was twenty cubits long and, like the curtains of the courtyard, five cubits high,
Verse 19. with four posts and four bronze bases. Their hooks were silver, as well as the bands and the plating of their tops.
Verse 20. All the tent pegs for the tabernacle and for the surrounding courtyard were bronze.
Verse 21. This is the inventory for the tabernacle, the tabernacle of the Testimony, as recorded at Moses’ command by the Levites under the direction of Ithamar son of Aaron the priest.
Verse 22. Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, made everything that the LORD had commanded Moses.
Verse 23. With him was Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, an engraver, designer, and embroiderer in blue, purple, and scarlet yarn and fine linen.
Verse 24. All the gold from the wave offering used for the work on the sanctuary totaled 29 talents and 730 shekels, according to the sanctuary shekel.
Verse 25. The silver from those numbered among the congregation totaled 100 talents and 1,775 shekels, according to the sanctuary shekel—
Verse 26. a beka per person, that is, half a shekel, according to the sanctuary shekel, from everyone twenty years of age or older who had crossed over to be numbered, a total of 603,550 men.
Verse 27. The hundred talents of silver were used to cast the bases of the sanctuary and the bases of the veil—100 bases from the 100 talents, one talent per base.
Verse 28. With the 1,775 shekels of silver he made the hooks for the posts, overlaid their tops, and supplied bands for them.
Verse 29. The bronze from the wave offering totaled 70 talents and 2,400 shekels.
Verse 30. He used it to make the bases for the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, the bronze altar and its bronze grating, all the utensils for the altar,
Verse 31. the bases for the surrounding courtyard and its gate, and all the tent pegs for the tabernacle and its surrounding courtyard.
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