Setting Up the Tabernacle

Then the Lord said to Moses: 2 “Set up the tabernacle, the tent of meeting, on the first day of the first month.Place the arkBring in the table and set out what belongs on it. Then bring in the lampstandPlace the gold altar of incense in front of the ark of the covenant law and put the curtain at the entrance to the tabernacle.

6 “Place the altar of burnt offering in front of the entrance to the tabernacle, the tent of meeting; 7 place the basinSet up the courtyard“Take the anointing oil and anoint the tabernacle and everything in it; consecrate it and all its furnishings,Then anoint the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils; consecrateAnoint the basin and its stand and consecrate them.

12 “Bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance to the tent of meeting and wash them with water.Then dress Aaron in the sacred garments, anoint him and consecrateBring his sons and dress them in tunics.Anoint them just as you anointed their father, so they may serve me as priests. Their anointing will be to a priesthood that will continue throughout their generations.Moses did everything just as the Lord commandedSo the tabernacle was set up on the first day of the first monthWhen Moses set up the tabernacle, he put the bases in place, erected the frames,Then he spread the tent over the tabernacle and put the covering over the tent, as the Lord commandedHe took the tablets of the covenant law and placed them in the ark, attached the poles to the ark and put the atonement coverThen he brought the ark into the tabernacle and hung the shielding curtain and shielded the ark of the covenant law, as the Lord commandedMoses placed the table in the tent of meeting on the north side of the tabernacle outside the curtain 23 and set out the bread on it before the Lord, as the Lord commandedHe placed the lampstand in the tent of meeting opposite the table on the south side of the tabernacle 25 and set up the lamps before the Lord, as the Lord commandedMoses placed the gold altarand burned fragrant incense on it, as the Lord commandedThen he put up the curtainHe set the altar of burnt offering near the entrance to the tabernacle, the tent of meeting, and offered on it burnt offerings and grain offerings, as the Lord commandedHe placed the basin between the tent of meeting and the altar and put water in it for washing, 31 and Moses and Aaron and his sons used it to washThey washed whenever they entered the tent of meeting or approached the altar, as the Lord commandedThen Moses set up the courtyard around the tabernacle and altar and put up the curtain at the entrance to the courtyard. And so Moses finished the work.

The Glory of the Lord

34 Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. 35 Moses could not enter the tent of meeting because the cloud had settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.In all the travels of the Israelites, whenever the cloud lifted from above the tabernacle, they would set out;but if the cloud did not lift, they did not set out—until the day it lifted. 38 So the cloud of the Lord was over the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud by night, in the sight of all the Israelites during all their travels.