The Living Bible (30 page)

Exodus
30

“Then make a small altar for burning incense. It shall be made from acacia wood.
²
 It is to be eighteen inches square and three feet high, with horns carved from the wood of the altar—they are not to be merely separate parts that are attached.
³
 Overlay the top, sides, and horns of the altar with pure gold, and run a gold molding around the entire altar.
⁴
 Beneath the molding, on each of two sides, construct two gold rings to hold the carrying poles.
⁵
 The poles are to be made of acacia wood overlaid with gold.
⁶
 Place the altar just outside the veil, near the place of mercy that is above the Ark containing the Ten Commandments. I will meet with you there.

    
⁷
 “Every morning when Aaron trims the lamps, he shall burn sweet spices on the altar,
⁸
 and each evening when he lights the lamps he shall burn the incense before the Lord, and this shall go on from generation to generation.
⁹
 Offer no unauthorized incense, burnt offerings, meal offerings, or wine offerings.

    
¹⁰
 “Once a year Aaron must sanctify the altar,
*
placing upon its horns the blood of the sin offering for atonement. This shall be a regular, annual event from generation to generation, for this is the Lord’s supremely holy altar.”

    
^11-12
 And Jehovah said to Moses, “Whenever you take a census of the people of Israel, each man who is numbered shall give a ransom to the Lord for his soul, so that there will be no plague among the people when you number them.
¹³
 His payment shall be half a dollar.
*
¹⁴
 All who have reached their twentieth birthday shall give this offering.
¹⁵
 The rich shall not give more and the poor shall not give less, for it is an offering to the Lord to make atonement for yourselves.
¹⁶
 Use this money for the care of the Tabernacle; it is to bring you, the people of Israel, to the Lord’s attention, and to make atonement for you.”

    
^17-18
 And the Lord said to Moses, “Make a bronze basin with a bronze pedestal. Put it between the Tabernacle and the altar, and fill it with water.
¹⁹
 Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and feet there,
²⁰
 when they go into the Tabernacle to appear before the Lord, or when they approach the altar to burn offerings to the Lord. They must always wash before doing so, or they will die.
²¹
 These are instructions to Aaron and his sons from generation to generation.”

    
^22-23
 Then the Lord told Moses to collect the choicest of spices—eighteen pounds of pure myrrh; half as much of cinnamon and of sweet cane;
²⁴
 the same amount of cassia as of myrrh; and 1
¹
/
2
gallons of olive oil.
²⁵
 The Lord instructed skilled perfume makers to compound all this into a holy anointing oil.

    
^26-27
 “Use this,” he said, “to anoint the Tabernacle, the Ark, the table and all its instruments, the lampstand and all its utensils, the incense altar,
²⁸
 the burnt offering altar with all its instruments, and the washbasin and its pedestal.
²⁹
 Sanctify them, to make them holy; whatever touches them shall become holy.
*
³⁰
 Use it to anoint Aaron and his sons, sanctifying them so that they can minister to me as priests.
³¹
 And say to the people of Israel, ‘This shall always be my holy anointing oil.
³²
 It must never be poured upon an ordinary person, and you shall never make any of it yourselves, for it is holy, and it shall be treated by you as holy.
³³
 Anyone who compounds any incense like it or puts any of it upon someone who is not a priest shall be excommunicated.’”

    
³⁴
 These were the Lord’s directions to Moses concerning the incense: “Use sweet spices—stacte, onycha, galbanum, and pure frankincense, weighing out the same amounts of each,
³⁵
 using the usual techniques of the incense maker, and seasoning it with salt; it shall be a pure and holy incense.
³⁶
 Beat some of it very fine and put some of it in front of the Ark where I meet with you in the Tabernacle; this incense is most holy.
³⁷
 Never make it for yourselves, for it is reserved for the Lord and you must treat it as holy.
³⁸
 Anyone making it for himself shall be excommunicated.”

Exodus
31

The Lord also said to Moses, “See, I have appointed Bezalel (son of Uri, and grandson of Hur, of the tribe of Judah),
³
 and have filled him with the Spirit of God, giving him great wisdom, ability, and skill in constructing the Tabernacle and everything it contains.
⁴
 He is highly capable as an artistic designer of objects made of gold, silver, and bronze.
⁵
 He is skilled, too, as a jeweler and in carving wood.

    
⁶
 “And I have appointed Oholiab (son of Ahisamach of the tribe of Dan) to be his assistant; moreover, I have given special skill to all who are known as experts, so that they can make all the things I have instructed you to make:
⁷
 the Tabernacle; the Ark with the place of mercy upon it; all the furnishings of the Tabernacle;
⁸
 the table and its instruments; the pure gold lampstand with its instruments; the altar of incense;
⁹
 the burnt offering altar with its instruments; the laver and its pedestal;
¹⁰
 the beautifully made, holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments for his sons, so that they can minister as priests;
¹¹
 the anointing oil; and the sweet-spice incense for the Holy Place. They are to follow exactly the directions I gave you.”

