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Êxodo 26

ARC · Chapter 26/40

1E o tabernaculo farás de dez cortinas de linho fino torcido, e azul, purpura, e carmezim: com cherubins as farás d'obra esmerada.

2O comprimento d'uma cortina será de vinte e oito covados, e a largura de uma cortina de quatro covados: todas estas cortinas serão d'uma medida.

3Cinco cortinas se enlaçarão uma á outra: e as outras cinco cortinas se enlaçarão uma com a outra.

4E farás laçadas d'azul na ponta d'uma cortina, na extremidade, na juntura: assim tambem farás na ponta da extremidade da outra cortina, na segunda juntura.

5Cincoenta laçadas farás n'uma cortina, e outras cincoenta laçadas farás na extremidade da cortina que está na segunda juntura: as laçadas estarão travadas uma com a outra.

6Farás tambem cincoenta colchetes d'oiro, e ajuntarás com estes colchetes as cortinas, uma com a outra, e será um tabernaculo.

7Farás tambem cortinas de pellos de cabras por tenda sobre o tabernaculo: d'onze cortinas as farás.

8O comprimento d'uma cortina será de trinta covados, e a largura da mesma cortina de quatro covados: estas onze cortinas serão d'uma medida.

9E ajuntarás cinco d'estas cortinas por si, e as outras seis cortinas tambem por si: e dobrarás a sesta cortina diante da tenda.

10E farás cincoenta laçadas na borda d'uma cortina, na extremidade, na juntura, e outras cincoenta laçadas na borda da outra cortina, na segunda juntura.

11Farás tambem cincoenta colchetes de cobre, e metterás os colchetes nas laçadas, e assim ajuntarás a tenda, para que seja uma

12E o resto que sobejar das cortinas da tenda, a metade da cortina que sobejar, penderá de sobejo ás costas do tabernaculo.

13E um covado d'uma banda, e outro covado da outra, que sobejará no comprimento das cortinas da tenda, penderá de sobejo aos lados do tabernaculo d'uma e d'outra banda, para cobril-o.

14Farás tambem á tenda uma coberta de pelles de carneiro, tintas de vermelho, e outra coberta de pelles de teixugo em cima.

15Farás tambem as taboas para o tabernaculo de madeira de sittim, que estarão levantadas.

16O comprimento d'uma taboa será de dez covados, e a largura de cada taboa será d'um covado e meio.

17Duas couceiras terá cada taboa, travadas uma com a outra: assim farás com todas as taboas do tabernaculo.

18E farás as taboas para o tabernaculo assim: vinte taboas para a banda do meio dia ao sul.

19Farás tambem quarenta bases de prata debaixo das vinte taboas: duas bases debaixo d'uma taboa para as suas duas couceiras, e duas bases debaixo d'outra taboa para as suas duas couceiras.

20Tambem haverá vinte taboas ao outro lado do tabernaculo, para a banda do norte,

21Com as suas quarenta bases de prata: duas bases debaixo d'uma taboa, e duas bases debaixo d'outra taboa,

22E ao lado do tabernaculo para o occidente farás seis taboas.

23Farás tambem duas taboas para os cantos do tabernaculo, d'ambos os lados;

24E por baixo se ajuntarão, e tambem em cima d'elle se ajuntarão n'uma argola. Assim se fará com as duas taboas: ambas serão por taboas para os dois cantos.

25Assim serão as oito taboas com as suas bases de prata, dezeseis bases: duas bases debaixo d'uma taboa, e duas bases debaixo d'outra taboa.

26Farás tambem cinco barras de madeira de sittim, para as taboas d'um lado do tabernaculo,

27E cinco barras para as taboas do outro lado do tabernaculo; como tambem cinco barras para as taboas do outro lado do tabernaculo, d'ambas as bandas para o occidente.

28E a barra do meio estará no meio das taboas, passando d'uma extremidade até á outra.

29E cobrirás d'oiro as taboas, e farás d'oiro as suas argolas, para metter por ellas as barras: tambem as barras as cobrirás d'oiro.

