Chapter 40

¹Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ²“On the first day of the first month you shall raise up the tent of the Tent of Meeting. ³You shall put the ark of the testimony in it, and you shall screen the ark with the veil. ⁴You shall bring in the table, and set in order the things that are on it. You shall bring in the lampstand, and light the lamps of it. ⁵You shall set the golden altar for incense before the ark of the testimony, and put the screen of the door to the tent. ⁶You shall set the altar of burnt offering before the door of the tent of the tent of meeting. ⁷You shall set the basin between the tent of meeting and the altar, and shall put water therein. ⁸You shall set up the court around it, and hang up the screen of the gate of the court. ⁹You shall take the anointing oil, and anoint the tent, and all that is in it, and shall make it holy, and all its furniture: and it will be holy. ¹⁰You shall anoint the altar of burnt offering, with all its vessels, and sanctify the altar: and the altar will be most holy. ¹¹You shall anoint the basin and its base, and sanctify it. ¹²You shall bring Aaron and his sons to the door of the tent of meeting, and shall wash them with water. ¹³You shall put on Aaron the holy garments; and you shall anoint him, and sanctify him, that he may minister to me in the priest’s office. ¹⁴You shall bring his sons, and put coats on them. ¹⁵You shall anoint them, as you anointed their father, that they may minister to me in the priest’s office. Their anointing shall be to them for an everlasting priesthood throughout their generations. ¹⁶Thus did Moses: according to all that Yahweh commanded him, so he did.

¹⁷It happened in the first month in the second year, on the first day of the month, that the tent was raised up. ¹⁸Moses raised up the tent, and laid its sockets, and set up the boards of it, and put in the bars of it, and raised up its pillars. ¹⁹He spread the covering over the tent, and put the roof of the tent above on it, as Yahweh commanded Moses. ²⁰He took and put the testimony into the ark, and set the poles on the ark, and put the mercy seat above on the ark. ²¹He brought the ark into the tent, and set up the veil of the screen, and screened the ark of the testimony, as Yahweh commanded Moses. ²²He put the table in the tent of meeting, on the side of the tent northward, outside of the veil. ²³He set the bread in order on it before Yahweh, as Yahweh commanded Moses. ²⁴He put the lampstand in the tent of meeting, opposite the table, on the side of the tent southward. ²⁵He lit the lamps before Yahweh, as Yahweh commanded Moses. ²⁶He put the golden altar in the tent of meeting before the veil; ²⁷and he burnt incense of sweet spices on it, as Yahweh commanded Moses. ²⁸He put up the screen of the door to the tent. ²⁹He set the altar of burnt offering at the door of the tent of the tent of meeting, and offered on it the burnt offering and the meal offering, as Yahweh commanded Moses. ³⁰He set the basin between the tent of meeting and the altar, and put water therein, with which to wash. ³¹Moses, Aaron, and his sons washed their hands and their feet there. ³²When they went into the tent of meeting, and when they came near to the altar, they washed, as Yahweh commanded Moses. ³³He raised up the court around the tent and the altar, and set up the screen of the gate of the court. So Moses finished the work.

³⁴Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of Yahweh filled the tent. ³⁵Moses wasn’t able to enter into the tent of meeting, because the cloud stayed on it, and Yahweh’s glory filled the tent. ³⁶When the cloud was taken up from over the tent, the children of Israel went onward, throughout all their journeys; ³⁷but if the cloud wasn’t taken up, then they didn’t travel until the day that it was taken up. ³⁸For the cloud of Yahweh was on the tent by day, and there was fire in the cloud by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel, throughout all their journeys.