Êxodo 38

ARC · Chapter 38/40

1Fez tambem o altar do holocausto de madeira de sittim: de cinco covados era o seu comprimento, e de cinco covados a sua largura, quadrado; e de tres covados a sua altura.

2E fez-lhe os seus cornos aos seus quatro cantos; do mesmo eram os seus cornos; e cobriu-o de cobre.

3Fez tambem todos os vasos do altar: os caldeirões, e as pás, e as bacias, e os garfos, e os brazeiros: todos os seus vasos fez de cobre.

4Fez tambem ao altar um crivo de cobre, de obra de rede, no seu cerco debaixo, até ao meio d'elle.

5E fundiu quatro argolas ás quatro extremidades do crivo de cobre, para os logares dos varaes.

6E fez os varaes de madeira de sittim, e os cobriu de cobre.

7E metteu os varaes pelas argolas aos lados do altar, para leval-o com elles: fel-o oco de taboas.

8Fez tambem a pia de cobre com a sua base de cobre, dos espelhos das mulheres que se ajuntavam, ajuntando-se á porta da tenda da congregação.

9Fez tambem o pateo da banda do meio dia ao sul: as cortinas do pateo eram de linho fino torcido, de cem covados.

10As suas vinte columnas e as suas vinte bases eram de cobre: os colchetes d'estas columnas e as suas molduras eram de prata;

11E da banda do norte cortinas de cem covados; as suas vinte columnas e as suas vinte bases eram de cobre, os colchetes das columnas e as suas molduras eram de prata.

12E da banda do occidente cortinas de cincoenta covados, as suas columnas dez, e as suas bases dez: os colchetes das columnas e as suas molduras eram de prata.

13E da banda oriental, ao oriente, cortinas de cincoenta covados.

14As cortinas d'esta banda da porta eram de quinze covados: as suas columnas tres e as suas bases tres.

15E da outra banda da porta do pateo de ambos os lados eram cortinas de quinze covados: as suas columnas tres e as suas bases tres.

16Todas as cortinas do pateo ao redor eram de linho fino torcido.

17E as bases das columnas eram de cobre: os colchetes das columnas e as suas molduras eram de prata; e a coberta das suas cabeças de prata; e todas as columnas do pateo eram cingidas de prata.

18E a coberta da porta do pateo era de obra de bordador, de azul, e de purpura, e de carmezim, e de linho fino torcido; e o comprimento era de vinte covados, e a altura, na largura, de cinco covados, defronte das cortinas do pateo.

19E as suas quatro columnas e as suas quatro bases eram de cobre, os seus colchetes de prata, e a coberta das suas cabeças, e as suas molduras, de prata.

20E todas as estacas do tabernaculo e do pateo ao redor eram de cobre.

21Esta é a numeração das coisas contadas do tabernaculo do testemunho, que por ordem de Moysés foram contadas para o ministerio dos levitas por mão de Ithamar, filho de Aarão o sacerdote.

22Fez pois Bezaleel, o filho de Uri, filho de Hur, da tribu de Judah, tudo quanto o Senhor tinha ordenado a Moysés.

23E com elle Aholiab, o filho de Ahisamach, da tribu de Dan, um mestre de obra, e engenhoso artifice, e bordador em azul, e em purpura e em carmezim e em linho fino.

24Todo o oiro gasto na obra, em toda a obra do sanctuario, a saber, o oiro da offerta, foi vinte e nove talentos e setecentos e trinta siclos, conforme ao siclo do Sanctuario;

25E a prata dos arrolados da congregação foi cem talentos e mil e setecentos e setenta e cinco siclos, conforme ao siclo do sanctuario;

26Um beca por cada cabeça, isto é, meio siclo, conforme ao siclo do sanctuario: de qualquer que passava aos arrolados, da edade de vinte annos e acima, que foram seiscentos e tres mil e quinhentos e cincoenta.

27E houve cem talentos de prata para fundir as bases do sanctuario e as bases do véu: para cem bases eram cem talentos; um talento para cada base.

28Mas dos mil e setecentos e setenta siclos fez os colchetes das columnas, e cobriu as suas cabeças, e as cingiu de molduras.

29E o cobre da offerta foi setenta talentos e dois mil e quatrocentos siclos.

30E d'elle fez as bases da porta da tenda da congregação e o altar de cobre, e o crivo de cobre e todos os vasos do altar,

31E as bases do pateo ao redor, e as bases da porta do pateo, e todas as estacas do tabernaculo e todas as estacas do pateo ao redor.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

The bronze altar for burnt offerings is built, along with the bronze basin made from the women's mirrors, and the courtyard of the tabernacle with its curtains and pillars; the chapter ends with a detailed record of all the gold, silver, and bronze used in the work.

Explanation

This chapter concludes the construction of the outer elements of the tabernacle, with a touching detail standing out: the bronze basin, used for the priests' ritual washings, was made 'of the looking glasses of the women assembling, which assembled at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation' (v. 8) — an extraordinary act of giving, in which personal objects of vanity or identity were willingly surrendered and transformed into something used for sacred purification. The careful and transparent record of all the precious metal used in the construction, including the exact amounts of gold, silver, and bronze, demonstrates an important principle of responsibility and public accountability regarding resources donated for a sacred work, avoiding any suspicion of misappropriation or mismanagement on the part of the leaders involved. This kind of financial transparency, explicitly documented in Scripture, serves as a timeless model of integrity in the administration of resources dedicated to religious or communal purposes.

