Exodus40

¹Then the Lord said to Moses:

²“Set up the tabernacle, the tent of meeting, on the first day of the first month.

³Place the ark of the covenant law in it and shield the ark with the curtain.

⁴Bring in the table and set out what belongs on it. Then bring in the lampstand and set up its lamps.

⁵Place the gold altar of incense in front of the ark of the covenant law and put the curtain at the entrance to the tabernacle.

⁶“Place the altar of burnt offering in front of the entrance to the tabernacle, the tent of meeting;

⁷place the basin between the tent of meeting and the altar and put water in it.

⁸Set up the courtyard around it and put the curtain at the entrance to the courtyard.

⁹“Take the anointing oil and anoint the tabernacle and everything in it; consecrate it and all its furnishings, and it will be holy.

¹⁰Then anoint the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils; consecrate the altar, and it will be most holy.

¹¹Anoint the basin and its stand and consecrate them.

¹²“Bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance to the tent of meeting and wash them with water.

¹³Then dress Aaron in the sacred garments, anoint him and consecrate him so he may serve me as priest.

¹⁴Bring his sons and dress them in tunics.

¹⁵Anoint them just as you anointed their father, so they may serve me as priests. Their anointing will be to a priesthood that will continue throughout their generations.”

¹⁶Moses did everything just as the Lord commanded him.

¹⁷So the tabernacle was set up on the first day of the first month in the second year.

¹⁸When Moses set up the tabernacle, he put the bases in place, erected the frames, inserted the crossbars and set up the posts.

¹⁹Then he spread the tent over the tabernacle and put the covering over the tent, as the Lord commanded him.

²⁰He took the tablets of the covenant law and placed them in the ark, attached the poles to the ark and put the atonement cover over it.

²¹Then he brought the ark into the tabernacle and hung the shielding curtain and shielded the ark of the covenant law, as the Lord commanded him.

²²Moses placed the table in the tent of meeting on the north side of the tabernacle outside the curtain

²³and set out the bread on it before the Lord, as the Lord commanded him.

²⁴He placed the lampstand in the tent of meeting opposite the table on the south side of the tabernacle

²⁵and set up the lamps before the Lord, as the Lord commanded him.

²⁶Moses placed the gold altar in the tent of meeting in front of the curtain

²⁷and burned fragrant incense on it, as the Lord commanded him.

²⁸Then he put up the curtain at the entrance to the tabernacle.

²⁹He set the altar of burnt offering near the entrance to the tabernacle, the tent of meeting, and offered on it burnt offerings and grain offerings, as the Lord commanded him.

³⁰He placed the basin between the tent of meeting and the altar and put water in it for washing,

³¹and Moses and Aaron and his sons used it to wash their hands and feet.

³²They washed whenever they entered the tent of meeting or approached the altar, as the Lord commanded Moses.

³³Then Moses set up the courtyard around the tabernacle and altar and put up the curtain at the entrance to the courtyard. And so Moses finished the work.

³⁴Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.

³⁵Moses could not enter the tent of meeting because the cloud had settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.

³⁶In all the travels of the Israelites, whenever the cloud lifted from above the tabernacle, they would set out;

³⁷but if the cloud did not lift, they did not set out—until the day it lifted.

³⁸So the cloud of the Lord was over the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud by night, in the sight of all the Israelites during all their travels.