1"You shall make an altar for burning incense. Make it of shittim wood."
2"It shall be a cubit long and a cubit wide. It shall be square, and two cubits high. Its horns shall be of one piece with it."
3"You shall cover it with pure gold: its top, its sides all around, and its horns. And you shall make a gold border around it."
4"You shall make two gold rings for it under the border, on its two corners, on both its sides. They will hold the poles used to carry it."
5"You shall make the poles of shittim wood and cover them with gold."
6"You shall put the altar in front of the veil that hangs by the ark of the testimony, in front of the mercy seat that is over the testimony, where I will meet with you."
7"Aaron shall burn sweet incense on it every morning. When he tends the lamps, he shall burn incense on it."
8"And when Aaron lights the lamps in the evening, he shall burn incense on it. This incense shall burn before the LORD always, through all your generations."
9"You shall not offer any strange incense on it, nor a burnt sacrifice, nor a food offering. You shall not pour a drink offering on it."
10"Once a year Aaron shall make atonement on its horns. With the blood of the sin offering of atonement he shall make atonement on it once a year, through all your generations. It is most holy to the LORD."
11And the LORD spoke to Moses. He said,
12"When you count the people of Israel, each man shall give the LORD a ransom for his life at the time he is counted. Then no plague will come on them when you count them."
13"This is what everyone who is counted shall give: half a shekel, by the shekel of the sanctuary. (A shekel is twenty gerahs.) Half a shekel shall be the offering to the LORD."
14"Everyone who is counted, from twenty years old and older, shall give this offering to the LORD."
15"The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less, than half a shekel, when they give the offering to the LORD to make atonement for your lives."
16"You shall take the atonement money from the people of Israel and use it for the service of the tabernacle of the congregation. It shall be a reminder for the people of Israel before the LORD, to make atonement for your lives."
17And the LORD spoke to Moses. He said,
18"You shall also make a basin of brass, with a base of brass, for washing. Put it between the tabernacle of the congregation and the altar, and put water in it."
19"Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet there."
20"When they go into the tabernacle of the congregation, they shall wash with water, so that they do not die. They shall do the same when they come near the altar to serve, to burn an offering made by fire to the LORD."
21"So they shall wash their hands and their feet, so that they do not die. This shall be a law for ever for them, for Aaron and for his descendants through all their generations."
22The LORD also spoke to Moses. He said,
23"Take for yourself the finest spices: five hundred shekels of pure myrrh, and half as much sweet cinnamon, that is, two hundred and fifty shekels, and two hundred and fifty shekels of sweet calamus,"
24"and five hundred shekels of cassia, by the shekel of the sanctuary, and a hin of olive oil."
25"You shall make it into a holy anointing oil, a mixture made with the skill of a perfume maker. It shall be a holy anointing oil."
26"With it you shall anoint the tabernacle of the congregation and the ark of the testimony,"
27"and the table and all its vessels, and the lampstand and its vessels, and the altar of incense,"
28"and the altar of burnt offering with all its vessels, and the basin with its base."
29"You shall make them holy, so that they will be most holy. Whatever touches them shall be holy."
30"You shall anoint Aaron and his sons and set them apart, so that they may serve me as priests."
31"And you shall say to the people of Israel, 'This shall be a holy anointing oil to me through all your generations."
32"'It shall not be poured on anyone's body, and you shall not make any other oil like it, mixed the same way. It is holy, and it shall be holy to you."
33"'Whoever mixes any oil like it, or whoever puts any of it on a stranger, shall be cut off from his people.'"
34And the LORD said to Moses, "Take sweet spices: stacte, and onycha, and galbanum. Take these sweet spices with pure frankincense, an equal weight of each."
35"You shall make it into a perfume, a mixture made with the skill of a perfume maker, mixed together, pure and holy."
36"You shall grind some of it very fine, and put some of it before the testimony in the tabernacle of the congregation, where I will meet with you. It shall be most holy to you."
37"As for the perfume you make, you shall not make any for yourselves with the same mixture. It shall be holy to you for the LORD."
38"Whoever makes any like it, to enjoy its smell, shall be cut off from his people."