Exodus 30

The Altar of Incense

1“You shall make an altar for burning incense. You shall make it of acacia wood. 2It shall be one cubit long and one cubit wide; it shall be square, and two cubits high. Its horns shall be of one piece with it. 3You shall overlay it with pure gold—its top, its sides all around, and its horns—and make a gold molding around it. 4You shall make two gold rings for it below its molding, on two opposite sides. They shall be holders for poles with which to carry it. 5You shall make the poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold. 6You shall place it before the veil that is by the ark of the testimony, before the cover that is over the testimony, where I will meet with you. 7Aaron shall burn fragrant incense on it; morning by morning, when he tends the lamps, he shall burn it. 8When Aaron sets up the lamps at twilight, he shall burn it, a continual incense before the LORD throughout your generations. 9You shall not offer strange incense upon it, or burnt offering or grain offering, and you shall not pour a drink offering upon it. 10Aaron shall make atonement on its horns once a year. With the blood of the sin offering of atonement he shall make atonement for it once a year throughout your generations. It is most holy to the LORD.”

The Ransom at the Census

11The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 12“When you take a census of the children of Israel according to those who are counted, each shall give a ransom for his life to the LORD when they are counted, so that there will be no plague among them when they are counted. 13This is what everyone who passes over to those who are counted shall give: half a shekel according to the sanctuary shekel—the shekel is twenty gerahs—half a shekel as a contribution to the LORD. 14Everyone who passes over to those who are counted, from twenty years old and upward, shall give the contribution to the LORD. 15The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel when you give the contribution to the LORD to make atonement for your lives. 16You shall take the atonement silver from the children of Israel and give it for the service of the tent of meeting. It shall be for the children of Israel as a remembrance before the LORD, to make atonement for your lives.”

The Bronze Basin

17The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 18“You shall make a bronze basin with a bronze stand for washing. You shall put it between the tent of meeting and the altar and put water in it. 19Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet from it. 20When they enter the tent of meeting, they shall wash with water so that they do not die. Or when they approach the altar to minister, to burn an offering by fire to the LORD, 21they shall wash their hands and feet so that they do not die. It shall be a perpetual statute for them, for him and his offspring throughout their generations.”

The Holy Anointing Oil

22The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 23“Take for yourself the finest spices: five hundred shekels of flowing myrrh, half as much—two hundred fifty—of fragrant cinnamon, two hundred fifty of fragrant cane, 24five hundred of cassia, according to the sanctuary shekel, and a hin of olive oil. 25You shall make from these a holy anointing oil, a fragrant mixture, the work of a perfumer. It shall be a holy anointing oil. 26With it you shall anoint the tent of meeting and the ark of the testimony, 27the table and all its utensils, the lampstand and its utensils, the altar of incense, 28the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils, and the basin and its stand. 29You shall consecrate them, and they shall be most holy. Whatever touches them shall become holy. 30You shall anoint Aaron and his sons and consecrate them to serve as priests to me. 31You shall speak to the children of Israel, saying, ‘This shall be my holy anointing oil throughout your generations. 32It shall not be poured on ordinary human flesh, and you shall not make any like it according to its composition. It is holy; it shall be holy to you. 33Whoever mixes anything like it or whoever puts any of it on an outsider shall be cut off from his people.’”

The Holy Incense

34The LORD said to Moses, “Take fragrant spices: stacte, onycha, galbanum, and fragrant spices with pure frankincense, equal parts of each. 35Make from them incense, a fragrant mixture, the work of a perfumer, salted, pure, and holy. 36You shall beat some of it very fine and put some of it before the testimony in the tent of meeting, where I will meet with you. It shall be most holy to you. 37The incense that you make according to its composition you shall not make for yourselves. It shall be holy to you for the LORD. 38Whoever makes any like it to smell it shall be cut off from his people.”