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Exodus 30

New International Reader’s Version



1 ‘Make an altar for burning incense. Make it out of acacia wood. 2 It must be half a metre square and 1 metre high. Make a horn stick out from each of its upper four corners. 3 Cover the top, sides and horns with pure gold. Put a strip of gold around it. 4 Make two gold rings for the altar below the strip. Put the rings opposite each other. They will hold the poles that are used to carry it. 5 Make the poles out of acacia wood. Cover them with gold. 6 Put the altar in front of the curtain that hangs in front of the ark. The ark is where the tablets of the covenant law are kept. The ark will have a cover. It will be the place where sin is paid for. There I will meet with you. 7 ‘Aaron must burn sweet-smelling incense on the altar. He must do it every morning when he takes care of the lamps. 8 He must burn incense again when he lights the lamps at sunset. Incense must be burned regularly in front of the LORD. Do it for all time to come. 9 Do not burn any other incense on the altar. Do not use the altar for burnt offerings or grain offerings. And do not pour drink offerings on it. 10 Once a year Aaron must put the blood of a sin offering on the horns of the altar. He must do this to make the altar pure. He must do this on the day Israel’s sin is paid for. Do this for all time to come. The altar is a very holy place to me.’ 



11 Then the LORD spoke to Moses. He said, 12 ‘Make a list of the Israelites and count them. When you do, each one must pay the LORD for his life at the time he is counted. Then a plague will not come on them when you count them. 13 Each one counted must pay 6 grams of silver. It must be weighed out in keeping with the standard weights that are used in the sacred tent. The payment is an offering to the LORD. 14 Each one counted must be 20 years old or more. He must give an offering to the LORD. 15 When you make the offering, rich people must not give more than 6 grams of silver. And poor people must not give less. The offering you give to the LORD will pay for your lives. 16 Receive the money from the people of Israel. Use it for any purpose in the tent of meeting. It will remind the people that they are paying me for their lives.’ 



17 Then the LORD spoke to Moses. He said, 18 ‘Make a large bronze bowl for washing. Make a bronze stand to put it on. Place the bowl between the tent of meeting and the altar. Put water in it. 19 Aaron and his sons must wash their hands and feet with water from it. 20 When they enter the tent of meeting, they must wash with water so that they will not die. They will come to the altar to serve me. They will bring a food offering to the LORD. 21 When they do, they must wash their hands and feet so that they will not die. For all time to come, that will be a law for Aaron and the priests in his family line.’ 



22 Then the LORD said to Moses, 23 ‘Get some fine spices. Get 6 kilograms of liquid myrrh. Get 3 kilograms of sweet-smelling cinnamon and the same amount of sweet-smelling calamus. 24 Also get 6 kilograms of cassia. All the spices must be weighed out in keeping with the standard weights that are used in the sacred tent. And get 4 litres of olive oil. 25 Have a person who makes perfume mix everything into a sacred anointing oil. It will smell sweet. 26 Then use it to anoint the tent of meeting and the ark where the tablets of the covenant law are kept. 27 Anoint the table for the holy bread and all its things. Anoint the lampstand and the things that are used with it. Anoint the altar for burning incense. 28 Anoint the altar for burnt offerings and all its tools. And anoint the large bowl together with its stand. 29 You must set them apart so that they will be very holy. Anything that touches them will be holy. 30 ‘Anoint Aaron and his sons. Set them apart so that they can serve me as priests. 31 Say to the people of Israel, “This will be my sacred anointing oil for all time to come. 32 Do not pour it on anyone else’s body. Do not make any other oil in the same way. It is sacred. So you must think of it as sacred. 33 Suppose a person makes perfume in the same way. And suppose that person puts it on someone who is not a priest. Then that person must be separated from their people.” ’ 



34 Then the LORD said to Moses, ‘Get some sweet-smelling spices. Get some gum resin, onycha and galbanum. Also get some pure frankincense. Make sure everything is in equal amounts. 35 Have a person who makes perfume mix it all up into a sweet-smelling incense. It must have salt in it. It will be pure and sacred. 36 Grind some of it into powder. Place it in front of the ark of the covenant law in the tent of meeting. There I will meet with you. The incense will be very holy to you. 37 Do not make any incense for yourselves in the same way. Think of it as holy to the LORD. 38 Whoever makes incense in the same way to enjoy its sweet smell must be separated from their people.’ 

