1 “You shall make an altar for burning incense; you shall make it of acacia wood. 2 It shall be about eighteen inches long and eighteen inches wide; it shall be square, and about thirty-six inches high. Its horns shall be of one piece with it. 3 You shall overlay it with pure gold, its top, its sides all around, and its horns, and make a gold molding around it. 4 You shall make two gold rings for it below its molding, at its two edges, on its two sides, as holders for the poles with which to carry it. 5 You shall make the poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold. 6 You shall put it before the veil by the ark of the Testimony, before the mercy seat that is over the Testimony, where I will meet with you. 7 Aaron shall burn fragrant incense on it morning by morning; when he tends the lamps, he shall burn it. 8 When Aaron lights the lamps at twilight, he shall burn it, a continual incense before the LORD throughout your generations. 9 You shall not offer unauthorized incense on it, or a burnt offering or a grain offering, nor shall you pour a drink offering on it. 10 Aaron shall make atonement on its horns once a year. With the blood of the sin offering of atonement, once a year he shall make atonement on it throughout your generations. It is most holy to the LORD.”

11 The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 12 “When you take a census of the Israelites to number them, each shall give a ransom for his life to the LORD when they are counted, so that there will be no plague among them when you count them. 13 This is what everyone who passes among those counted shall give: half a shekel, about one-fifth of an ounce, by the sanctuary shekel. The shekel is twenty gerahs. Half a shekel shall be an offering to the LORD. 14 Everyone who passes among those counted, from twenty years old and upward, shall give the LORD’s offering. 15 The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less, than half a shekel when giving the LORD’s offering to make atonement for your lives. 16 You shall receive the atonement money from the Israelites and assign it to the service of the Tent of Meeting. It shall be a memorial for the Israelites before the LORD, to make atonement for your lives.”

17 The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 18 “You shall make a bronze basin with a bronze base for washing. You shall put it between the Tent of Meeting and the altar, and put water in it. 19 Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet with water from it. 20 When they enter the Tent of Meeting or approach the altar to minister and burn an offering by fire to the LORD, they shall wash with water so that they do not die. 21 They shall wash their hands and their feet so that they do not die. It shall be a perpetual statute for them, for him and his offspring throughout their generations.”

22 The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 23 “Take choice spices: about twelve and a half pounds of liquid myrrh; half as much fragrant cinnamon, about six and a quarter pounds; about six and a quarter pounds of aromatic cane; 24 about twelve and a half pounds of cassia, by the sanctuary shekel; and about one gallon of olive oil. 25 You shall make these into a holy anointing oil, a fragrant blend, the work of a perfumer. It shall be a holy anointing oil. 26 With it you shall anoint the Tent of Meeting and the ark of the Testimony, 27 the table and all its utensils, the lampstand and its utensils, and the altar of incense, 28 the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils, and the basin and its base. 29 You shall consecrate them, and they shall be most holy; anything that touches them shall be holy. 30 You shall anoint Aaron and his sons and consecrate them to serve me as priests. 31 You shall say to the Israelites, ‘This shall be a holy anointing oil to me throughout your generations. 32 It shall not be poured on human flesh, and you shall not make any like it according to its composition. It is holy, and you shall regard it as holy. 33 Whoever blends any like it or puts any of it on an outsider shall be cut off from his people.’ ”

34 The LORD said to Moses, “Take aromatic spices: stacte, onycha, and galbanum, these spices with pure frankincense, in equal parts. 35 You shall make them into incense, a fragrant blend, the work of a perfumer, salted, pure, and holy. 36 You shall grind some of it very fine and put some of it before the Testimony in the Tent of Meeting, where I will meet with you. It shall be most holy to you. 37 As for the incense you shall make, you shall not make any for yourselves according to its composition. You shall regard it as holy to the LORD. 38 Whoever makes any like it for its scent shall be cut off from his people.”