Chapter 37

Besellel also made an ark of acacia wood, two and a half cubits long, with a breadth and height of one and a half cubits, and gave it a covering and a lining of pure gold,

putting a coping of gold all round the top of it,

and four rings, cast in gold, at its four corners, two on each of the flanks.

Then he made poles of acacia wood, gilded over,

and passed them through the rings on the sides of the ark, so as to carry it.

He made a throne, too, or shrine, of pure gold, two and a half cubits long, one and a half cubits broad,

and two cherubs of pure beaten gold, which he set up on either side of the throne, each of them at its extreme edge.

And these two cherubs that stood at the extreme edges of the throne

overshadowed it with their outspread wings, facing towards it and towards each other.

And he made a table of acacia wood, two cubits long, a cubit broad, and a cubit and a half in height;

this he gilded with pure gold, and made a rim of gold about its edge,

with an embossed coping four inches high, and a second coping of gold over that.

Then he cast four rings and fixed them to the four corners of the table, one by each leg

close to the coping; and he put poles through them, that would carry the table;

these poles, too, he made of acacia wood, and gilded them over.

So with the appurtenances of the table, cups, and bowls, and dishes, and goblets for pouring out libations; all were of pure gold.

And he made a lamp-stand of pure beaten gold, with branches coming out from its stem, all with their cups and bosses and fleurs-de-lis.

Six branches stood about the stem, three on either side;

and on each branch there were three cups shaped like almond-flowers, then a boss, then a fleur-de-lis, balanced by three cups and a boss and a fleur-de-lis on the opposite branch; such was the fashion of all the six branches that came out of the stem.

But the stem itself had four cups, shaped like almond-flowers, each with its boss and its fleur-de-lis;

there were six branches altogether coming out of a single stem, and under each pair of them there was an additional boss.

The bosses and the branches were all of a piece with the main stem, and all alike were of pure beaten gold.

He made seven lamps, too, with snuffers and trays for the burnt wick, all of pure gold.

The whole weight of the lamp-stand, together with its appurtenances, was a talent of gold.

And he made an altar of acacia wood for burning incense, a cubit square, with a height of two cubits; it had horns at the corners.

And he covered the whole with pure gold, the grate and the walls around it and the horns too.

It had a rim of gold about it, and close under the rim two gold rings on either side, for putting poles in, so that the altar could be carried.

These poles, too, were of acacia wood, gilded over.

And he made oil for the hallowing ointment, and incense of pure spices, with all the art of a perfumer.