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Exodus 30

English Standard Version



1 “You shall make an altar on which to burn incense; you shall make it of acacia wood. (Ex 37:25; Ex 40:5; Le 4:7; Re 8:3) 2 A cubit[1] shall be its length, and a cubit its breadth. It shall be square, and two cubits shall be its height. Its horns shall be of one piece with it. (Ex 27:2) 3 You shall overlay it with pure gold, its top and around its sides and its horns. And you shall make a molding of gold around it. (Ex 39:38; Ex 40:5; Ex 40:26; Nu 4:11) 4 And you shall make two golden rings for it. Under its molding on two opposite sides of it you shall make them, and they shall be holders for poles with which to carry it. (Ex 25:27) 5 You shall make the poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold. 6 And you shall put it in front of the veil that is above the ark of the testimony, in front of the mercy seat that is above the testimony, where I will meet with you. (Ex 25:21) 7 And Aaron shall burn fragrant incense on it. Every morning when he dresses the lamps he shall burn it, (Ex 27:20; Ex 30:34; Ex 31:11; Ex 37:29; Ex 40:27; 1Sa 2:28; 1Ch 23:13; 2Ch 2:4; 2Ch 29:11; Lu 1:9) 8 and when Aaron sets up the lamps at twilight, he shall burn it, a regular incense offering before the Lord throughout your generations. 9 You shall not offer unauthorized incense on it, or a burnt offering, or a grain offering, and you shall not pour a drink offering on it. (Le 10:1) 10 Aaron shall make atonement on its horns once a year. With the blood of the sin offering of atonement he shall make atonement for it once in the year throughout your generations. It is most holy to the Lord.” (Ex 29:36; Le 16:18; Le 23:27) 



11 The Lord said to Moses, 12 “When you take the census of the people of Israel, then each shall give a ransom for his life to the Lord when you number them, that there be no plague among them when you number them. (Ex 21:30; Nu 1:2; Nu 26:2; Nu 31:50; 2Sa 24:2; Ps 49:7) 13 Each one who is numbered in the census shall give this: half a shekel[2] according to the shekel of the sanctuary (the shekel is twenty gerahs),[3] half a shekel as an offering to the Lord. (Ge 24:22; Ex 38:24; Ex 38:26; Le 5:15; Le 27:3; Le 27:25; Nu 3:47; Nu 18:16; Eze 45:12; Mt 17:24) 14 Everyone who is numbered in the census, from twenty years old and upward, shall give the Lord’s offering. 15 The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less, than the half shekel, when you give the Lord’s offering to make atonement for your lives. (Ex 30:13) 16 You shall take the atonement money from the people of Israel and shall give it for the service of the tent of meeting, that it may bring the people of Israel to remembrance before the Lord, so as to make atonement for your lives.” (Ex 28:12; Ex 38:25; Ex 39:7; Nu 16:40) 



17 The Lord said to Moses, 18 “You shall also make a basin of bronze, with its stand of bronze, for washing. You shall put it between the tent of meeting and the altar, and you shall put water in it, (Ex 40:7; Ex 40:30; 1Ki 7:38) 19 with which Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet. (Ex 40:31; Ps 26:6; Isa 52:11; Heb 10:22) 20 When they go into the tent of meeting, or when they come near the altar to minister, to burn a food offering[4] to the Lord, they shall wash with water, so that they may not die. 21 They shall wash their hands and their feet, so that they may not die. It shall be a statute forever to them, even to him and to his offspring throughout their generations.” (Ex 27:21) 



22 The Lord said to Moses, 23 “Take the finest spices: of liquid myrrh 500 shekels, and of sweet-smelling cinnamon half as much, that is, 250, and 250 of aromatic cane, (So 4:14; Eze 27:19; Eze 27:22) 24 and 500 of cassia, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, and a hin[5] of olive oil. (Ex 29:40) 25 And you shall make of these a sacred anointing oil blended as by the perfumer; it shall be a holy anointing oil. (Ex 37:29; Nu 35:25; Ps 89:20; Ps 133:2) 26 With it you shall anoint the tent of meeting and the ark of the testimony, (Ex 40:9; Le 8:10; Nu 7:1) 27 and the table and all its utensils, and the lampstand and its utensils, and the altar of incense, 28 and the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils and the basin and its stand. (Ex 40:11) 29 You shall consecrate them, that they may be most holy. Whatever touches them will become holy. (Ex 29:37) 30 You shall anoint Aaron and his sons, and consecrate them, that they may serve me as priests. (Ex 29:7) 31 And you shall say to the people of Israel, ‘This shall be my holy anointing oil throughout your generations. 32 It shall not be poured on the body of an ordinary person, and you shall make no other like it in composition. It is holy, and it shall be holy to you. (Ex 30:25; Ex 30:37) 33 Whoever compounds any like it or whoever puts any of it on an outsider shall be cut off from his people.’” (Ex 30:38) 34 The Lord said to Moses, “Take sweet spices, stacte, and onycha, and galbanum, sweet spices with pure frankincense (of each shall there be an equal part), (Ex 25:6; Ex 30:7; Ex 37:29) 35 and make an incense blended as by the perfumer, seasoned with salt, pure and holy. (Ex 30:25; Le 2:13) 36 You shall beat some of it very small, and put part of it before the testimony in the tent of meeting where I shall meet with you. It shall be most holy for you. (Ex 25:22; Ex 40:10) 37 And the incense that you shall make according to its composition, you shall not make for yourselves. It shall be for you holy to the Lord. (Ex 30:32) 38 Whoever makes any like it to use as perfume shall be cut off from his people.” (Ex 30:33) 

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