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Exodus 40

1Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 2“On the first day of the first month, set up the dwelling, the tent of meeting. 3Put the ark of the testimony there and screen the ark with the veil. 4Bring in the table and arrange what is to be set on it. Bring in the lampstand and set up its lamps. 5Put the gold altar for incense before the ark of the testimony, and put up the entrance screen of the dwelling. 6Put the altar of burnt offering before the entrance of the dwelling, the tent of meeting. 7Put the basin between the tent of meeting and the altar, and put water in it. 8Set up the courtyard around it and put up the screen for the courtyard gate. 9Take the anointing oil and anoint the dwelling and everything in it. Consecrate it and all its equipment, so that it is holy. 10Anoint the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils, and consecrate the altar, so that the altar is most holy. 11Anoint the basin and its stand, and consecrate it. 12Bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance of the tent of meeting and wash them with water. 13Clothe Aaron with the holy garments, anoint him and consecrate him, so that he serves me as priest. 14Bring his sons near and clothe them with tunics. 15Anoint them as you anointed their father, so that they serve me as priests. Their anointing is to establish for them a lasting priesthood throughout their generations.” 16Moses did according to everything Yahweh had commanded him; so he did.

17In the first month of the second year, on the first day of the month, the dwelling was set up. 18Moses set up the dwelling, put its sockets in place, set up its frames, put in its bars, and set up its pillars. 19He spread the tent over the dwelling and put the covering of the tent over it, above, just as Yahweh had commanded Moses. 20He took the testimony and put it into the ark, set the poles on the ark, and put the atonement cover on top of the ark. 21He brought the ark into the dwelling, put up the screening veil, and screened the ark of the testimony, just as Yahweh had commanded Moses. 22He put the table in the tent of meeting on the north side of the dwelling, outside the veil, 23and arranged a setting of bread on it before Yahweh, just as Yahweh had commanded Moses. 24He placed the lampstand in the tent of meeting opposite the table, on the south side of the dwelling, 25and lit the lamps before Yahweh, just as Yahweh had commanded Moses. 26He put the gold altar in the tent of meeting before the veil 27and burned fragrant incense on it, just as Yahweh had commanded Moses. 28He put up the entrance screen of the dwelling. 29He placed the altar of burnt offering at the entrance of the dwelling, the tent of meeting, and offered on it the burnt offering and the grain offering, just as Yahweh had commanded Moses. 30He put the basin between the tent of meeting and the altar and put water in it for washing. 31Moses, Aaron, and his sons washed their hands and their feet from it. 32When they entered the tent of meeting and approached the altar, they washed, just as Yahweh had commanded Moses. 33He set up the courtyard around the dwelling and the altar and put up the screen for the courtyard gate. So Moses finished the work.

34The cloud covered the tent of meeting, and Yahweh's glory filled the dwelling. 35Moses could not enter the tent of meeting, because the cloud had settled upon it and Yahweh's glory filled the dwelling. 36Whenever the cloud lifted from over the dwelling, the sons of Israel would set out on all their journeys. 37But if the cloud did not lift, they would not set out until the day it lifted. 38For Yahweh's cloud was over the dwelling by day, and fire was in it by night, in the eyes of all the house of Israel, on all their journeys.

Translation notes 6

40:2, 17 — Date. The command's first-month date is explicitly identified in the fulfillment as the second year. The translation does not assign a disputed modern date to it.

40:3–5 — Screen and arrangement. The veil screens the ark from view; it is not a cloth laid over the ark itself. “Arrange what is to be set on it” gives the table-arrangement instruction without adding a list of objects; verse 23 explicitly identifies a setting of bread. The lamp verb can describe setting up or lighting lamps; the installation command in verse 4 uses “set up,” while verse 25 describes lighting them.

40:9–16 — Consecration. The account retains anointing, clothing, and washing as distinct actions and preserves the command's lasting-priesthood language. It does not supply an endpoint or a complete later ordination narrative here.

40:20–29 — Moses' actions. The sequence's subject is Moses. Verse 29 attributes the offering to him, and the translation does not change it to Aaron or move the action to harmonize it with the later priestly installation account. “Just as Yahweh had commanded Moses” is retained at each occurrence.

40:31–35 — Washing and entry. Moses is included with Aaron and his sons in washing. When the cloud and glory fill the dwelling, Moses cannot enter. This is not softened into reluctance or rewritten to make the scene identical to the earlier tent encounter in chapter 33.

40:36–38 — Every journey. The closing account describes the repeated pattern of travel and waiting. “House of Israel” is the collective family expression for the people; the cloud and fire remain visible to the community throughout its journeys.