Exodus 30

The Altar of Incense

1“You will make an altar for burning incense. You will make it of acacia wood. 2It will be one cubit long and one cubit wide; it will be square, and two cubits high. Its horns will be of one piece with it. 3You will overlay it with pure gold—its top, its sides all around, and its horns—and make a gold molding around it. 4You will make two gold rings for it below its molding, on two opposite sides. They will be holders for poles with which to carry it. 5You will make the poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold. 6You will 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 will burn fragrant incense on it; morning by morning, when he tends the lamps, he will burn it. 8When Aaron sets up the lamps at twilight, he will burn it, a continual incense before the LORD throughout your generations. 9You will not offer strange incense upon it, or burnt offering or grain offering, and you will not pour a drink offering upon it. 10Aaron will make atonement on its horns once a year. With the blood of the sin offering of atonement he will 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 people who are counted, each will 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 people who are counted will 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 people who are counted, from twenty years old and upward, will give the contribution to the LORD. 15The rich will not give more, and the poor will not give less than half a shekel when you give the contribution to the LORD to make atonement for your lives. 16You will take the atonement silver from the children of Israel and give it for the service of the tent of meeting. It will 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 will make a bronze basin with a bronze stand for washing. You will put it between the tent of meeting and the altar and put water in it. 19Aaron and his sons will wash their hands and their feet from it. 20When they enter the tent of meeting, they will 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 will wash their hands and feet so that they do not die. It will 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 will make from these a holy anointing oil, a fragrant mixture, the work of a perfumer. It will be a holy anointing oil. 26With it you will 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 will consecrate them, and they will be most holy. Whatever touches them will become holy. 30You will anoint Aaron and his sons and consecrate them to serve as priests to me. 31You will speak to the children of Israel, saying, ‘This will be my holy anointing oil throughout your generations. 32It will not be poured on ordinary human flesh, and you will not make any like it according to its composition. It is holy; it will be holy to you. 33Whoever mixes anything like it or whoever puts any of it on an outsider will 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 will 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 will be most holy to you. 37The incense that you make according to its composition you will not make for yourselves. It will be holy to you for the LORD. 38Whoever makes any like it to smell it will be cut off from his people.”