1 The Lord has given to Bezalel, Oholiab, and others the skills needed for building a place of worship, and they will follow the Lord's instructions.
2 Then Moses brought together these workers who were eager to work, 3 and he gave them the gifts that the people of Israel had donated for building the place of worship. In fact, so much was being given each morning, 4 that finally everyone stopped working 5 and said, “Moses, there is already more than we need for what the Lord has assigned us to do.” 6 So Moses sent word for the people to stop giving, and they did. 7 But there was already more than enough to do what needed to be done.
The Curtains and Coverings for the Sacred Tent
(Exodus 26.1-14)8-9 The skilled workers got together to make the sacred tent and its linen curtains that were woven with blue, purple, and red wool and embroidered with figures of winged creatures. Each of the ten panels was twelve meters long and two meters wide, 10 and they were sewn together to make two curtains with five panels each. 11-13 Then 50 loops of blue cloth were put along one of the wider sides of each curtain, and the two curtains were fastened together at the loops with 50 gold hooks.
14-15 As the material for protecting the tent, goat hair was used to weave eleven sections 13 meters by 2 meters each. 16 These eleven sections were joined to make two panels, one with five and the other with six sections. 17 Fifty loops were put along one of the wider sides of each panel, 18 and the two panels were fastened at the loops with 50 bronze hooks. 19 Two other coverings were made—one with fine leather and the other with ram skins dyed red.
The Framework for the Sacred Tent
(Exodus 26.15-30)20 Acacia wood was used to build the framework for the walls of the sacred tent. 21 Each frame was 4 meters high and 66 centimeters wide 22-26 with two wooden pegs near the bottom. Then two silver stands were placed under each frame with sockets for the pegs, so they could be joined together. Twenty of these frames were used along the south side and 20 more along the north. 27 Six frames were used for the back wall along the west side 28-29 with two more at the southwest and northwest corners. These corner frames were joined from top to bottom. 30 Altogether, along the back wall there were eight frames with two silver stands under each of them.
31-33 Five crossbars were made for each of the wooden frames, with the center crossbar running the full length of the wall. 34 The frames and crossbars were covered with gold, and gold rings were attached to the frames to run the crossbars through.
The Inside Curtain for the Sacred Tent
(Exodus 26.31-37)35 They made the inside curtain of fine linen woven with blue, purple, and red wool, and embroidered with figures of winged creatures. 36 They also made four acacia wood posts and covered them with gold. Then gold rings were fastened to the posts, which were set on silver stands.
37 For the entrance to the tent, they used a curtain of fine linen woven with blue, purple, and red wool and embroidered with fancy needlework. 38 They made five posts, covered them completely with gold, and set each of them on a gold-covered bronze stand. Finally, they attached hooks for the curtain.
1 “Bezalel, Oholiab, and all the other workers to whom the Lord has given skill and understanding, who know how to make everything needed to build the sacred Tent, are to make everything just as the Lord has commanded.”
The People Bring Many Gifts
2 Moses called Bezalel, Oholiab, and all the other skilled men to whom the Lord had given ability and who were willing to help, and Moses told them to start working. 3 They received from him all the offerings which the Israelites had brought for constructing the sacred Tent. But the people of Israel continued to bring Moses their offerings every morning. 4 Then the skilled men who were doing the work went 5 and told Moses, “The people are bringing more than is needed for the work which the Lord commanded to be done.”
6 So Moses sent a command throughout the camp that no one was to make any further contribution for the sacred Tent; so the people did not bring any more. 7 What had already been brought was more than enough to finish all the work.
Making the Tent of the Lord's Presence
(Exodus 26.1-37)8 The most skilled men among those doing the work made the Tent of the Lord's presence. They made it out of ten pieces of fine linen woven with blue, purple, and red wool and embroidered with figures of winged creatures. 9 Each piece was the same size, 14 yards long and 2 yards wide. 10 They sewed five of them together in one set and did the same with the other five. 11 They made loops of blue cloth on the edge of the outside piece in each set. 12 They put fifty loops on the first piece of the first set and fifty loops matching them on the last piece of the second set. 13 They made fifty gold hooks, with which to join the two sets into one piece.
14 Then they made a cover for the Tent out of eleven pieces of cloth made of goats' hair. 15 They made them all the same size, 15 yards long and 2 yards wide. 16 They sewed five of them together in one set and the other six in another set. 17 They put fifty loops on the edge of the last piece of one set and fifty loops on the edge of the other set. 18 They made fifty bronze hooks to join the two sets, so as to form one cover. 19 They made two more coverings, one of rams' skin dyed red and the other of fine leather, to serve as an outer cover.
20 They made upright frames of acacia wood for the Tent. 21 Each frame was 15 feet tall and 27 inches wide, 22 with two matching projections, so that the frames could be joined together. All the frames had these projections. 23 They made twenty frames for the south side 24 and forty silver bases to go under them, two bases under each frame to hold its two projections. 25 They made twenty frames for the north side of the Tent 26 and forty silver bases, two under each frame. 27 For the back of the Tent, on the west, they made six frames 28 and two frames for the corners. 29 These corner frames were joined at the bottom and connected all the way to the top. The two frames that formed the two corners were made in this way. 30 So there were eight frames and sixteen silver bases, two under each frame.
31 They made fifteen crossbars of acacia wood, five for the frames on one side of the Tent, 32 five for the frames on the other side, and five for the frames on the west end, at the back. 33 The middle crossbar, set halfway up the frames, extended from one end of the Tent to the other. 34 They covered the frames with gold and fitted them with gold rings to hold the crossbars, which were also covered with gold.
35 They made a curtain of fine linen, woven with blue, purple, and red wool and embroidered it with figures of winged creatures. 36 They made four posts of acacia wood to hold the curtain, covered them with gold, and fitted them with gold hooks. Then they made four silver bases to hold the posts. 37 For the entrance of the Tent they made a curtain of fine linen woven with blue, purple, and red wool and decorated with embroidery. 38 For this curtain they made five posts fitted with hooks, covered their tops and their rods with gold, and made five bronze bases for the posts.