Vayak-hel

This translation was taken from the JPS Tanakh.

Exodus 35:1 – 38:20

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.

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.
No part of this text can be reproduced or forwarded without written permission.
Please visit the JPS website for more fine books of Jewish literature and tradition.