Exodus 36

ENGWEBEnglish38 verses

1“Bezalel and Oholiab shall work with every wise-hearted man, in whom Yahweh has put wisdom and understanding to know how to do all the work for the service of the sanctuary, according to all that Yahweh has commanded.”

2Moses called Bezalel and Oholiab, and every wise-hearted man, in whose heart Yahweh had put wisdom, even everyone whose heart stirred him up to come to the work to do it:

3and they received from Moses all the offering which the children of Israel had brought for the work of the service of the sanctuary, with which to make it. They brought yet to him freewill offerings every morning.

4All the wise men, who performed all the work of the sanctuary, each came from his work which they did.

5They spoke to Moses, saying, “The people bring much more than enough for the service of the work which Yahweh commanded to make.”

6Moses gave commandment, and they caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp, saying, “Let neither man nor woman make anything else for the offering for the sanctuary.” So the people were restrained from bringing.

7For the stuff they had was sufficient for all the work to make it, and too much.

8All the wise-hearted men among those who did the work made the tabernacle with ten curtains; of fine twined linen, blue, purple, and scarlet, with cherubim, the work of the skillful workman, they made them.

9The length of each curtain was twenty-eight cubits, and the breadth of each curtain four cubits. All the curtains had one measure.

10He coupled five curtains to one another, and the other five curtains he coupled to one another.

11He made loops of blue on the edge of the one curtain from the edge in the coupling. Likewise he made in the edge of the curtain that was outermost in the second coupling.

12He made fifty loops in the one curtain, and he made fifty loops in the edge of the curtain that was in the second coupling. The loops were opposite to one another.

13He made fifty clasps of gold, and coupled the curtains to one another with the clasps: so the tabernacle was a unit.

14He made curtains of goats’ hair for a covering over the tabernacle. He made them eleven curtains.

15The length of each curtain was thirty cubits, and four cubits the breadth of each curtain. The eleven curtains had one measure.

16He coupled five curtains by themselves, and six curtains by themselves.

17He made fifty loops on the edge of the curtain that was outermost in the coupling, and he made fifty loops on the edge of the curtain which was outermost in the second coupling.

18He made fifty clasps of brass to couple the tent together, that it might be a unit.

19He made a covering for the tent of rams’ skins dyed red, and a covering of sea cow hides above.

20He made the boards for the tabernacle of acacia wood, standing up.

21Ten cubits was the length of a board, and a cubit and a half the breadth of each board.

22Each board had two tenons, joined to one another. He made all the boards of the tabernacle this way.

23He made the boards for the tabernacle: twenty boards for the south side southward.

24He made forty sockets of silver under the twenty boards; two sockets under one board for its two tenons, and two sockets under another board for its two tenons.

25For the second side of the tabernacle, on the north side, he made twenty boards,

26and their forty sockets of silver; two sockets under one board, and two sockets under another board.

27For the far part of the tabernacle westward he made six boards.

28He made two boards for the corners of the tabernacle in the far part.

29They were double beneath, and in the same way they were all the way to its top to one ring. He did this to both of them in the two corners.

30There were eight boards, and their sockets of silver, sixteen sockets; under every board two sockets.

31He made bars of acacia wood; five for the boards of the one side of the tabernacle,

32and five bars for the boards of the other side of the tabernacle, and five bars for the boards of the tabernacle for the hinder part westward.

33He made the middle bar to pass through in the middle of the boards from the one end to the other.

34He overlaid the boards with gold, and made their rings of gold for places for the bars, and overlaid the bars with gold.

35He made the veil of blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twined linen: with cherubim. He made it the work of a skillful workman.

36He made four pillars of acacia for it, and overlaid them with gold. Their hooks were of gold. He cast four sockets of silver for them.

37He made a screen for the door of the tent, of blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twined linen, the work of an embroiderer;

38and the five pillars of it with their hooks. He overlaid their capitals and their fillets with gold, and their five sockets were of brass.

