Exodus 30
The full text of Exodus 30 in the Trinity Bible Version — clear modern English, translated from the original Hebrew. Free to read.
1 "Make an altar for burning incense; make it of acacia wood.
2 It is to be square, a cubit long and a cubit wide, and two cubits high; its horns are to be of one piece with it.
3 Overlay it with pure gold—its top, its sides all around, and its horns—and make a gold molding around it.
4 Make two gold rings for it below the molding, on its two opposite sides, to hold the poles used to carry it.
5 Make the poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold.
6 Place it in front of the curtain that hangs before the ark of the covenant law—before the atonement cover that is over the covenant law—where I will meet with you.
7 Aaron is to burn fragrant incense on it every morning when he tends the lamps.
8 He is to burn incense again when he sets up the lamps at twilight, so that incense will burn regularly before the LORD for the generations to come.
9 Do not offer on this altar any unauthorized incense or any burnt offering or grain offering, and do not pour a drink offering on it.
10 Once a year Aaron is to make atonement on its horns. This annual atonement must be made with the blood of the atoning sin offering for the generations to come. It is most holy to the LORD."
11 Then the LORD said to Moses,
12 "When you take a census of the Israelites to count them, each one must pay the LORD a ransom for his life at the time he is counted. Then no plague will come on them when you number them.
13 Everyone who crosses over to those already counted is to give half a shekel, according to the sanctuary shekel, which weighs twenty gerahs. This half shekel is an offering to the LORD.
14 Everyone who crosses over to those already counted, twenty years old or more, is to give this offering to the LORD.
15 The rich are not to give more than half a shekel and the poor are not to give less when you make the offering to the LORD to atone for your lives.
16 Receive the atonement money from the Israelites and use it for the service of the tent of meeting. It will be a memorial for the Israelites before the LORD, making atonement for your lives."
17 Then the LORD said to Moses,
18 "Make a bronze basin, with its bronze stand, for washing. Place it between the tent of meeting and the altar, and put water in it.
19 Aaron and his sons are to wash their hands and feet with water from it.
20 Whenever they enter the tent of meeting, they are to wash with water so that they will not die. Also, when they approach the altar to minister by presenting a food offering to the LORD,
21 they are to wash their hands and feet so that they will not die. This is to be a lasting ordinance for Aaron and his descendants for the generations to come."
22 Then the LORD said to Moses,
23 "Take the finest spices: 500 shekels of liquid myrrh, half that amount (250 shekels) of fragrant cinnamon, 250 shekels of fragrant calamus,
24 500 shekels of cassia—all according to the sanctuary shekel—and a hin of olive oil.
25 Make these into a sacred anointing oil, a fragrant blend, the work of a perfumer. It will be the sacred anointing oil.
26 Then use it to anoint the tent of meeting, the ark of the covenant law,
27 the table and all its articles, the lampstand and its accessories, the altar of incense,
28 the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils, and the basin with its stand.
29 You shall consecrate them so they will be most holy, and whatever touches them will be holy.
30 Anoint Aaron and his sons and consecrate them so they may serve me as priests.
31 Say to the Israelites, 'This is to be my sacred anointing oil for the generations to come.
32 Do not pour it on anyone else's body and do not make any other oil using the same formula. It is sacred, and you are to consider it sacred.
33 Whoever makes a blend like it, or puts any of it on someone who is not a priest, is to be cut off from their people.'"
34 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Take fragrant spices—gum resin, onycha and galbanum—and pure frankincense, all in equal amounts,
35 and make a fragrant blend of incense, the work of a perfumer. It is to be salted, pure and sacred.
36 Grind some of it to powder and place it in front of the ark of the covenant law in the tent of meeting, where I will meet with you. It shall be most holy to you.
37 Do not make any incense with this formula for yourselves; consider it holy to the LORD.
38 Whoever makes incense like it to enjoy its fragrance is to be cut off from their people."
Translation notes (5)
- Exodus 30:6a "The covenant law" translates the Hebrew word ha'edut ("the testimony"), referring to the tablets stored in the ark. "Atonement cover" translates the Hebrew word kapporet, which is traditionally called the "mercy seat."
- Exodus 30:9a "Unauthorized incense" renders qetoret zarah, literally "strange/foreign incense"—incense not prescribed for this altar (cf. the same root in the deaths of Nadab and Abihu, Lev 10:1).
- Exodus 30:12a "A ransom for his life" translates the Hebrew phrase kofer nafsho, which refers to a payment that covers or redeems a person. Here, it protects against the plague that an uncovered census could bring.
- Exodus 30:33a "Cut off from their people" (Hebrew: venikhrat me'ammav) refers to the karet penalty. The precise scope of this formula (whether it means death, exclusion from the community, or a divine penalty) is debated in tradition and is left unresolved here.
- Exodus 30:38a "Cut off from their people" refers to the karet formula (see note at 30:33). Its precise scope is debated and left unresolved.
About this translation
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