Exodus 30

₁The Lord said to Moses: ‘You must make an altar on which to burn incense and you must use acacia wood to make it. ₂The altar must be square, one cubit long and one cubit wide and 2 cubits high. There must be horns_on_the_altar and you must make the horns and the altar from one piece of wood. ₃Then you must cover the altar with pure gold. The gold must cover the top of the altar, the sides around the altar and the horns. You must make a gold rim around the altar. ₄Make 2 gold rings and fasten them at the bottom corner of one side of the altar, and fasten 2 rings on the other side. Then you can put carrying poles through the rings to carry the altar. ₅Make the carrying poles from acacia wood and cover them with gold. ₆You must put the altar down in front of the curtain which hangs in front of the covenant box with the 10 commandments in it. Put it down in front of the lid of the covenant box where I will always appear to you.

₇Every morning Aaron must burn incense on the altar. He must do it when he cleans and fills the lamps. ₈Aaron must also burn incense on the altar every evening when he lights the lamps. You and your descendants must always burn incense-offerings for Me. ₉You may burn only holy incense on this altar and no other incense. You may not sacrifice any burnt-offerings or grain-offerings on this altar and you may not pour any drink-offerings on it.

₁₀Aaron must sacrifice a special offering to Me once every year to ask Me to forgive the sins of your descendants. He must then take some blood from the animal that he sacrificed for the sins of the people and he must put the blood on the horns_of_the_altar. This altar is most_holy to Me.’

₁₁The Lord said to Moses: ₁₂‘When you count the Israelites, everyone must give an offering to the Lord, and then I will not punish the people or make them sick when you count them. ₁₃Each person who has been counted must give a half shekel. They must be temple-shekels, as the priest weighs money, 20 gerahs in one shekel. This is the offering they must give Me. ₁₄You must count all the people, and everyone who is 20 years old or older must give this offering to Me. ₁₅The rich people must not give more than a half shekel of silver and the poor people must not give less, and then I will forgive their sins. ₁₆You must take this money that the Israelites give to you because I have forgiven their sins and you must give the money to the priests. The priests must use it for the work they do in the tent where I will appear to you. Then I will remember you and I will forgive your sins.’

₁₇The Lord said to Moses: ₁₈‘You must make a wash basin where the priests can wash their hands and feet. Make a stand from bronze for the basin and put it between the tent where I will appear to you and the altar, and pour water into the basin ₁₉so that Aaron and his sons can wash themselves. ₂₀When they come to the tent where I will appear to you, they must first wash themselves with this water, and then they will not die. They must also wash themselves before they go to the altar to work or sacrifice a burnt-offering for Me. ₂₁They must wash their hands and feet, and then they will not die. They must always do this, they and their descendants.’

₂₂The Lord said to Moses: ₂₃‘Take the best spices, 500 temple-shekels of myrrh, 250 temple-shekels of cinnamon, 250 temple-shekels of cane, ₂₄500 temple-shekels of cassia and one hin of olive oil. ₂₅Mix it all and make holy anointing-oil. You must make it like an artisan makes perfume. It pleases Me. ₂₆You must anoint the tent where I will appear to you and the covenant box with the 10 commandments in it. ₂₇You must also anoint the table and everything with the table, and the lamp-stand and everything with the lamp-stand. You must also anoint the incense-altar, ₂₈the altar for the burnt-offerings and everything with the burnt-offering altar, and the wash basin and its stand. ₂₉This is how you must consecrate it all so that it will be most_holy. Everything that touches it will become holy.

₃₀You must anoint Aaron and his sons and consecrate them to be my priests. ₃₁Tell the Israelites that this is how the olive oil must always be when they consecrate a priest to Me. ₃₂They may not pour it out on any person and they may not make olive oil like this to use for something else. This is holy olive oil and it must always be holy. ₃₃If anyone makes olive oil like this or gives some of this oil to someone who is not a priest, then you must cut him off from his people.’

₃₄The Lord said to Moses: ‘Take some sweet-smelling spices of gum-resin, onycha, galbanum and pure incense. ₃₅Mix it and make good incense. It pleases Me. Make the incense like an artisan makes perfume. Put salt on it and consecrate it to Me. ₃₆Make a powder from it and put it on the covenant box in which you will put the 10 commandments, in the tent where I will appear to you. It must be most_holy to Me. ₃₇You may not make incense like this for yourself. This incense must be consecrated only to Me. ₃₈If anyone makes incense like this for himself to smell, then you must cut him off from his people.’