1And Bezalel made the Ark of acacia wood, two and a half cubits its length and a cubit and a half its width and a cubit and a half its height. 2And he overlaid it with pure gold, inside and outside, and he made for it a golden molding all around. 3And he cast for it four golden rings on its four feet and two rings on its one side and two rings on its other side. 4And he made poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with gold. 5And he brought the poles through the rings on the side of the Ark to carry the Ark. 6And he made a cover of pure gold, two and a half cubits its length and a cubit and a half its width. 7And he made two cherubim of gold, hammered work he made them, at the two edges of the cover. 8One cherub at one edge and one cherub at the other edge, from the cover he made the cherubim at both its edges. 9And the cherubim spread their wings above, shielding the cover with their wings, and their faces toward each other, toward the cover their faces were.
10And he made the table of acacia wood, two cubits its length and a cubit and a half its width and a cubit and a half its height. 11And he overlaid it with pure gold and made for it a golden molding all around. 12And he made a frame for it, a handsbreadth all around, and he made a golden molding for its frame all around. 13And he cast for it four golden rings and set the rings at the four corners which were at its four legs. 14Facing the frame the rings were, as housings for the poles to carry the table. 15And he made the poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with gold, to carry the table. 16And he made the vessels that were on the table, its bowls and its shovels and its chalices and its jars, from which libation is done, pure gold.
17And he made the lamp stand of pure gold, hammered work he made the lamp stand, its base and its shaft; its cups, its calyxes, and its blossoms, were from that work. 18And six shafts going out from its sides, three shafts of the lamp stand from its one side and three shafts of the lamp stand from its other side. 19Three cups shaped like almond blossoms in the one shaft, calyx and blossom, and three cups shaped like almond blossoms in the other shaft, and thus for the six shafts that go out from the lamp stand. 20And on the lamp stand were four cups shaped like almond blossoms, their calyxes and their blossoms. 21And a calyx under every two shafts as part of it, and a calyx under every two shafts as part of it, a calyx under every two shafts as part of it, for the six shafts coming out of the lamp stand. 22Their calyxes and their shafts were part of it, all of it one hammered work, pure gold. 23And he made its seven lamps, and its tongs and its fire-pans—pure gold. 24With a talent of pure gold he made it and all its furnishings.
25And he made the altar for burning incense of acacia wood, a cubit its length and a cubit its width, square, and two cubits its height; from the same piece its horns. 26And he overlaid it with pure gold—its roof and its walls all around and its horns, and he made for it a golden molding all around. 27And two golden rings he made for it beneath its molding on its two flanks, as housings for the poles with which to carry it. 28And he made the poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with gold. 29And he made the holy anointing oil and the pure aromatic incense, perfumer’s work.
CHAPTER 37 NOTES
Click here to advance to the next section of the text.
1–29. As before, the implementation of the Tabernacle project mirrors verbatim the instructions for the project, with only minuscule and insignificant variations in formulation (e.g., “cast four golden rings” instead of the earlier “make four golden rings”). The verses here correspond to 25:10–21, 25:23–39 and 30:1–10.
1. And Bezalel made. The instructions for the building were given in the second-person singular to Moses or in the third-person plural for the Israelites. Now Bezalel is represented executing all the details of design, though it is to be understood that he would have been supervising crews of craftsmen. Rashi explains the singling out of Bezalel by name by observing, “Since he devoted himself to the task more than the other artisans, it was linked with his name.” Bezalel continues to figure in Hebrew tradition as the archetypal dedicated artisan.