1   Bezalel and Aholiab shall work exactly as the Lord has commanded, and so also shall every craftsman whom the Lord has made skilful and ingenious in these matters, to know how to execute every kind of work for the service of the sanctuary.’

2   Moses summoned Bezalel, Aholiab, and every craftsman to whom the Lord had given skill and who was willing, to come forward and set to work. 3   They received from Moses every contribution which the Israelites had brought for the work of the service of the sanctuary, but the people still brought freewill offerings morning after morning, 4   so that the craftsmen at work on the sanctuary left what they were doing, every one of them, 5   and came to Moses and said, ‘The people are bringing much more than we need for doing the work which the Lord has commanded.’ 6   So Moses sent word round the camp that no man or woman should prepare anything more as a contribution for the sanctuary. 7   So the people stopped bringing gifts; what was there already was more than enough for all the work they had to do.

Israel at Mount Sinai

8   Then all the craftsmen among the workers made the Tabernacle of ten hangings of finely woven linen, and violet, purple, and scarlet yarn, with cherubim worked on them, all made by a seamster. 9   The length of each hanging was twenty-eight cubits and the breadth four cubits, all of the same size. 10   They joined five of the hangings together, and similarly the other five. 11   They made violet loops on the outer edge of the one set of hangings and they did the same for the outer edge of the other set of hangings. 12   They made fifty loops for each hanging; they made also fifty loops for the end hanging in the second set, the loops being opposite each other. 13   They made fifty gold fasteners, with which they joined the hangings one to another, and the Tabernacle became a single whole.

14   They made hangings of goats' hair, eleven in all, to form a tent over the Tabernacle; 15   each hanging was thirty cubits long and four cubits wide, all eleven of the same size. 16   They joined five of the hangings together, and similarly the other six. 17   They made fifty loops on the edge of the outer hanging in the first set and fifty loops on the joining edge of the second set, 18   and fifty bronze fasteners to join up the tent and make it a single whole. 19   They made for the tent a cover of tanned rams' skins and an outer covering of porpoise-hides.

20   They made for the Tabernacle planks of acacia-wood as uprights, each plank ten cubits long and a cubit and a half wide, 21    22   and two tenons for each plank joined to each other. They did the same for all the planks of the Tabernacle. 23   They arranged the planks thus: twenty planks for the south side, 24   facing southwards, with forty silver sockets under them, two sockets under each plank for its two tenons; 25   and for the 26   second or northern side of the Tabernacle twenty planks with forty silver sockets, two under each plank. 27   They made six planks for the far end of the Tabernacle on the west. 28   They made two planks for the corners of the Tabernacle at the far end; 29   at the bottom they were alike, and at the top, both alike, ^note they fitted into a single ring. They did the same for both of them at the two corners. 30   There were eight planks with their silver sockets, sixteen sockets in all, two sockets under each plank.

31   They made bars of acacia-wood: five for the planks on the one side of the Tabernacle, 32   five bars for the planks on the second side of the Tabernacle, and five bars for the planks on the far end of the Tabernacle on the west. 33   They made the middle bar to run along from end to end half-way up the frames. 34   They overlaid the frames with gold, made rings of gold on them to hold the bars and plated the bars with gold.

35   They made the Veil of finely woven linen and violet, purple, and scarlet yarn, with cherubim worked on it, all made by a seamster. 36   And they made for it four posts of acacia-wood overlaid with gold, with gold

Israel at Mount Sinai hooks, and cast four silver sockets for them. 37   For the entrance of the tent a screen of finely woven linen was made, embroidered with violet, purple, 38   and scarlet, and five posts of acacia-wood with their hooks. They overlaid the tops of the posts and the bands round them with gold; the five sockets for them were of bronze.

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