Exodus 40
Setting Up the Tabernacle
1The Lord spoke to Moses:23“You are to set up the tabernacle, the tent of meeting, on the first day of the first month.45Put the ark of the testimony there and screen off the ark with the curtain.67Then bring in the table and lay out its arrangement; also bring in the lampstand and set up its lamps.89Place the gold altar for incense in front of the ark of the testimony. Put up the screen for the entrance to the tabernacle.1011Position the altar of burnt offering in front of the entrance to the tabernacle, the tent of meeting.1213Place the basin between the tent of meeting and the altar, and put water in it.1415Assemble the surrounding courtyard and hang the screen for the gate of the courtyard.1617“Take the anointing oil and anoint the tabernacle and everything in it; consecrate it along with all its furnishings so that it will be holy.1819Anoint the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils; consecrate the altar so that it will be especially holy.2021Anoint the basin and its stand and consecrate it.22
23“Then bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance to the tent of meeting and wash them with water.2425Clothe Aaron with the holy garments, anoint him, and consecrate him, so that he can serve me as a priest.2627Have his sons come forward and clothe them in tunics.2829Anoint them just as you anointed their father, so that they may also serve me as priests. Their anointing will serve to inaugurate a permanent priesthood for them throughout their generations.”30
31Moses did everything just as the Lord had commanded him.3233The tabernacle was set up in the first month of the second year, on the first day of the month.3435Moses set up the tabernacle: He laid its bases, positioned its supports, inserted its crossbars, and set up its pillars.3637Then he spread the tent over the tabernacle and put the covering of the tent on top of it, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.38
39Moses took the testimony and placed it in the ark, and attached the poles to the ark. He set the mercy seat on top of the ark.4041He brought the ark into the tabernacle, put up the curtain for the screen, and screened off the ark of the testimony, just as the Lord had commanded him.42
43Moses placed the table in the tent of meeting on the north side of the tabernacle, outside the curtain.4445He arranged the bread on it before the Lord, just as the Lord had commanded him.4647He put the lampstand in the tent of meeting opposite the table on the south side of the tabernacle4849and set up the lamps before the Lord, just as the Lord had commanded him.50
51Moses installed the gold altar in the tent of meeting, in front of the curtain,5253and burned fragrant incense on it, just as the Lord had commanded him.5455He put up the screen at the entrance to the tabernacle.5657He placed the altar of burnt offering at the entrance to the tabernacle, the tent of meeting, and offered the burnt offering and the grain offering on it, just as the Lord had commanded him.58
59He set the basin between the tent of meeting and the altar and put water in it for washing.6061Moses, Aaron, and his sons washed their hands and feet from it.6263They washed whenever they came to the tent of meeting and approached the altar, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.64
65Next Moses set up the surrounding courtyard for the tabernacle and the altar and hung a screen for the gate of the courtyard. So Moses finished the work.66
The Lord’s Glory
67The cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.6869Moses was unable to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud rested on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.7071The Israelites set out whenever the cloud was taken up from the tabernacle throughout all the stages of their journey.7273If the cloud was not taken up, they did not set out until the day it was taken up.7475For the cloud of the Lord was over the tabernacle by day, and there was a fire inside the cloud by night, visible to the entire house of Israel throughout all the stages of their journey.76