Exodus27

New King James Version

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¹“You shall make an altar of acacia wood, five cubits long and five cubits wide—the altar shall be square—and its height shall be three cubits.

²You shall make its horns on its four corners; its horns shall be of one piece with it. And you shall overlay it with bronze.

³Also you shall make its pans to receive its ashes, and its shovels and its basins and its forks and its firepans; you shall make all its utensils of bronze.

⁴You shall make a grate for it, a network of bronze; and on the network you shall make four bronze rings at its four corners.

⁵You shall put it under the rim of the altar beneath, that the network may be midway up the altar.

⁶And you shall make poles for the altar, poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with bronze.

⁷The poles shall be put in the rings, and the poles shall be on the two sides of the altar to bear it.

⁸You shall make it hollow with boards; as it was shown you on the mountain, so shall they make it.

⁹“You shall also make the court of the tabernacle. For the south side there shall be hangings for the court made of fine woven linen, one hundred cubits long for one side.

¹⁰And its twenty pillars and their twenty sockets shall be bronze. The hooks of the pillars and their bands shall be silver.

¹¹Likewise along the length of the north side there shall be hangings one hundred cubits long, with its twenty pillars and their twenty sockets of bronze, and the hooks of the pillars and their bands of silver.

¹²“And along the width of the court on the west side shall be hangings of fifty cubits, with their ten pillars and their ten sockets.

¹³The width of the court on the east side shall be fifty cubits.

¹⁴The hangings on one side of the gate shall be fifteen cubits, with their three pillars and their three sockets.

¹⁵And on the other side shall be hangings of fifteen cubits, with their three pillars and their three sockets.

¹⁶“For the gate of the court there shall be a screen twenty cubits long, woven of blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and fine woven linen, made by a weaver. It shall have four pillars and four sockets.

¹⁷All the pillars around the court shall have bands of silver; their hooks shall be of silver and their sockets of bronze.

¹⁸The length of the court shall be one hundred cubits, the width fifty throughout, and the height five cubits, made of fine woven linen, and its sockets of bronze.

¹⁹All the utensils of the tabernacle for all its service, all its pegs, and all the pegs of the court, shall be of bronze.

²⁰“And you shall command the children of Israel that they bring you pure oil of pressed olives for the light, to cause the lamp to burn continually.

²¹In the tabernacle of meeting, outside the veil which is before the Testimony, Aaron and his sons shall tend it from evening until morning before the Lord. It shall be a statute forever to their generations on behalf of the children of Israel.

Study Guide

Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Exodus 27.

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Chapter Summary

In this chapter: The altar of burnt offerings. (1–8). The court of the tabernacle. (9–19). The oil for the lamps. (20, 21).

vv1-8

In the court before the tabernacle, where the people attended, was an altar, to which they must bring their sacrifices, and on which their priests must offer them to God. It was of wood overlaid with brass. A grate of brass was let into the hollow of the altar, about the middle of which the fire was kept, and the sacrifice burnt. It was made of net-work like a sieve, and hung hollow, that the ashes might fall through. This brazen altar was a type of Christ dying to make atonement for our sins. The wood had been consumed by the fire from heaven, if it had not been secured by the brass: nor could the human nature of Christ have borne the wrath of God, if it had not been supported by Divine power.

vv9-19

The tabernacle was enclosed in a court, about sixty yards long and thirty broad, formed by curtains hung upon brazen pillars, fixed in brazen sockets. Within this enclosure the priests and Levites offered the sacrifices, and thither the Jewish people were admitted. These distinctions represented the difference between the visible nominal church, and the true spiritual church, which alone has access to God, and communion with him.

vv20-21

The pure oil signified the gifts and graces of the Spirit, which all believers receive from Christ, the good Olive, and without which our light cannot shine before men. The priests were to light the lamps, and tend them. It is the work of ministers, by preaching and expounding the Scriptures, which are as a lamp, to enlighten the church, God's tabernacle upon earth. Blessed be God, this light is not now confined to the Jewish tabernacle, but is a light to lighten the gentiles, and for salvation unto the ends of the earth.