Vayak-hel-Pekudei

This translation was taken from the JPS Tanakh

Exodus 35:1 – 40:38

Chapter 35

¹ Moses then convoked the whole Israelite community and said to them:

These are the things that the Lord has commanded you to do: ² On six days work may be done, but on the seventh day you shall have a sabbath of complete rest, holy to the Lord; whoever does any work on it shall be put to death. ³ You shall kindle no fire throughout your settlements on the sabbath day.

⁴ Moses said further to the whole community of Israelites:

This is what the Lord has commanded: ⁵ Take from among you gifts to the Lord; everyone whose heart so moves him shall bring them — gifts for the Lord: gold, silver, and copper; ⁶ blue, purple, and crimson yarns, fine linen, and goats’ hair; ⁷ tanned ram skins, dolphin skins, and acacia wood; ⁸ oil for lighting, spices for the anointing oil and for the aromatic incense; ⁹ lapis lazuli and other stones for setting, for the ephod and the breastpiece.

¹⁰ And let all among you who are skilled come and make all that the Lord has commanded: ¹¹ the Tabernacle, its tent and its covering, its clasps and its planks, its bars, its posts, and its sockets; ¹² the ark and its poles, the cover, and the curtain for the screen; ¹³ the table, and its poles and all its utensils; and the bread of display; ¹⁴ the lampstand for lighting, its furnishings and its lamps, and the oil for lighting; ¹⁵ the altar of incense and its poles; the anointing oil and the aromatic incense; and the entrance screen for the entrance of the Tabernacle;¹⁶ the altar of burnt offering, its copper grating, its poles, and all its furnishings; the laver and its stand; ¹⁷ the hangings of the enclosure, its posts and its sockets, and the screen for the gate of the court; ¹⁸ the pegs for the Tabernacle, the pegs for the enclosure, and their cords; ¹⁹ the service vestments for officiating in the sanctuary, the sacral vestments of Aaron the priest and the vestments of his sons for priestly service.

²⁰ So the whole community of the Israelites left Moses’ presence. ²¹ And everyone who excelled in ability and everyone whose spirit moved him came, bringing to the Lord his offering for the work of the Tent of Meeting and for all its service and for the sacral vestments.²² Men and women, all whose hearts moved them, all who would make an elevation offering of gold to the Lord, came bringing brooches, earrings, rings, and pendants — gold objects of all kinds. ²³ And everyone who had in his possession blue, purple, and crimson yarns, fine linen, goats’ hair, tanned ram skins, and dolphin skins, brought them; ²⁴ everyone who would make gifts of silver or copper brought them as gifts for the Lord; and everyone who had in his possession acacia wood for any work of the service brought that. ²⁵ And all the skilled women spun with their own hands, and brought what they had spun, in blue, purple, and crimson yarns, and in fine linen. ²⁶ And all the women who excelled in that skill spun the goats’ hair. ²⁷ And the chieftains brought lapis lazuli and other stones for setting, for the ephod and for the breastpiece; ²⁸ and spices and oil for lighting, for the anointing oil, and for the aromatic incense. ²⁹ Thus the Israelites, all the men and women whose hearts moved them to bring anything for the work that the Lord, through Moses, had commanded to be done, brought it as a freewill offering to the Lord.

³⁰ And Moses said to the Israelites: See, the Lord has singled out by name Bezalel, son of Uri son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. ³¹ He has endowed him with a divine spirit of skill, ability, and knowledge in every kind of craft ³² and has inspired him to make designs for work in gold, silver, and copper, ³³ to cut stones for setting and to carve wood — to work in every kind of designer’s craft — ³⁴ and to give directions. He and Oholiab son of Ahisamach of the tribe of Dan ³⁵ have been endowed with the skill to do any work — of the carver, the designer, the embroiderer in blue, purple, crimson yarns, and in fine linen, and of the weaver — as workers in all crafts and as makers of designs.