Fun facts

  • The specific mention of the 'women's mirrors' (v. 8) being transformed into a sacred basin is one of the earliest biblical examples of the symbolic repurposing of personal objects — from instruments of outward vanity into instruments of spiritual purification — a powerful metaphor for the transformation of purpose.
  • The detailed record of the amounts of precious metals (more than 29 talents of gold, equivalent to hundreds of kilograms) shows that building the tabernacle represented an extraordinary material investment for a people newly freed from slavery, making the voluntary generosity described in the previous chapters all the more remarkable.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Êxodo 38:1The outer sacrifice altar is built of acacia wood, with the square structure about seven and a half feet on each side from chapter 27.
  2. Êxodo 38:2The altar’s horns are made from the same wooden structure, and the whole piece is overlaid with copper, not gold like the inner pieces.
  3. Êxodo 38:3All the altar’s auxiliary utensils—ash containers, shovels, basins, forks, and firepans—are made of copper.
  4. Êxodo 38:4The copper grate, shaped like a net, is made and placed inside the altar’s structure, creating the interior space for the coals.
  5. Êxodo 38:5Four metal rings are cast at the corners of the grate, ready to hold the altar’s carrying poles.
  6. Êxodo 38:6The altar’s poles are made of acacia wood overlaid with copper, keeping the material pattern for this particular piece.
  7. Êxodo 38:7The poles are fitted into the altar’s side rings, allowing it to be carried whenever the camp moves.
  8. Êxodo 38:8The copper basin where the priests washed their hands and feet was made by melting down polished metal mirrors belonging to women of the people, voluntarily donated to the work. Metal mirrors—not glass, which didn’t yet exist that way—were valuable personal possessions at the time, which makes this donation a remarkable act of generosity.
  9. Êxodo 38:9The outer courtyard is set up with fine linen curtains along the south side, measuring a hundred cubits long, as specified before.
  10. Êxodo 38:10The twenty pillars supporting these south-side curtains are made of copper, with silver finishing details.
  11. Êxodo 38:11The north side of the courtyard receives exactly the same treatment, with its own twenty copper pillars and silver finishing.
  12. Êxodo 38:12The narrower west side is closed off with fifty cubits of curtain supported by ten pillars.
  13. Êxodo 38:13The east side, facing the main entrance, also receives fifty cubits of curtain, divided between the gate and the sides.
  14. Êxodo 38:14On one side of the entrance, fifteen cubits of curtain complete part of the courtyard’s east-side width.
  15. Êxodo 38:15The other side of the entrance receives the same measurement, symmetrically closing off the courtyard’s front.
  16. Êxodo 38:16All the curtains around the courtyard, without exception, are made of finely twisted linen, keeping to a single material standard.
  17. Êxodo 38:17The sockets of all the courtyard pillars are made of copper, while the finishings—hooks and bands—are silver throughout.
  18. Êxodo 38:18The courtyard’s entrance curtain receives a more elaborate embroidered finish, with the same colored fabrics used on other visible pieces of the set.
  19. Êxodo 38:19The four pillars of this specific entrance are made of copper, but their finishing details follow the same silver pattern as the courtyard’s other pillars.
  20. Êxodo 38:20All the pegs used to secure both the tabernacle and the courtyard to the ground are made of copper.
  21. Êxodo 38:21This passage begins a kind of accounting: an official inventory of all the gold, silver, and copper used in building the tabernacle, recorded under the responsibility of Ithamar, one of Aaron’s sons. It’s a way of ensuring transparency about where the people’s donations went.
  22. Êxodo 38:22It confirms that Bezalel personally carried out everything God had commanded Moses, fully fulfilling his part in leading the work.
  23. Êxodo 38:23Oholiab works alongside Bezalel, contributing specifically his embroidery skills on the colored fabrics used in several pieces of the set.
  24. Êxodo 38:24The final report accounts for all the gold used in the work, a total of twenty-nine talents and seven hundred thirty shekels, measured by the official sanctuary standard.
  25. Êxodo 38:25The silver used, coming specifically from the census of the people, totaled a hundred talents and one thousand seven hundred seventy-five shekels.
  26. Êxodo 38:26This huge number of men counted, more than 600,000, corresponds to the total number of adult Israelites who paid that half-shekel census tax mentioned in chapter 30, used precisely to cast the tabernacle’s silver sockets. It’s essentially the math behind the large amount of silver used in the work.
  27. Êxodo 38:27A good portion of that silver, a full hundred talents, was used exclusively for the hundred metal sockets that supported the tabernacle’s boards and veil.
  28. Êxodo 38:28The rest of the silver, just under two thousand shekels, was used for the hooks and decorative finishings of the pillars.
  29. Êxodo 38:29The copper donated totaled seventy talents and two thousand four hundred shekels, a generous amount used in several parts of the structure.
  30. Êxodo 38:30This copper went toward the sockets at the tabernacle’s entrance, the sacrifice altar, its grate, and all the related utensils.
  31. Êxodo 38:31The use of copper was completed with the sockets of the outer courtyard, the courtyard entrance, and all the pegs used to secure the entire structure to the ground.

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