Exodus - Chapter 40

The sanctuary erected and consecrated

¹Yahweh spoke to Moses and said, ²“On the first day of the first month you are to erect the Holy Tent, the Tent of Meeting, ³and place the ark of the Statement in it, screening it with the veil. ⁴Bring in the lampstand, too, and set up its lamps. ⁵Place the golden altar of incense in front of the ark of the Statement, and set up the screen at the entrance of the Holy Tent. ⁶Place the altar for burnt offerings in front of the entrance to the Holy Tent, the Tent of Meeting. ⁷Place the basin between the Tent of Meeting and the altar, and fill it with water. ⁸Set up the enclosure of the court and hang the curtain at the gateway of the court. ⁹Then, taking the sacred oil, anoint the Holy Tent and everything in it, consecrating it with its furniture, to make it a holy place. ¹⁰Anoint the altar for burnt offerings with all its furnishings; and consecrate the altar which, henceforth, will be a most holy thing. ¹¹Anoint the basin with its stand, and consecrate it. ¹²Bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting and see that they bathe. ¹³Then clothe Aaron with the priestly garments and anoint and consecrate him, to serve me in the priesthood. ¹⁴Next, bring his sons and clothe them with shirts. ¹⁵Anoint them as you have anointed their father, to serve me in the priesthood. This anointing of them is to confer the priesthood on them forever from generation to generation.”

¹⁶Moses did this; he did exactly as Yahweh had commanded him. ¹⁷The Holy Tent was set up on the first day of the first month in the second year. ¹⁸Moses set up the Holy Tent. He fixed the bases for it, put up its frames, put its crossbars in position, set up its posts. ¹⁹He spread the tent over the Holy Tent and on top of this the covering for the tent, as Yahweh had commanded Moses. ²⁰He took the Statement and placed it inside the ark. He set the poles to the ark in place and put the mercy Seat on it. ²¹He brought the ark into the Holy Tent and put the screening veil in place; thus he screened the ark of Yahweh, as Yahweh had commanded Moses. ²²He placed the table in the Tent of Meeting, on the north side of the Holy Tent, outside the veil, ²³and on it arranged the loaves before Yahweh, as Yahweh had commanded Moses. ²⁴He put the lampstand in the Tent of Meeting, opposite the table, on the southern side of the Holy Tent, ²⁵and he set up the lamps before Yahweh, as Yahweh had commanded Moses. ²⁶He put the golden altar in the Tent of Meeting in front of the veil, ²⁷and on it burned fragrant incense, as Yahweh had commanded Moses. ²⁸Then he put the screen at the entrance to the Holy Tent. ²⁹Then he put the altar for the burnt offerings at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, and on it offered the burnt offering and grain offering, as Yahweh had commanded Moses. ³⁰He put the basin between the Tent of Meeting and the altar, and filled it with water. ³¹This was for Aaron and his sons to wash their hands and feet: ³²whenever they entered the Tent of Meeting or approached the altar they washed, as Yahweh had commanded Moses. ³³Moses then set up the court around the Holy Tent and the altar and placed the screen at the gateway to the court. Thus Moses completed the work.

Yahweh takes possession of the sanctuary

^{34 ①} Then the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting and the Glory of Yahweh filled the Holy Tent. ³⁵Moses could not enter the Tent of Meeting because of the cloud that rested on it and because of the Glory of Yahweh that filled the Holy Tent.

³⁶At every stage of their journey, whenever the cloud rose from the Holy Tent the people of Israel would continue their march. ³⁷If the cloud did not rise, they waited and would not move their camp until it did. ³⁸For the cloud rested on the Holy Tent by day, and a fire shone within the cloud by night for all the House of Israel to see. And so it was for every stage of their journey.