Chapter 36
¹ Let, then, Bezalel and Oholiab and all the skilled persons whom the Lord has endowed with skill and ability to perform expertly all the tasks connected with the service of the sanctuary carry out all that the Lord has commanded.

² Moses then called Bezalel and Oholiab, and every skilled person whom the Lord had endowed with skill, everyone who excelled in ability, to undertake the task and carry it out. ³ They took over from Moses all the gifts that the Israelites had brought, to carry out the tasks connected with the service of the sanctuary. But when these continued to bring freewill offerings to him morning after morning, ⁴ all the artisans who were engaged in the tasks of the sanctuary came, each from the task upon which he was engaged, ⁵ and said to Moses, “The people are bringing more than is needed for the tasks entailed in the work that the Lord has commanded to be done.” ⁶ Moses thereupon had this proclamation made throughout the camp: “Let no man or woman make further effort toward gifts for the sanctuary!” So the people stopped bringing: ⁷ their efforts had been more than enough for all the tasks to be done.

⁸ Then all the skilled among those engaged in the work made the tabernacle of ten strips of cloth, which they made of fine twisted linen, blue, purple, and crimson yarns; into these they worked a design of cherubim. ⁹ The length of each cloth was twenty-eight cubits, and the width of each cloth was four cubits, all cloths having the same measurements. ¹⁰ They joined five of the cloths to one another, and they joined the other five cloths to one another. ¹¹ They made loops of blue wool on the edge of the outermost cloth of the one set, and did the same on the edge of the outermost cloth of the other set: ¹² they made fifty loops on the one cloth, and they made fifty loops on the edge of the end cloth of the other set, the loops being opposite one another. ¹³ And they made fifty gold clasps and coupled the units to one another with the clasps, so that the tabernacle became one whole.

¹⁴ They made cloths of goats’ hair for a tent over the tabernacle; they made the cloths eleven in number. ¹⁵ The length of each cloth was thirty cubits, and the width of each cloth was four cubits, the eleven cloths having the same measurements. ¹⁶ They joined five of the cloths by themselves, and the other six cloths by themselves. ¹⁷ They made fifty loops on the edge of the outermost cloth of the one set, and they made fifty loops on the edge of the end cloth of the other set. ¹⁸ They made fifty copper clasps to couple the tent together so that it might become one whole. ¹⁹ And they made a covering of tanned ram skins for the tent, and a covering of dolphin skins above.

²⁰ They made the planks for the Tabernacle of acacia wood, upright. ²¹ The length of each plank was ten cubits, the width of each plank a cubit and a half. ²² Each plank had two tenons, parallel to each other; they did the same with all the planks of the Tabernacle. ²³ Of the planks of the Tabernacle, they made twenty planks for the south side, ²⁴ making forty silver sockets under the twenty planks, two sockets under one plank for its two tenons and two sockets under each following plank for its two tenons; ²⁵ and for the other side wall of the Tabernacle, the north side, twenty planks, ²⁶ with their forty silver sockets, two sockets under one plank and two sockets under each following plank. ²⁷ And for the rear of the Tabernacle, to the west, they made six planks; ²⁸ and they made two planks for the corners of the Tabernacle at the rear. ²⁹ They matched at the bottom, but terminated as one at the top into one ring; they did so with both of them at the two corners. ³⁰ Thus there were eight planks with their sockets of silver: sixteen sockets, two under each plank.

³¹ They made bars of acacia wood, five for the planks of the one side wall of the Tabernacle, ³² five bars for the planks of the other side wall of the Tabernacle, and five bars for the planks of the wall of the Tabernacle at the rear, to the west; ³³ they made the center bar to run, halfway up the planks, from end to end. ³⁴ They overlaid the planks with gold, and made their rings of gold, as holders for the bars; and they overlaid the bars with gold.

³⁵ They made the curtain of blue, purple, and crimson yarns, and fine twisted linen, working into it a design of cherubim. ³⁶ They made for it four posts of acacia wood and overlaid them with gold, with their hooks of gold; and they cast for them four silver sockets.

