30:1 “Make an altar of acacia wood for burning incense.
30:2 It is to be square, a cubit long and a cubit wide, and two cubits high* - its horns of one piece with it. / *That is, about 1 1/2 feet long and wide and 3 feet high or about 45 centimeters long and wide and 90 centimeters high
30:3 Overlay the top and all the sides and the horns with pure gold, and make a gold molding around it.
30:4 Make two gold rings for the altar below the molding - two on each of the opposite sides - to hold the poles used to carry it.
30:5 Make the poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold.
30:6 Put the altar in front of the curtain that shields the ark of the covenant law - before the atonement cover that is over the tablets of the covenant law - where I will meet with you.
30:7 “Aaron must burn fragrant incense on the altar every morning when he tends the lamps.
30:8 He must burn incense again when he lights the lamps at twilight so incense will burn regularly before the Lord for the generations to come.
30:9 Do not offer on this altar any other incense or any burnt offering or grain offering, and do not pour a drink offering on it.
30:10 Once a year Aaron shall make atonement on its horns. This annual atonement must be made with the blood of the atoning sin offering* for the generations to come. It is most holy to the Lord.” / *Or purification offering
30:11 Then the Lord said to Moses,
30:12 “When you take a census of the Israelites to count them, each one must pay the Lord a ransom for his life at the time he is counted. Then no plague will come on them when you number them.
30:13 Each one who crosses over to those already counted is to give a half shekel,* according to the sanctuary shekel, which weighs twenty gerahs. This half shekel is an offering to the Lord. / *That is, about 1/5 ounce or about 5.8 grams; also in verse 15
30:14 All who cross over, those twenty years old or more, are to give an offering to the Lord.
30:15 The rich are not to give more than a half shekel and the poor are not to give less when you make the offering to the Lord to atone for your lives.
30:16 Receive the atonement money from the Israelites and use it for the service of the tent of meeting. It will be a memorial for the Israelites before the Lord, making atonement for your lives.”
30:17 Then the Lord said to Moses,
30:18 “Make a bronze basin, with its bronze stand, for washing. Place it between the tent of meeting and the altar, and put water in it.
30:19 Aaron and his sons are to wash their hands and feet with water from it.
30:20 Whenever they enter the tent of meeting, they shall wash with water so that they will not die. Also, when they approach the altar to minister by presenting a food offering to the Lord,
30:21 they shall wash their hands and feet so that they will not die. This is to be a lasting ordinance for Aaron and his descendants for the generations to come.”
30:22 Then the Lord said to Moses,
30:23 “Take the following fine spices: 500 shekels* of liquid myrrh, half as much (that is, 250 shekels) of fragrant cinnamon, 250 shekels** of fragrant calamus, / *That is, about 12 1/2 pounds or about 5.8 kilograms; also in verse 24 / **That is, about 6 1/4 pounds or about 2.9 kilograms
30:24 500 shekels of cassia - all according to the sanctuary shekel - and a hin* of olive oil. / *That is, probably about 1 gallon or about 3.8 liters
30:25 Make these into a sacred anointing oil, a fragrant blend, the work of a perfumer. It will be the sacred anointing oil.
30:26 Then use it to anoint the tent of meeting, the ark of the covenant law,
30:27 the table and all its articles, the lampstand and its accessories, the altar of incense,
30:28 the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils, and the basin with its stand.
30:29 You shall consecrate them so they will be most holy, and whatever touches them will be holy.
30:30 “Anoint Aaron and his sons and consecrate them so they may serve me as priests.
30:31 Say to the Israelites, ‘This is to be my sacred anointing oil for the generations to come.
30:32 Do not pour it on anyone else’s body and do not make any other oil using the same formula. It is sacred, and you are to consider it sacred.
30:33 Whoever makes perfume like it and puts it on anyone other than a priest must be cut off from their people.’”
30:34 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Take fragrant spices - gum resin, onycha and galbanum - and pure frankincense, all in equal amounts,
30:35 and make a fragrant blend of incense, the work of a perfumer. It is to be salted and pure and sacred.
30:36 Grind some of it to powder and place it in front of the ark of the covenant law in the tent of meeting, where I will meet with you. It shall be most holy to you.
30:37 Do not make any incense with this formula for yourselves; consider it holy to the Lord.
30:38 Whoever makes incense like it to enjoy its fragrance must be cut off from their people.”