Exodus 30

30 ¹"Make an altar for burning incense; make it of acacia wood. ²Square: about eighteen inches long, eighteen inches wide, and about three feet high, its horns of one piece with it. ³Cover it in pure gold—its top, sides all around, and horns—then add a gold rim around it. ⁴Make two gold rings below its molding, on two opposite sides, to hold the carrying poles. ⁵Make the poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold. ⁶Set it before the curtain that is by the ark of the testimony, before the cover over the testimony, where I will meet you. ⁷Every morning when he tends the lamps, Aaron is to burn fragrant incense on it. ⁸When Aaron sets up the lamps at dusk, he is to burn it—a continual incense before me, through your generations. ⁹Do not offer unauthorized incense, burnt offering, or grain offering on it; do not pour a drink offering on it. ¹⁰Once a year Aaron is to atone on its horns; once a year, with the blood of the sin offering of atonement, he is to atone for it throughout your generations. It is most holy to me."

The Census Ransom

¹¹Our Father said to Moses,

¹²"When you take a census of the Israelites to count them, each must give me a ransom for his life at that counting, so no plague comes on them as they are counted. ¹³Everyone counted must give about a fifth of an ounce of silver, by the sanctuary standard, as an offering to me. ¹⁴Everyone who is counted, twenty years old and upward, is to give this offering to me. ¹⁵The rich must not give more, nor the poor less, than this fifth of an ounce, when you offer it to me to atone for your lives. ¹⁶Take the atonement money from the Israelites; give it for the tent of meeting's service. It will be a memorial for the Israelites before me, to atone for your lives."

The Bronze Basin

¹⁷Our Father said to Moses,

¹⁸"Make a bronze basin with its bronze stand, for washing. Set it between the tent of meeting and the altar; put water in it, ¹⁹so that Aaron and his sons can use it to wash their hands and feet. ²⁰Entering the tent of meeting, they must wash with water so they won't die; or approaching the altar to serve, to burn a food offering to me. ²¹They must wash their hands and feet, or they will die. It is a lasting rule for Aaron and his descendants, generation after generation."

The Holy Anointing Oil

²²Our Father said to Moses,

²³"Take the finest spices: 12½ pounds of liquid myrrh, half as much—6¼ pounds—of fragrant cinnamon, and 6¼ pounds of fragrant cane, ²⁴and twelve and a half pounds of cassia, measured by the sanctuary standard, and a gallon of olive oil. ²⁵Make it a holy anointing oil, a blended perfume, the work of a perfumer—a holy anointing oil. ²⁶With it anoint the tent of meeting, the ark of the testimony, ²⁷the table and all its utensils, the lampstand and its utensils, the altar of incense, ²⁸the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils, and the basin with its stand. ²⁹Dedicate them so they are most holy; whatever touches them becomes holy. ³⁰Anoint Aaron and his sons; dedicate them to serve me as priests. ³¹Say to the Israelites, 'This are to be my holy anointing oil throughout your generations. ³²Don't pour it on anyone's body, and don't make anything like it by its formula. It is holy—it is to be holy to you. ³³Whoever blends anything like it, or puts it on an outsider, will be cut off from his people.'"

Sacred Incense

³⁴Our Father said to Moses, "Take fragrant spices—stacte, onycha, and galbanum—these fragrant spices with pure frankincense, in equal parts, ^a a v34 Stacte, onycha, and galbanum are aromatic plant resins used in ancient Near Eastern incense blends. ³⁵and make them into fragrant incense, the work of a perfumer, seasoned with salt, pure and holy. ³⁶Grind some of it very fine and put some before the testimony in the tent of meeting, where I will meet you. It remains most holy to you. ³⁷Don't make incense to this formula for yourselves; it is holy to you, for it belongs to me. ³⁸Whoever makes any like it to enjoy its fragrance is to be cut off from his people."