³⁷ They made the screen for the entrance of the Tent, of blue, purple, and crimson yarns, and fine twisted linen, done in embroidery; ³⁸ and five posts for it with their hooks. They overlaid their tops and their bands with gold; but the five sockets were of copper.

Chapter 37
¹ Bezalel made the ark of acacia wood, two and a half cubits long, a cubit and a half wide, and a cubit and a half high. ² He overlaid it with pure gold, inside and out; and he made a gold molding for it round about. ³ He cast four gold rings for it, for its four feet: two rings on one of its side walls and two rings on the other. ⁴ He made poles of acacia wood, overlaid them with gold, 5 and inserted the poles into the rings on the side walls of the ark for carrying the ark.

⁶ He made a cover of pure gold, two and a half cubits long and a cubit and a half wide. ⁷ He made two cherubim of gold; he made them of hammered work, at the two ends of the cover: ⁸ one cherub at one end and the other cherub at the other end; he made the cherubim of one piece with the cover, at its two ends. ⁹ The cherubim had their wings spread out above, shielding the cover with their wings. They faced each other; the faces of the cherubim were turned toward the cover.

¹⁰ He made the table of acacia wood, two cubits long, one cubit wide, and a cubit and a half high; 11 he overlaid it with pure gold and made a gold molding around it. ¹² He made a rim of a hand’s breadth around it and made a gold molding for its rim round about. ¹³ He cast four gold rings for it and attached the rings to the four corners at its four legs. 14 The rings were next to the rim, as holders for the poles to carry the table. ¹⁵ He made the poles of acacia wood for carrying the table, and overlaid them with gold. ¹⁶ The utensils that were to be upon the table — its bowls, ladles, jugs, and jars with which to offer libations — he made of pure gold.

¹⁷ He made the lampstand of pure gold. He made the lampstand — its base and its shaft — of hammered work; its cups, calyxes, and petals were of one piece with it. ¹⁸ Six branches issued from its sides: three branches from one side of the lampstand, and three branches from the other side of the lampstand. ¹⁹ There were three cups shaped like almond-blossoms, each with calyx and petals, on one branch; and there were three cups shaped like almond-blossoms, each with calyx and petals, on the next branch; so for all six branches issuing from the lampstand. ²⁰ On the lampstand itself there were four cups shaped like almond-blossoms, each with calyx and petals: ²¹ a calyx, of one piece with it, under a pair of branches; and a calyx, of one piece with it, under the second pair of branches; and a calyx, of one piece with it, under the last pair of branches; so for all six branches issuing from it. ²² Their calyxes and their stems were of one piece with it, the whole of it a single hammered piece of pure gold. ²³ He made its seven lamps, its tongs, and its fire pans of pure gold. ²⁴ He made it and all its furnishings out of a talent of pure gold.

²⁵ He made the incense altar of acacia wood, a cubit long and a cubit wide — square — and two cubits high; its horns were of one piece with it. ²⁶ He overlaid it with pure gold: its top, its sides round about, and its horns; and he made a gold molding for it round about. ²⁷He made two gold rings for it under its molding, on its two walls — on opposite sides — as holders for the poles with which to carry it. ²⁸ He made the poles of acacia wood, and overlaid them with gold. ²⁹ He prepared the sacred anointing oil and the pure aromatic incense, expertly blended.

Chapter 38
¹ He made the altar for burnt offering of acacia wood, five cubits long and five cubits wide — square — and three cubits high. ² He made horns for it on its four corners, the horns being of one piece with it; and he overlaid it with copper. ³ He made all the utensils of the altar — the pails, the scrapers, the basins, the flesh hooks, and the fire pans; he made all these utensils of copper. ⁴ He made for the altar a grating of meshwork in copper, extending below, under its ledge, to its middle. ⁵ He cast four rings, at the four corners of the copper grating, as holders for the poles. ⁶ He made the poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with copper; ⁷ and he inserted the poles into the rings on the side walls of the altar, to carry it by them. He made it hollow, of boards.