Commentary

Chapter 36 In this chapter, I. The work of the tabernacle is begun (v. 1-4). II. A stop is put to the people’s contributions (v. 5-7). III. A particular account is given of the making of the tabernacle itself; the fine curtains of it (v. 8–13). The coarse ones (v. 14–19). The boards (v. 20–30). The bars (v. 31–34). The partition veil (v. 35, 36). And the hanging for the door (v. 37, etc.).Verses 1-7 I. The workmen set in without delay. Then they wrought, v. 1. When God had qualified them for the work, then they applied themselves to it. Note, The talents we are entrusted with must not be laid up, but laid out; not hid in a napkin, but traded with. What have we all our gifts for, but to do good with them? They began when Moses called them, v. 2. Even those whom God has qualified for, and inclined to, the service of the tabernacle, yet must wait for a regular call to it, either extraordinary, as that of prophets and apostles, or ordinary, as that of pastors and teachers. And observe who they were that Moses called: Those in whose heart God had put wisdom for this purpose, beyond their natural capacity, and whose heart stirred them up to come to the work in good earnest. Note, Those are to be called to the building of the gospel tabernacle whom God has by his grace made in some measure fit for the work and free to engage in it. Ability and willingness (with resolution) are the two things to be regarded in the call of ministers. Has God given them not only knowledge, but wisdom? (for those that would win souls must be wise, and have their hearts stirred up to come to the work, and not to the honour only; to do it, and not to talk of it only), let them come to it with full purpose of heart to go through with it. The materials which the people had contributed were delivered by Moses to the workmen, v. 3. They could not create a tabernacle, that is, make it out of nothing, nor work, unless they had something to work upon; the people therefore brought the materials and Moses put them into their hands. Precious souls are the materials of the gospel tabernacle; they are built up a spiritual house, 1 Pt. 2:5. To this end they are to offer themselves a free-will offering to the Lord, for his service (Rom. 15:16), and they are then committed to the care of his ministers, as builders, to be framed and wrought upon by their edification and increase in holiness, till they all come, like the curtains of the tabernacle, in the unity of the faith, to be a holy temple, Eph. 2:21, 22; 4:12, 13.II. The contributions restrained. The people continued to bring free offerings every morning, v. 3. Note, We should always make it our morning’s work to bring our offerings unto the Lord; even the spiritual offerings of prayer and praise, and a broken heart surrendered entirely to God. This is that which the duty of every day requires. God’s compassions are new every morning, and so must our duty to him be. Probably there were some that were backward at first to bring their offering, but their neighbours’ forwardness stirred them up and shamed them. The zeal of some provoked many. There are those who will be content to follow who yet do not care for leading in a good work. It is best to be forward, but better late than never. Or perhaps some who had offered at first, having pleasure in reflecting upon it, offered more; so far were they from grudging what they had contributed, that they doubled their contribution. Thus, in charity, give a portion to seven, and also to eight; having given much, give more. Now observe, 1. The honesty of the workmen. When they had cut out their work, and found how their stuff held out, and that the people were still forward to bring in more, they went in a body to Moses to tell him that there needed no more contributions, v. 4, 5. Had they sought their own things, they had now a fair opportunity of enriching themselves by the people’s gifts; for they might have made up their work, and converted the overplus to their own use, as perquisites of their place. But they were men of integrity, that scorned to do so mean a thing as to sponge upon the people, and enrich themselves with that which was offered to the Lord. Those are the greatest cheats that cheat the public. If to murder many is worse than to murder one, by the same rule to defraud communities, and to rob the church or state, is a much greater crime than to pick the pocket of a single person. But these workmen were not only ready to account for all they received, but were not willing to receive more than they had occasion for, lest they should come either into the temptation or under the suspicion of taking it to themselves. These were men that knew when they had enough. 2. The liberality of the people. Though they saw what an abundance was contributed, yet they continued to offer, till they were forbidden by proclamation, v. 6, 7. A rare instance! Most need a spur to quicken their charity; few need a bridle to check it, yet these did. Had Moses aimed to enrich himself, he might have suffered them still to bring in their offerings; and when the work was finished might have taken the remainder to himself: but he also preferred the public before his own private interest, and was therein a good example to all in public trusts. It is said (v. 6), The people were restrained from bringing; they looked upon it as a restraint upon them not to be allowed to do more for the tabernacle; such was the zeal of those people, who gave to their power, yea, and beyond their power, praying the collectors with much entreaty to receive the gift, 2 Co. 8:3, 4. These were the fruits of a first love; in these last-days charity has grown too cold for us to expect such things from it.

Read the full commentary Audio, full commentary and offline reading

Translations8 · 5

AMHEVG ለመቅደስም ማገልገያ ሥራ ሁሉ ያደርጉ ዘንድ እንዲያውቁ እግዚአብሔር ጥበብንና ማስተዋልን የሰጣቸው ባስልኤልና ኤልያብ በልባቸው ጥበበኞችም ሁሉ እግዚአብሔር እንዳዘዘው ነገር ሁሉ አደረጉ። አማርኛ ENGNIV So Bezalel, Oholiab and every skilled person to whom the Lord has given skill and ability to know how to carry out all … English BCV ስለዙይ “ባስልኤልን ኤልያብን ኵሎም ጥበብ ዘለዎም ሰባትን መቕደስ ንምስራሕ ዘድሊ ዅሉ ስራሕ ምስራሕ ምእንቲ ኽፈልጡ፥ እግዚኣብሄር ጥበብን ምስትውዓልን ዝሃቦም፥ ከምቲ ዅሉ እግዚኣብሄር ዝኣ… ትግርኛ GAZBIB “Namoonni Bazaali'elii fi Aholiiyab jedhaman, warri hojii miidhagsanii hojjechuu beekan hundinuus akkuma Waaqayyo abboo… Afaan Oromoo GAZGAZ “Namoonni Bazaali'elii fi Aholiiyab jedhaman, warri hojii miidhagsanii hojjechuu beekan hundinuus akkuma Waaqayyo abboo… Afaan Oromoo BCV aksum ስለዙይ “ባስልኤልን ኤልያብን ኵሎም ጥበብ ዘለዎም ሰባትን መቕደስ ንምስራሕ ዘድሊ ዅሉ ስራሕ ምስራሕ ምእንቲ ኽፈልጡ፥ እግዚኣብሄር ጥበብን ምስትውዓልን ዝሃቦም፥ ከምቲ ዅሉ እግዚኣብሄር ዝኣ… ትግርኛ AMHNIV ስለዚህ የመቅደሱን የግንባታ ሥራ ሁሉ እንዴት ማከናወን እንዳለባቸው እግዚአብሔር (ያህዌ) ጥበብንና ችሎታን የሰጣቸው፣ ባስልኤል፣ ኤልያብና ጥበበኛ የሆኑ ሰዎች ሁሉ ሥራውን ልክ እግዚአብሔር… አማርኛ SWAHSUV Basi Bezaleli na Oholiabu watatenda kazi, na kila mtu mwenye moyo wa hekima, ambaye Bwana amemtia akili na hekima ili a… Kiswahili