The Bronze Altar 1“You are to build an altar of acacia wood. The altar must be square, five cubits long, five cubits wide, and three cubits high.a 2Make a horn on each of its four corners, so that the horns are of one piece, and overlay it with bronze. 3Make all its utensils of bronze—its pots for removing ashes, its shovels, its sprinkling bowls, its meat forks, and its firepans. 4Construct for it a grate of bronze mesh, and make a bronze ring at each of the four corners of the mesh. 5Set the grate beneath the ledge of the altar, so that the mesh comes halfway up the altar. 6Additionally, make poles of acacia wood for the altar and overlay them with bronze. 7The poles are to be inserted into the rings so that the poles are on two sides of the altar when it is carried. 8Construct the altar with boards so that it is hollow. It is to be made just as you were shown on the mountain. The Courtyard 9You are also to make a courtyard for the tabernacle. On the south side of the courtyard make curtains of finely spun linen, a hundred cubits longb on one side, 10with twenty posts and twenty bronze bases, and silver hooks and bands on the posts. 11Likewise there are to be curtains on the north side, a hundred cubits long, with twenty posts and twenty bronze bases, and with silver hooks and bands on the posts. 12The curtains on the west side of the courtyard shall be fifty cubits wide,c with ten posts and ten bases. 13The east side of the courtyard, toward the sunrise, is to be fifty cubits wide. 14Make the curtains on one side fifteen cubits long,d with three posts and three bases, 15and the curtains on the other side fifteen cubits long, with three posts and three bases. 16The gate of the courtyard shall be twenty cubits long,e with a curtain embroidered with blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, and finely spun linen. It shall have four posts and four bases. 17All the posts around the courtyard shall have silver bands, silver hooks, and bronze bases. 18The entire courtyard shall be a hundred cubits long and fifty cubits wide,f with curtains of finely spun linen five cubits high,g and with bronze bases. 19All the utensils of the tabernacle for every use, including all its tent pegs and the tent pegs of the courtyard, shall be made of bronze. The Oil for the Lamps 20And you are to command the Israelites to bring you pure oil of pressed olives for the light, to keep the lamps burning continually. 21In the Tent of Meeting, outside the veil that is in front of the Testimony,h Aaron and his sons are to tend the lamps before the LORD from evening until morning. This is to be a permanent statute for the Israelites for the generations to come. Footnotes: 1 a The altar was approximately 7.5 feet in length and width, and 4.5 feet high (2.3 meters in length and width, and 1.4 meters high). 9 b 100 cubits is approximately 150 feet or 45.7 meters; also in verse 11. 12 c 50 cubits is approximately 75 feet or 22.9 meters; also in verse 13. 14 d 15 cubits is approximately 22.5 feet or 6.9 meters; also in verse 15. 16 e 20 cubits is approximately 30 feet or 9.1 meters. 18 f The courtyard was approximately 150 feet long and 75 feet wide (45.7 meters long and 22.9 meters wide). 18 g 5 cubits is approximately 7.5 feet or 2.3 meters. 21 h The Testimony refers to the stone tablets in the ark of the covenant inscribed with the Ten Commandments. |