⁸ He made the laver of copper and its stand of copper, from the mir- rors of the women who performed tasks at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting.

⁹ He made the enclosure:

On the south side, a hundred cubits of hangings of fine twisted linen for the enclosure — ¹⁰ with their twenty posts and their twenty sockets of copper, the hooks and bands of the posts being silver.

¹¹ On the north side, a hundred cubits — with their twenty posts and their twenty sockets of copper, the hooks and bands of the posts being silver.

¹² On the west side, fifty cubits of hangings — with their ten posts and their ten sockets, the hooks and bands of the posts being silver.

¹³ And on the front side, to the east, fifty cubits: ¹⁴ fifteen cubits of hangings on the one flank, with their three posts and their three sockets, ¹⁵ and fifteen cubits of hangings on the other flank — on each side of the gate of the enclosure — with their three posts and their three sockets.

¹⁶ All the hangings around the enclosure were of fine twisted linen. ¹⁷ The sockets for the posts were of copper, the hooks and bands of the posts were of silver, the overlay of their tops was of silver; all the posts of the enclosure were banded with silver. — ¹⁸ The screen of the gate of the enclosure, done in embroidery, was of blue, purple, and crimson yarns, and fine twisted linen. It was twenty cubits long. Its height — or width — was five cubits, like that of the hangings of the enclosure. ¹⁹ The posts were four; their four sockets were of copper, their hooks of silver; and the overlay of their tops was of silver, as were also their bands. — ²⁰ All the pegs of the Tabernacle and of the enclosure round about were of copper.

²¹ These are the records of the Tabernacle, the Tabernacle of the Pact, which were drawn up at Moses’ bidding — the work of the Levites under the direction of Ithamar son of Aaron the priest. ²² Now Bezalel, son of Uri son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, had made all that the Lord had commanded Moses; ²³ at his side was Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, carver and designer, and embroiderer in blue, purple, and crimson yarns and in fine linen.

²⁴ All the gold that was used for the work, in all the work of the sanctuary — the elevation offering of gold — came to 29 talents and 730 shekels by the sanctuary weight. ²⁵ The silver of those of the community who were recorded came to 100 talents and 1,775 shekels by the sanctuary weight: ²⁶ a half-shekel a head, half a shekel by the sanctuary weight, for each one who was entered in the records, from the age of twenty years up, 603,550 men. ²⁷ The 100 talents of silver were for casting the sockets of the sanctuary and the sockets for the curtain, 100 sockets to the 100 talents, a talent a socket. ²⁸ and of the 1,775 shekels he made hooks for the posts, overlay for their tops, and bands around them.

²⁹ The copper from the elevation offering came to 70 talents and 2,400 shekels. ³⁰ Of it he made the sockets for the entrance of the Tent of Meeting; the copper altar and its copper grating and all the utensils of the altar; ³¹ the sockets of the enclosure round about and the sockets of the gate of the enclosure; and all the pegs of the Tabernacle and all the pegs of the enclosure round about.

Chapter 39
¹ Of the blue, purple, and crimson yarns they also made the service vestments for officiating in the sanctuary; they made Aaron’s sacral vestments — as the Lord had commanded Moses.

² The ephod was made of gold, blue, purple, and crimson yarns, and fine twisted linen. ³ They hammered out sheets of gold and cut threads to be worked into designs among the blue, the purple, and the crimson yarns, and the fine linen. ⁴ They made for it attaching shoulder-pieces; they were attached at its two Ends. ⁵ The decorated band that was upon it was made like it, of one piece with it; of gold, blue, purple, and crimson yarns, and fine twisted linen — as the Lord had commanded Moses.

⁶ They bordered the lazuli stones with frames of gold, engraved with seal engravings of the names of the sons of Israel. ⁷ They were set on the shoulder-pieces of the ephod, as stones of remembrance for the Israelites — as the Lord had commanded Moses.