    
^12-13
 The Lord then gave these further instructions to Moses: “Tell the people of Israel to rest on my Sabbath day, for the Sabbath is a reminder of the covenant between me and you forever; it helps you to remember that I am Jehovah who makes you holy.
^14-15
 Yes, rest on the Sabbath, for it is holy. Anyone who does not obey this command must die; anyone who does any work on that day shall be killed.
^16-17
 Work six days only, for the seventh day is a special day to remind you of my covenant—a weekly reminder forever of my promises to the people of Israel. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and rested on the seventh day, and was refreshed.”

    
¹⁸
 Then, as God finished speaking with Moses on Mount Sinai, he gave him the two tablets of stone on which the Ten Commandments were written with the finger of God.

Exodus
32

When Moses didn’t come back down the mountain right away, the people went to Aaron. “Look,” they said, “make us a god to lead us, for this fellow Moses who brought us here from Egypt has disappeared; something must have happened to him.”

    
^2-3
 “Give me your gold earrings,” Aaron replied.

    
So they all did—men and women, boys and girls.
⁴
 Aaron melted the gold, then molded and tooled it into the form of a calf. The people exclaimed, “O Israel, this is the god that brought you out of Egypt!”

    
⁵
 When Aaron saw how happy the people were about it, he built an altar before the calf and announced, “Tomorrow there will be a feast to Jehovah!”

    
⁶
 So they were up early the next morning and began offering burnt offerings and peace offerings to the calf idol; afterwards they sat down to feast and drink at a wild party, followed by sexual immorality.

    
⁷
 Then the Lord told Moses, “Quick! Go on down, for your people that you brought from Egypt have defiled themselves,
⁸
 and have quickly abandoned all my laws. They have molded themselves a calf, and worshiped it, and sacrificed to it, and said, ‘This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of Egypt.’”

    
⁹
 Then the Lord said, “I have seen what a stubborn, rebellious lot these people are.
¹⁰
 Now leave me alone and my anger shall blaze out against them and destroy them all; and I will make you, Moses, into a great nation instead of them.”

    
¹¹
 But Moses begged God not to do it. “Lord,” he pleaded, “why is your anger so hot against your own people whom you brought from the land of Egypt with such great power and mighty miracles?
¹²
 Do you want the Egyptians to say, ‘God tricked them into coming to the mountains so that he could slay them, destroying them from off the face of the earth’? Turn back from your fierce wrath. Turn away from this terrible evil you are planning against your people!
¹³
 Remember your promise to your servants—to Abraham, Isaac, and Israel. For you swore by your own self, ‘I will multiply your posterity as the stars of heaven, and I will give them all of this land I have promised to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.’”

    
¹⁴
 So the Lord changed his mind and spared them.

    
¹⁵
 Then Moses went down the mountain, holding in his hands the Ten Commandments written on both sides of two stone tablets.
¹⁶
 (God himself had written the commandments on the tablets.)

    
¹⁷
 When Joshua heard the noise below them, of all the people shouting, he exclaimed to Moses, “It sounds as if they are preparing for war!”

    
¹⁸
 But Moses replied, “No, it’s not a cry of victory or defeat, but singing.”

    
¹⁹
 When they came near the camp, Moses saw the calf and the dancing, and in terrible anger he threw the tablets to the ground, and they lay broken at the foot of the mountain.
²⁰
 He took the calf and melted it in the fire, and when the metal cooled, he ground it into powder and spread it upon the water and made the people drink it.

    
²¹
 Then he turned to Aaron. “What in the world did the people do to you,” he demanded, “to make you bring such a terrible sin upon them?”

    
²²
 “Don’t get so upset,” Aaron replied. “You know these people and what a wicked bunch they are.
²³
 They said to me, ‘Make us a god to lead us, for something has happened to this fellow Moses who led us out of Egypt.’
²⁴
 Well, I told them, ‘Bring me your gold earrings.’ So they brought them to me and I threw them into the fire, and . . . well . . . this calf came out!”

    
²⁵
 When Moses saw that the people had been committing adultery—at Aaron’s encouragement, and much to the amusement of their enemies—
²⁶
 he stood at the camp entrance and shouted, “All of you who are on the Lord’s side, come over here and join me.” And all the Levites came.

    
²⁷
 He told them, “Jehovah the God of Israel says, ‘Get your swords and go back and forth from one end of the camp to the other and kill even your brothers, friends, and neighbors.’”
²⁸
 So they did, and about three thousand men died that day.

    
²⁹
 Then Moses told the Levites, “Today you have ordained yourselves for the service of the Lord, for you obeyed him even though it meant killing your own sons and brothers; now he will give you a great blessing.”

    
³⁰
 The next day Moses said to the people, “You have sinned a great sin, but I will return to the Lord on the mountain—perhaps I will be able to obtain his forgiveness for you.”

    
³¹
 So Moses returned to the Lord and said, “Oh, these people have sinned a great sin and have made themselves gods of gold.
³²
 Yet now if you will only forgive their sin—and if not, then blot
me
out of the book you have written.”
*

    
³³
 And the Lord replied to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me will be blotted out of my book.
³⁴
 And now go, lead the people to the place I told you about, and I assure you that my Angel shall travel on ahead of you; however, when I come to visit these people, I will punish them for their sins.”

    
³⁵
 And the Lord sent a great plague upon the people because they had worshiped Aaron’s calf.