Meditate

38. The Altar, Basin, and Courtyard

Making the Altar of Burnt Offering

38

He made the altar of burnt offering also of acacia wood; it was five cubits long, and five cubits wide; it was square, and three cubits high.²He made horns for it on its four corners; its horns were of one piece with it, and he overlaid it with bronze.³He made all the utensils of the altar, the pots, the shovels, the basins, the forks, and the firepans: all its utensils he made of bronze.⁴He made for the altar a grating, a network of bronze, under its ledge, extending halfway down.⁵He cast four rings on the four corners of the bronze grating to hold the poles;⁶he made the poles of acacia wood, and overlaid them with bronze.⁷And he put the poles through the rings on the sides of the altar, to carry it with them; he made it hollow, with boards.

⁸ He made the basin of bronze with its stand of bronze, from the mirrors of the women who served at the entrance to the tent of meeting.

Making the Court of the Tabernacle

⁹ He made the court; for the south side the hangings of the court were of fine twisted linen, one hundred cubits long;¹⁰its twenty pillars and their twenty bases were of bronze, but the hooks of the pillars and their bands were of silver.¹¹For the north side there were hangings one hundred cubits long; its twenty pillars and their twenty bases were of bronze, but the hooks of the pillars and their bands were of silver.¹²For the west side there were hangings fifty cubits long, with ten pillars and ten bases; the hooks of the pillars and their bands were of silver.¹³And for the front to the east, fifty cubits.¹⁴The hangings for one side of the gate were fifteen cubits, with three pillars and three bases.¹⁵And so for the other side; on each side of the gate of the court were hangings of fifteen cubits, with three pillars and three bases.¹⁶All the hangings around the court were of fine twisted linen.¹⁷The bases for the pillars were of bronze, but the hooks of the pillars and their bands were of silver; the overlaying of their capitals was also of silver, and all the pillars of the court were banded with silver.¹⁸The screen for the entrance to the court was embroidered with needlework in blue, purple, and crimson yarns and fine twisted linen. It was twenty cubits long and, along the width of it, five cubits high, corresponding to the hangings of the court.¹⁹There were four pillars; their four bases were of bronze, their hooks of silver, and the overlaying of their capitals and their bands of silver.²⁰All the pegs for the tabernacle and for the court all around were of bronze.

Materials of the Tabernacle

²¹ These are the records of the tabernacle, the tabernacle of the covenant, which were drawn up at the commandment of Moses, the work of the Levites being under the direction of Ithamar son of the priest Aaron.²²Bezalel son of Uri son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, made all that the Lord commanded Moses;²³and with him was Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, engraver, designer, and embroiderer in blue, purple, and crimson yarns, and in fine linen.

²⁴ All the gold that was used for the work, in all the construction of the sanctuary, the gold from the offering, was twenty-nine talents and seven hundred thirty shekels, measured by the sanctuary shekel.²⁵The silver from those of the congregation who were counted was one hundred talents and one thousand seven hundred seventy-five shekels, measured by the sanctuary shekel;²⁶a beka a head (that is, half a shekel, measured by the sanctuary shekel), for everyone who was counted in the census, from twenty years old and upward, for six hundred three thousand, five hundred fifty men.²⁷The hundred talents of silver were for casting the bases of the sanctuary, and the bases of the curtain; one hundred bases for the hundred talents, a talent for a base.²⁸Of the thousand seven hundred seventy-five shekels he made hooks for the pillars, and overlaid their capitals and made bands for them.²⁹The bronze that was contributed was seventy talents, and two thousand four hundred shekels;³⁰with it he made the bases for the entrance of the tent of meeting, the bronze altar and the bronze grating for it and all the utensils of the altar,³¹the bases all around the court, and the bases of the gate of the court, all the pegs of the tabernacle, and all the pegs around the court.

7. Stephen's Speech to Sanhedrin

¹⁷ “But as the time drew near for the fulfillment of the promise that God had made to Abraham, our people in Egypt increased and multiplied¹⁸until another king who had not known Joseph ruled over Egypt.¹⁹He dealt craftily with our race and forced our ancestors to abandon their infants so that they would die.²⁰At this time Moses was born, and he was beautiful before God. For three months he was brought up in his father’s house;²¹and when he was abandoned, Pharaoh’s daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son.²²So Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in his words and deeds.

²³ “When he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his relatives, the Israelites.²⁴When he saw one of them being wronged, he defended the oppressed man and avenged him by striking down the Egyptian.²⁵He supposed that his kinsfolk would understand that God through him was rescuing them, but they did not understand.²⁶The next day he came to some of them as they were quarreling and tried to reconcile them, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers; why do you wrong each other?’

Related Hymns

• Deep in the Shadows of the Past

10. Psalm 10

Psalm 10

Prayer for Deliverance from Enemies

1

Why, O Lord, do you stand far off?

Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?

2

In arrogance the wicked persecute the poor—

let them be caught in the schemes they have devised.

3

For the wicked boast of the desires of their heart,

those greedy for gain curse and renounce the Lord.

4

In the pride of their countenance the wicked say, “God will not seek it out”;

all their thoughts are, “There is no God.”

5

Their ways prosper at all times;

your judgments are on high, out of their sight;

as for their foes, they scoff at them.

6

They think in their heart, “We shall not be moved;

throughout all generations we shall not meet adversity.”

7

Their mouths are filled with cursing and deceit and oppression;

under their tongues are mischief and iniquity.

8

They sit in ambush in the villages;

in hiding places they murder the innocent.

Their eyes stealthily watch for the helpless;

9

they lurk in secret like a lion in its covert;

they lurk that they may seize the poor;

they seize the poor and drag them off in their net.

10

They stoop, they crouch,

and the helpless fall by their might.

11

They think in their heart, “God has forgotten,

he has hidden his face, he will never see it.”

12

Rise up, O Lord; O God, lift up your hand;

do not forget the oppressed.

13

Why do the wicked renounce God,

and say in their hearts, “You will not call us to account”?

14

But you do see! Indeed you note trouble and grief,

that you may take it into your hands;

the helpless commit themselves to you;

you have been the helper of the orphan.

15

Break the arm of the wicked and evildoers;

seek out their wickedness until you find none.

16

The Lord is king forever and ever;

the nations shall perish from his land.

17

O Lord, you will hear the desire of the meek;

you will strengthen their heart, you will incline your ear

18

to do justice for the orphan and the oppressed,

so that those from earth may strike terror no more.

Related Hymns

• We Are Called
• Let Justice Flow
• God Who Stretched the Spangled Heavens