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Exodus 30

1“Make an altar for burning incense; make it of acacia wood. 2It is to be a cubit long and a cubit wide, square, and two cubits high. Its horns are to be of one piece with it. 3Overlay it with pure gold, its top, its walls all around, and its horns. Make a gold molding around it. 4Make two gold rings for it below its molding, on its two ribs, on its two sides. They are to be holders for poles to carry it with them. 5Make the poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold. 6Put it in front of the veil that is before the ark of the testimony, in front of the atonement cover that is over the testimony, where I will meet with you. 7Aaron is to burn fragrant incense on it morning by morning; when he tends the lamps, he is to burn it. 8When Aaron lights the lamps at twilight, he is to burn it, a regular incense offering before Yahweh throughout your generations. 9You must not offer unauthorized incense on it, nor a burnt offering or a grain offering, and you must not pour a drink offering on it. 10Once a year Aaron is to make atonement on its horns. With blood from the purification offering of atonement, once a year he is to make atonement for it throughout your generations. It is most holy to Yahweh.”

11Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 12“When you take a head count of the sons of Israel for their enrollment, each is to give Yahweh a ransom for his life when they are enrolled, so that no plague comes among them when they are enrolled. 13Everyone who passes among those enrolled is to give this: half a shekel by the sanctuary shekel, twenty gerahs to the shekel, half a shekel as a contribution to Yahweh. 14Everyone who passes among those enrolled, from twenty years old and upward, is to give Yahweh's contribution. 15The rich must not give more, and the poor must not give less than half a shekel when giving Yahweh's contribution to make atonement for your lives. 16Take the atonement silver from the sons of Israel and assign it to the service of the tent of meeting. It is to be a remembrance for the sons of Israel before Yahweh, to make atonement for your lives.”

17Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 18“Make a bronze basin with a bronze stand for washing. Put it between the tent of meeting and the altar, and put water in it. 19Aaron and his sons are to wash their hands and their feet from it. 20When they enter the tent of meeting, they are to wash with water so that they do not die, or when they approach the altar to serve, to burn an offering by fire to Yahweh. 21They are to wash their hands and their feet so that they do not die. It is to be a lasting statute for them, for him and his offspring throughout their generations.”

22Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 23“And you, take choice spices: five hundred shekels of flowing myrrh, half that amount, two hundred fifty, of fragrant cinnamon, and two hundred fifty of fragrant cane, 24and five hundred of cassia, by the sanctuary shekel, and a hin of olive oil. 25Make these into a holy anointing oil, a blended perfume, the work of a perfumer. It is to be a holy anointing oil. 26With it anoint the tent of meeting and the ark of the testimony, 27the table and all its utensils, the lampstand and its utensils, and the incense altar, 28the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils, and the basin and its stand. 29Consecrate them so that they are most holy; whatever touches them will become holy. 30Anoint Aaron and his sons and consecrate them to serve me as priests. 31Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘This is to be my holy anointing oil throughout your generations. 32It must not be poured on human flesh, and you must not make anything like it by its formula. It is holy; it is to be holy to you. 33Whoever blends anything like it, or puts any of it on an outsider, is to be cut off from his people.’”

34Yahweh said to Moses, “Take fragrant substances: stacte, onycha, and galbanum, fragrant substances with pure frankincense, equal amounts of each. 35Make it into incense, a blend, the work of a perfumer, salted, pure, holy. 36Beat some of it very fine and put some of it before the testimony in the tent of meeting, where I will meet with you. It is to be most holy to you. 37You must not make incense for yourselves by the formula of the incense you make; it is to be holy to you for Yahweh. 38Whoever makes anything like it to enjoy its fragrance is to be cut off from his people.”

Translation notes 7

30:4–6 — Rings and location. The two rings' exact placement on the structure is uncertain; the Hebrew uses both ribs and sides. “In front of” describes the incense altar in relation to the veil and ark, not a relocation of the altar inside the most holy place.

30:7–10 — Incense and atonement. “Unauthorized” renders the word for foreign or strange in a ritual context, without implying that incense is rejected merely because it comes from another country. The yearly rite is stated here without importing every detail from the later ritual legislation.

30:12–16 — Ransom and counting. The Hebrew counting idiom is lift the head; “head count” retains a related English image. Nephesh here means the person's life. The same half-shekel obligation applies to rich and poor; this is a weight of silver, not a minted coin with a stated modern value.

30:20–21 — Washing and death. The stated consequence is retained without reducing the washing to a general hygiene recommendation. The pronouns move between Aaron and his descendants collectively.

30:23–25 — Spices and measures. Several ancient plant and resin identifications remain uncertain. “Flowing myrrh” renders a descriptor understood as freely flowing or high-quality myrrh. Shekel weights and the hin volume are retained rather than converted into falsely precise modern quantities.

30:29–33 — Holy contact and restricted oil. “Will become holy” has the alternative “must be holy,” as at 29:37. The anointing commands distinguish consecrated priestly use from common application to human skin. “Outsider” means someone not authorized for this use, not automatically a person of foreign ancestry. The cut-off penalty's precise enforcement is not specified here.

30:34–38 — Incense ingredients. Stacte, onycha, and galbanum are traditional names for aromatic substances whose exact identification is uncertain. “Salted” follows the ordinary sense of the Hebrew form; blended or seasoned is an alternative interpretation. The prohibition concerns reproducing this sacred formula for personal fragrance.