30Então levantarás o tabernaculo conforme ao modelo que te foi mostrado no monte.

31Depois farás um véu de azul, e purpura, e carmezim, e de linho fino torcido; com cherubins de obra prima se fará,

32E o porás sobre quatro columnas de madeira de sittim, cobertas de oiro: seus colchetes serão de oiro, sobre quatro bases de prata.

33Pendurarás o véu debaixo dos colchetes, e metterás a arca do testemunho ali dentro do véu: e este véu vos fará separação entre o sanctuario e o logar sanctissimo.

34E porás a coberta do propiciatorio sobre a arca do testemunho no sanctissimo,

35E a mesa porás fóra do véu, e o castiçal defronte da mesa, ao lado do tabernaculo, para o sul; mas a mesa porás á banda do norte

36Farás tambem para a porta da tenda uma coberta de azul, e purpura, e carmezim, e de linho fino torcido, de obra de bordador,

37E farás para esta coberta cinco columnas de madeira de sittim, e as cobrirás de oiro; seus colchetes serão de oiro, e far-lhe-has de fundição cinco bases de cobre.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Instructions are given in detail for building the curtains, boards, and veils that would form the physical structure of the tabernacle, including the separation between the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place.

Explanation

This chapter continues the technical instructions for building the tabernacle, now focusing on the physical structure that would house the sacred objects described in the previous chapter. The careful layering of curtains (fine embroidered linen, goats' hair, dyed rams' skins, badgers' skins) created a sanctuary that was portable yet dignified and protected against the elements of the desert. The veil separating the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place, embroidered with cherubim, physically established the distinction between God's closest presence (where the ark stood) and the rest of the sacred space, reflecting the idea that access to God's utmost holiness required careful, reverent separation. This structure, though temporary and mobile, would later be replaced by a permanent, monumental version in Solomon's temple, but the spiritual principles of separation and holiness established here would remain constant.

