Exodus 40

1The LORD said to Moses, 2“On the first day of the first month, set up the tabernacle, the tent of meeting. 3Place the ark of the testimony in it, and screen the ark off with the curtain. 4Bring in the table and set out in order what belongs on it. Bring in the lampstand and mount its lamps. 5Place the gold altar for incense in front of the ark of the testimony, and hang the screen at the entrance to the tabernacle. 6Set the altar of burnt offering in front of the entrance to the tabernacle, the tent of meeting. 7Place the basin between the tent of meeting and the altar, and put water in it. 8Set up the courtyard all around it, and hang the screen at the gate of the courtyard. 9Then take the anointing oil and anoint the tabernacle and everything in it. Consecrate it and all its furnishings, and it will be holy. 10Anoint the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils. Consecrate the altar, and it will be most holy. 11Anoint the basin with its stand, and consecrate it. 12Bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance of the tent of meeting and wash them with water. 13Dress Aaron in the holy garments, anoint him and consecrate him, so that he may serve me as priest. 14Then bring his sons forward and put tunics on them. 15Anoint them as you anointed their father, so that they too may serve me as priests. Their anointing will give them a priesthood that lasts for all time, through every generation.” 16Moses carried out all that the LORD had commanded him. That is just what he did.

17In the second year, on the first day of the first month, the tabernacle was put up. 18Moses set up the tabernacle. He laid its bases, put its frames in place, fitted its crossbars and raised its pillars. 19He spread the tent over the tabernacle and laid the covering of the tent on top of it, just as the LORD had commanded Moses.

20He took the testimony and placed it in the ark, fitted the poles to the ark, and set the mercy seat on top of the ark. 21He brought the ark into the tabernacle and hung the curtain that serves as a screen, shutting off the ark of the testimony from view, just as the LORD had commanded Moses.

22He placed the table in the tent of meeting on the north side of the tabernacle, outside the curtain. 23He set out the bread on it in rows before the LORD, just as the LORD had commanded Moses.

24He placed the lampstand in the tent of meeting across from the table, on the south side of the tabernacle. 25He set up the lamps before the LORD, just as the LORD had commanded Moses.

26He placed the gold altar in the tent of meeting, in front of the curtain, 27and burned sweet-smelling incense on it, just as the LORD had commanded Moses.

28He hung the screen at the entrance to the tabernacle. 29He set the altar of burnt offering at the entrance to the tabernacle, the tent of meeting, and offered on it the burnt offering and the grain offering, just as the LORD had commanded Moses.

30Between the tent of meeting and the altar he placed the basin, and he filled it with water for washing. 31Moses, Aaron and Aaron’s sons would wash their hands and feet with water from it. 32Each time they went into the tent of meeting or came near the altar, they washed, just as the LORD had commanded Moses.

33He put up the courtyard all around the tabernacle and the altar, and hung the screen for the courtyard gate. So Moses completed the work.

34Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the tabernacle was filled with the glory of the LORD. 35Moses was unable to go into the tent of meeting, since the cloud had come to rest on it and the tabernacle was full of the glory of the LORD. 36Whenever the cloud rose from over the tabernacle, the Israelites broke camp and moved on, at every stage of their journeys. 37If the cloud stayed where it was, they stayed too, until the day it rose. 38By day the cloud of the LORD rested over the tabernacle, and by night fire glowed within it. The whole house of Israel could see it, at every stage of their travels.