⁸ The breastpiece was made in the style of the ephod: of gold, blue, purple, an crimson yarns, and fine twisted linen. ⁹ It was square; they made the breastpiece doubled — a span in length and a span in width, doubled. ¹⁰ They set in it four rows of stones. The first row was a row of carnelian, chrysolite, and emerald; ¹¹ the second row: a turquoise, a sapphire, and an amethyst; ¹² the third row: a jacinth, an agate, and a crystal; ¹³ and the fourth row: a beryl, a lapis lazuli, and a jasper. They were encircled in their mountings with frames of gold. ¹⁴The stones corresponded [in number] to the names of the sons of Israel: twelve, corresponding to their names; engraved like seals, each with its name, for the twelve tribes.

¹⁵ On the breastpiece they made braided chains of corded work in pure gold. ¹⁶ They made two frames of gold and two rings of gold, and fastened the two rings at the two ends of the breastpiece, ¹⁷ attaching the two golden cords to the two rings at the ends of the breastpiece. ¹⁸ They then fastened the two ends of the cords to the two frames, attaching them to the shoulder-pieces of the ephod, at the front. ¹⁹ They made two rings of gold and attached them to the two ends of the breastpiece, at its inner edge, which faced the ephod. ²⁰They made two other rings of gold and fastened them on the front of the ephod, low on the two shoulder-pieces, close to its seam above the decorated band. ²¹ The breastpiece was held in place by a cord of blue from its rings to the rings of the ephod, so that the breastpiece rested on the decorated band and did not come loose from the ephod — as the Lord had commanded Moses.

²² The robe for the ephod was made of woven work, of pure blue. ²³ The opening of the robe, in the middle of it, was like the opening of a coat of mail, with a binding around the opening, so that it would not tear. ²⁴ On the hem of the robe they made pomegranates of blue, purple, and crimson yarns, twisted. ²⁵ They also made bells of pure gold, and attached the bells between the pomegranates, all around the hem of the robe, between the pomegranates: ²⁶ a bell and a pomegranate, a bell and a pomegranate, all around the them of the robe for officiating in — as the Lord had commanded Moses.

²⁷ They made the tunics of fine linen, of woven work, for Aaron and his sons; ²⁸ and the headdress of fine linen, and the decorated turbans of fine linen, and the linen breeches of fine twisted linen; ²⁹ and sashes of fine twisted linen, blue, purple, and crimson yarns, done in embroidery — as the Lord had commanded Moses.

³⁰ they made the frontlet for the holy diadem of pure gold, and incised upon it the seal inscription: “Holy to the Lord.” ³¹ They attached to it a cord of blue to fix it upon the headdress above — as the Lord had commanded Moses.

³² Thus was completed all the work of the Tabernacle of the Tent of Meeting. The Israelites did so, just as the Lord had commanded Moses, so they did.

³³ Then they brought the Tabernacle to Moses, with the Tent and all its furnishings: its clasps, its planks, its bars, its posts, and its sockets; ³⁴ the covering of tanned ram skins, the covering of dolphin skins, and the curtain for the screen; ³⁵ the Ark of the Pact and its poles, and the cover; ³⁶ the table and all its utensils, and the bread of display; ³⁷ the pure lampstand, its lamps — lamps in due order — and all its fittings, and the oil for lighting; ³⁸ the altar of gold, the oil for anointing, the aromatic incense, and the screen for the entrance of the Tent; ³⁹ the copper altar with its copper grating, its poles and all its utensils, and the laver and its stand; ⁴⁰ the hangings of the enclosure, its posts and its sockets, the screen for the gate of the enclosure, its cords and its pegs — all the furnishings for the service of the Tabernacle, the Tent of Meeting; ⁴¹ the service vestments for officiating in the sanctuary, the sacral vestments of Aaron the priest, and the vestments of his sons for priestly service. ⁴² Just as the Lord had commanded Moses, so the Israelites had done all the work. ⁴³ And when Moses saw that they had performed all the tasks — as the Lord had commanded, so they had done — Moses blessed them.