Fun facts

  • The veil separating the Most Holy Place, mentioned in this chapter, is the same kind of structure (though in a later, larger version in the Jerusalem temple) that, according to the Gospels, tore 'from the top to the bottom' at the moment of Jesus' death (Matthew 27:51), symbolizing for Christians a renewed and direct access to God's presence.
  • The detailed dimensions and proportions of the tabernacle, when compared by archaeologists and historians to other portable sanctuaries from ancient Egypt and the Near East, show technical construction similarities to royal ceremonial tents of the period, suggesting that the technology described was plausible and contemporary to the time of the Exodus.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Êxodo 26:1The tabernacle’s inner walls were, in practice, large fabric curtains embroidered with cherub figures, not rigid walls. They were hung over a wooden frame covered in gold, forming an enclosed space inside the large tent.
  2. Êxodo 26:2Each of the tabernacle’s ten inner curtains measured about 42 feet long by 6 feet wide, standardized measurements so they would fit together perfectly.
  3. Êxodo 26:3The ten curtains were sewn into two large panels of five, forming two bigger pieces before being joined to each other.
  4. Êxodo 26:4Loops of blue fabric along the edges of each panel served as attachment points for the gold clasps described in the next verse.
  5. Êxodo 26:5Fifty loops on each side ensured that the two panels lined up perfectly when they were joined.
  6. Êxodo 26:6Gold clasps fastened the loops of the two panels, turning the ten separate curtains into a single continuous covering for the tabernacle.
  7. Êxodo 26:7Over this embroidered inner covering, a second, sturdier layer made of goats’ hair served as the outer protective tent.
  8. Êxodo 26:8The eleven goat-hair curtains were a little larger than the inner ones, giving enough slack to cover the whole structure from above.
  9. Êxodo 26:9These eleven curtains were divided into groups of five and six, with the sixth doubled over at the front of the tent, forming a kind of flap at the entrance.
  10. Êxodo 26:10The same system of loops used on the inner curtains was repeated here, allowing the two groups of goat-hair curtains to be joined.
  11. Êxodo 26:11Unlike the inner curtains, which used gold clasps, this outer layer was fastened with bronze clasps, a material more resistant to the weather.
  12. Êxodo 26:12The extra length of the goat-hair curtain, being a little longer than the inner ones, hung over and covered the back of the tabernacle.
  13. Êxodo 26:13Likewise, the side overhang of this outer curtain hung down along the sides of the structure, ensuring the inner curtains stayed protected.
  14. Êxodo 26:14Outside the embroidered curtains and the goat-hair canvas, the tabernacle also had two more layers of weather protection: ram skins dyed red and, over everything, a tougher layer (the “badgers’ skins,” probably the hide of a sea animal) to protect against the desert’s rain and sun.
  15. Êxodo 26:15Besides the curtains, the tabernacle had a rigid frame of acacia boards set upright, forming the tent’s inner walls.
  16. Êxodo 26:16Each board measured about 15 feet high by roughly 2 feet 3 inches wide, standardized dimensions for the whole structure.
  17. Êxodo 26:17Fittings at the base of each board, like tenons, allowed them to connect firmly to one another along the wall.
  18. Êxodo 26:18Twenty of these boards made up the south side of the tabernacle, one of the longer walls of the rectangular structure.
  19. Êxodo 26:19Each board rested on two silver sockets, fitted onto the tenons at its base, giving the whole wall stability and level footing.
  20. Êxodo 26:20The north side of the tabernacle was built identically to the south side, with another twenty boards in the same configuration.
  21. Êxodo 26:21The silver sockets on the north side followed exactly the same pattern as the south side, two for each board.
  22. Êxodo 26:22The back wall of the tabernacle, facing west, was narrower, made up of only six boards.
  23. Êxodo 26:23Two extra boards, placed specifically at the rear corners, gave structural reinforcement where the side and back walls met.
  24. Êxodo 26:24These corner boards were fitted together in a special way, joined at both the base and the top by a ring, reinforcing where the walls met.
  25. Êxodo 26:25In total, the west wall came to eight boards, each resting on two silver sockets, following the pattern of the other walls.
  26. Êxodo 26:26Horizontal bars of acacia wood ran across the boards on each side, binding the whole structure together and keeping it from coming apart.
  27. Êxodo 26:27The same system of bars was repeated on all three sides of the structure, south, north, and west, giving stability to the whole set of boards.
  28. Êxodo 26:28A longer central bar ran across the boards from end to end, further reinforcing the rigidity of each wall.
  29. Êxodo 26:29Like other pieces of the tabernacle, the boards and bars also received an overlay of gold, with gold rings to hold the bars in place.
  30. Êxodo 26:30Repeats the requirement to follow exactly the pattern shown to Moses on the mountain, this time applied to assembling the board structure.
  31. Êxodo 26:31A veil embroidered with cherubim, made of the same colored fabrics used in the inner curtains, marked the most important division inside the tabernacle.
  32. Êxodo 26:32The veil was hung on four acacia pillars overlaid with gold, resting on silver sockets, physically separating the two parts of the sanctuary.
  33. Êxodo 26:33The tabernacle had two rooms: a larger one, the “holy place,” where the priests entered for daily service, and a smaller one, the “most holy” place, where only the ark stood. This veil separated the two, and only the high priest could pass through it, and only once a year.
  34. Êxodo 26:34The ark’s golden lid, the mercy seat, was placed specifically inside the innermost, most sacred space, set apart by the veil.
  35. Êxodo 26:35The table of bread and the lampstand stood outside the veil, on opposite sides of the sanctuary’s main space, one to the north and the other to the south.
  36. Êxodo 26:36An embroidered curtain, similar to the inner veil but a separate piece, covered the entrance of the tent, marking the division between the sanctuary and the outer area.
  37. Êxodo 26:37This entrance curtain was held up by five acacia pillars overlaid with gold, resting on bronze sockets, unlike the silver sockets of the inner veil.

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