Chapter 40

And now the Lord said to Moses,

When the first day of the first month comes, set up the tabernacle that is to bear record of me,

and put the ark in it, and screen the ark with the veil.

Then bring in the table, and set out due offerings there; the lamp-stand, too, must be in its place, with lamps on it,

and the golden altar upon which incense is burnt, there before the ark that bears record of me. Stretch out the hanging at the entrance to the tabernacle,

and set down before it the altar for burnt-sacrifice,

with the basin there, full of water, between altar and tabernacle;

and screen off the court and its entrance with the hangings.

Then bring out the anointing-oil, and hallow by unction with it the tabernacle and its appurtenances;

the altar for burnt-sacrifice and all that belongs to it,

and the washing-basin with its stand; all must be consecrated with the anointing-oil, to be holiness itself.

Bring Aaron, too, and his sons to the doors of the tabernacle that bears record of me, and, when they have washed,

clothe them with the sacred vestments in which they are to minister to me, and anoint them to be my priests for ever.

Moses did as the Lord bade him;

and on the first day of the first month, in this second year of wandering, the tabernacle was set up.

To set it up, Moses must first dispose the frames, with their sockets and poles, and erect the posts;

then he spread the tapestry over the tabernacle, and covered it, as the Lord bade him, with the canopy.

He put the tablets of the law in the ark, and passed the poles through at the base of it, and fixed the throne above it.

Then, bringing the ark into the tabernacle, he spread the veil in front of it, in fulfilment of the Lord’s command.

In front of the veil, at the northern end of the tabernacle that bore record of the Lord, he put down the table,

and on it, as the Lord bade him, he set out the consecrated loaves.

On the south side of the tabernacle, opposite the table, he set up the lamp-stand,

with all its lamps in position as the Lord bade him.

And before the veil, still under the tabernacle roof, he placed the golden altar,

on which, at the Lord’s command, he burnt incense made from spices.

And now he must hang the screen at the entrance of the tabernacle,

and by the door of the tabernacle must stand the altar for burnt-sacrifice, on which he offered the victims and sacrificial gifts which the Lord had prescribed.

He put the basin, too, between the tabernacle and the altar, filling it with water,

so that Moses and Aaron and Aaron’s sons could wash their hands and feet

whenever they would enter the tabernacle that bore record of the covenant, or approach the altar, as the Lord had commanded him.

He also set up the court round the tabernacle and the altar, and hung the screen at the entrance to it. When all was done,

a cloud covered the tabernacle, and it was filled with the brightness of the Lord’s presence;

nor could Moses enter the tabernacle that bore record of the covenant, so thick the cloud that spread all about it, so radiant was the Lord’s majesty; all was wrapped in cloud.

Whenever the cloud lifted from the tabernacle, the Israelites would muster and set out on the march,

and while it hung there, they halted.

The divine cloud by day, the divine fire by night, still brooded over the tabernacle for all Israel to see it, wherever they halted on their journey.