Chapter 40
1 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

² On the first day of the first month you shall set up the Tabernacle of the Tent of Meeting. ³ Place there the Ark of the Pact, and screen off the ark with the curtain. ⁴ Bring in the table and lay out its due setting; bring in the lampstand and light its lamps; ⁵ and place the gold altar of incense before the Ark of the Pact. Then put up the screen for the entrance of the Tabernacle.

⁶ You shall place the altar of burnt offering before the entrance of the Tabernacle of the Tent of Meeting. ⁷ Place the laver between the Tent of Meeting and the altar, and put water in it. ⁸ Set up the enclosure round about, and put in place the screen for the gate of the enclosure.

⁹ You shall take the anointing oil and anoint the Tabernacle and all that is in it to consecrate it and all its furnishings, so that it shall be holy. ¹⁰ Then anoint the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils to consecrate the altar, so that the altar shall be most holy. ¹¹ And anoint the laver and its stand to consecrate it.

¹² You shall bring Aaron and his sons forward to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting and wash them with the water. 13 Put the sacral vestments on Aaron, and anoint him and consecrate him, that he may serve Me as priest. ¹⁴ Then bring his sons forward, put tunics on them, ¹⁵ and anoint them as you have anointed their father, that they may serve Me as priests. This their anointing shall serve them for everlasting priesthood throughout the ages.

¹⁶ This Moses did; just as the Lord had commanded him, so he did.

¹⁷ In the first month of the second year, on the first of the month, the Tabernacle was set up. ¹⁸ Moses set up the Tabernacle, placing its sockets, setting up its planks, inserting its bars, and erecting its posts. ¹⁹ He spread the tent over the Tabernacle, placing the covering of the tent on top of it — just as the Lord had commanded Moses.

²⁰ He took the Pact and placed it in the ark; he fixed the poles to the ark, placed the cover on top of the ark, ²¹ and brought the ark inside the Tabernacle. Then he put up the curtain for screening, and screened off the Ark of the Pact — just as the Lord had commanded Moses.

²² He placed the table in the Tent of Meeting, outside the curtain, on the north side of the Tabernacle. ²³ Upon it he laid out the setting of bread before the Lord — as the Lord had commanded Moses. ²⁴ He placed the lampstand in the Tent of Meeting opposite the table, on the south side of the Tabernacle. ²⁵ And he lit the lamps before the Lord — as the Lord had commanded Moses. ²⁶ He placed the altar of gold in the Tent of Meeting, before the curtain. ²⁷ On it he burned aromatic incense — as the Lord had commanded Moses.

²⁸ Then he put up the screen for the entrance of the Tabernacle. ²⁹ At the entrance of the Tabernacle of the Tent of Meeting he placed the altar of burnt offering. On it he offered up the burnt offering and the meal offering — as the Lord had commanded Moses. ³⁰ He placed the laver between the Tent of Meeting and the altar, and put water in it for washing. ³¹ From it Moses and Aaron and his sons would wash their hands and feet; ³² they washed when they entered the Tent of Meeting and when they approached the altar — as the Lord had commanded Moses. ³³ And he set up the enclosure around the Tabernacle and the altar, and put up the screen for the gate of the enclosure.

When Moses had finished the work, ³⁴ the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the Presence of the Lord filled the Tabernacle. ³⁵ Moses could not enter the Tent of Meeting, because the cloud had settled upon it and the Presence of the Lord filled the Tabernacle. ³⁶ When the cloud lifted from the Tabernacle, the Israelites would set out, on their various journeys; ³⁷ but if the cloud did not lift, they would not set out until such time as it did lift. ³⁸ For over the Tabernacle a cloud of the Lord rested by day, and fire would appear in it by night, in the view of all the house of Israel throughout their journeys.

Taken from Tanakh, The Holy Scriptures, (Philadelphia, Jerusalem: Jewish Publication Society) 1985.
Used by permission of The Jewish Publication Society. Copyright © 1962, 1992
Third Edition by the Jewish Publication Society.
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