Exodus 25

Exodus 25:1 Yahveh spoke to Moses, and this is what he said,

Exodus 25:2 “Speak to the people of Israel, so that they take for me a donation. You should receive the donation for me from every man whose heart moves him.

Exodus 25:3 And this is the kind of donation that you should receive from them: gold, silver, and bronze,

Exodus 25:4 blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen, goats’ hair,

Exodus 25:5 tanned rams’ skins, goatskins, acacia wood,

Exodus 25:6 oil for the lamps, spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense,

Exodus 25:7 onyx stones, and stones for setting, for the ephod and for the sacred pouch.[1]

Exodus 25:8 And let them make me a sacred place, and I will live in their midst.

Exodus 25:9 You should make it exactly as I am showing you according to the pattern of the tabernacle, and of all its furniture.

Exodus 25:10 “They should make an ark of acacia wood. Its length should be two and a half cubits, its breadth a cubit and a half, and its height a cubit and a half.

Exodus 25:11 You should overlay it with pure gold, covering it from the house and from the street. And you should make on it a border of gold around it.

Exodus 25:12 You should cast four rings of gold for it and put them on its four legs, two rings on the one side of it, and two rings on the other side of it.

Exodus 25:13 You should make poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold.

Exodus 25:14 And you should put the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark, using them to carry the ark.

Exodus 25:15 The poles should remain in the rings of the ark; they will not be taken away from it.

Exodus 25:16 And you should put into the ark the reminder that I will give you.

Exodus 25:17 “You should make an atonement cover[2] of pure gold. Its length should be two and a half cubits, and its breadth a cubit and a half.

Exodus 25:18 And you should make two cherubs of gold; you should make them of hammered work, on the two ends of the atonement cover.

Exodus 25:19 Make one cherub on the one end, and one cherub on the other end. You should make the cherubs of one piece with the atonement cover on its two ends.

Exodus 25:20 The cherubs should spread out their wings above, overshadowing the atonement cover with their wings, their faces one to another; the faces of the cherubs should be toward the atonement cover.

Exodus 25:21 And you should put the atonement cover on the top of the ark, and in the ark you should put the reminder that I will give you.

Exodus 25:22 There I will meet with you, and from above the atonement cover, I will speak with you about all that I will give you as commands for the sons of Israel from between the two cherubs that are on the ark of the reminder.

Exodus 25:23 “You should make a table of acacia wood. Its length should be two cubits, its breadth a cubit, and its height a cubit and a half.

Exodus 25:24 You should overlay it with pure gold and make a border of gold around it.

Exodus 25:25 And you should make a rim around it a hand-breadth wide, and a border of gold around the rim.

Exodus 25:26 And you should make for it four rings of gold and fasten the rings to the four corners at its four legs.

Exodus 25:27 The rings should be placed close to the frame, serving as houses for the poles to carry the table.

Exodus 25:28 You should make the poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold, and the table will be carried with these.

Exodus 25:29 And you should make its plates and dishes for incense, and its pitchers and bowls with which to pour drink offerings; you should make them of pure gold.

Exodus 25:30 And you should place the face bread on the table before me regularly.

Exodus 25:31 You should make a lampstand of pure gold. The lampstand should be made of hammered work: its base, its stem, its cups, its flower buds, and its flower petals should be of one piece with it.

Exodus 25:32 And there should be six branches going out of its sides, three branches of the lampstand out of one side of it and three branches of the lampstand out of the other side of it;

Exodus 25:33 three cups made like almond blossoms, each with flower bud and flower petals, on one branch, and three cups made like almond blossoms, each with flower bud and flower petals, on the other branch – and like so for the six branches going out of the lampstand.

Exodus 25:34 And on the lampstand itself there should be four cups made like almond blossoms, with their flower buds and flower petals,

Exodus 25:35 and a flower bud of one piece with it under each pair of the six branches going out from the lampstand.

Exodus 25:36 Their flower buds and their branches should be of one piece with it, the whole of it a single piece of hammered work of pure gold.

Exodus 25:37 You should make seven lamps for it. And each of the lamps should be placed so as to give light on the space in front of it.

Exodus 25:38 Its tongs and their trays should be of pure gold.

Exodus 25:39 It, with all these utensils, should be made out of a talent of pure gold.

Exodus 25:40 And make sure that you make them following the pattern for them, which is being shown you on the mountain.

[1] חשֶׁן = sacred pouch. Exodus 25:7; 28:4, 15, 22, 23, 24, 26, 28, 29, 30; 29:5; 35:9, 27; 39:8, 9, 15, 16, 17, 19, 21.

[2] כַּפֹּרֶת = atonement cover. (see HALOT, 4395). Exodus 25:17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22; 26:34; 30:6; 31:7; 35:12; 37:6, 7, 8, 9; 39:35; 40:20.

Exodus 25 quotes:

“The Ark of the Covenant was the only piece of furniture inside the Most Holy Place. It is significant that it was the first piece of furniture commanded to be made. However, when it came to the construction, the Ark was made after the Tabernacle itself, presumably so that it could be housed immediately (Exodus 25:9; compare 36:8-37:28).”

Dowley, Tim. The Tabernacle. Candle Books, 2001. p. 15.

“The Divine purpose in the building of the Tabernacle is summed up in the key verse found in Exodus 25:8 and 29:46-47. ‘‘Let them make me a Sanctuary that I may dwell among them.’’ This verse is the key thought of all that pertains to the Tabernacle. God’s desire is to dwell in the midst of His redeemed people on His own terms and His own grounds. God follows the pronouncement of His purpose by giving a pattern that is to be followed in the construction of His dwelling place.”

Conner, Kevin J. The Tabernacle of Moses. Bible Temple Pub., 1975. p. 8.

““And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst” (Exodus 25:8). In these words, spoken to Moses by God, we perceive the purpose for the tabernacle, namely, that God might dwell in their midst. Moses, having been well educated, and having had access to one of the best libraries in the ancient world (Acts 7:22), was the one to whom was given divine instructions on how to build the tabernacle (Exodus 25-31, 35-40). In fact, he not only received specific plans for various parts of the tabernacle, but the entire structure was to be constructed according to a pattern shown to Moses while on Mt. Sinai (Exodus 25:9, 40; 26:30; Numbers 8:4; Acts 7:44; Hebrews 8:2, 5). Many interpreters have speculated endlessly regarding what Moses saw at Mt. Sinai; they are mere speculations, however. Let us simply affirm that the tabernacle was divinely designed and be content.”

Zehr, Paul M. God Dwells with His People : A Study of Israel’s Ancient Tabernacle. Herald Press, 1981. p. 26.