Exodus, 40

1. Yahweh spoke to Moses and said,

2. "On the first day of the first month you are to erect the Holy Tent, the Tent of Meeting,

3. and place the ark of the Statement in it, screening it with the veil.

4. Bring in the lampstand, too, and set up its lamps.

5. Place the golden altar of incense in front of the ark of the Statement, and set up the screen at the entrance of the Holy Tent.

6. Place the altar for burnt offerings in front of the entrance to the Holy Tent, the Tent of Meeting.

7. Place the basin between the Tent of Meeting and the altar, and fill it with water.

8. Set up the enclosure of the court and hang the curtain at the gateway of the court.

9. Then, taking the sacred oil, anoint the Holy Tent and everything in it, consecrating it with its furniture, to make it a holy place.

10. Anoint the altar for burnt offerings with all its furnishings; and consecrate the altar which, henceforth, will be a most holy thing.

11. Anoint the basin with its stand, and consecrate it.

12. Bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting and see that they bathe.

13. Then clothe Aaron with the priestly garments and anoint and consecrate him, to serve me in the priesthood.

14. Next, bring his sons and clothe them with shirts.

15. Anoint them as you have anointed their father, to serve me in the priesthood. This anointing of them is to confer the priesthood on them forever from generation to generation."

16. Moses did this; he did exactly as Yahweh had commanded him.

17. The Holy Tent was set up on the first day of the first month in the second year.

18. Moses set up the Holy Tent. He fixed the bases for it, put up its frames, put its crossbars in position, set up its posts.

19. He spread the tent over the Holy Tent and on top of this the covering for the tent, as Yahweh had commanded Moses.

20. He took the Statement and placed it inside the ark. He set the poles to the ark in place and put the mercy Seat on it.

21. He brought the ark into the Holy Tent and put the screening veil in place; thus he screened the ark of Yahweh, as Yahweh had commanded Moses.

22. He placed the table in the Tent of Meeting, on the north side of the Holy Tent, outside the veil,

23. and on it arranged the loaves before Yahweh, as Yahweh had commanded Moses.

24. He put the lampstand in the Tent of Meeting, opposite the table, on the southern side of the Holy Tent,

25. and he set up the lamps before Yahweh, as Yahweh had commanded Moses.

26. He put the golden altar in the Tent of Meeting in front of the veil,

27. and on it burned fragrant incense, as Yahweh had commanded Moses.

28. Then he put the screen at the entrance to the Holy Tent.

29. Then he put the altar for the burnt offerings at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, and on it offered the burnt offering and grain offering, as Yahweh had commanded Moses.

30. He put the basin between the Tent of Meeting and the altar, and filled it with water.

31. This was for Aaron and his sons to wash their hands and feet:

32. whenever they entered the Tent of Meeting or approached the altar they washed, as Yahweh had commanded Moses.

33. Moses then set up the court around the Holy Tent and the altar and placed the screen at the gateway to the court. Thus Moses completed the work.

34. Then the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting and the Glory of Yahweh filled the Holy Tent.

35. Moses could not enter the Tent of Meeting because of the cloud that rested on it and because of the Glory of Yahweh that filled the Holy Tent.

36. At every stage of their journey, whenever the cloud rose from the Holy Tent the people of Israel would continue their march.

37. If the cloud did not rise, they waited and would not move their camp until it did.

38. For the cloud rested on the Holy Tent by day, and a fire shone within the cloud by night for all the House of Israel to see. And so it was for every stage of their journey.