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Êxodo 30

BLIVRE · Chapter 30/40

1Farás também um altar para queimar incenso: de madeira de acácia o farás.

2Seu comprimento será de um côvado, e sua largura de um côvado: será quadrado: e sua altura de dois côvados: e suas pontas serão do mesmo.

3E o cobrirás de ouro puro, sua parte superior, e suas paredes em derredor, e suas pontas: e lhe farás em derredor uma coroa de ouro.

4Tu lhe farás também dois anéis de ouro debaixo de sua coroa a seus dois cantos em ambos lados seus, para meter as varas com que será levado.

5E farás as varas de madeira de acácia, e os cobrirás de ouro.

6E o porás diante do véu que está junto à arca do testemunho, diante do propiciatório que está sobre o testemunho, onde eu te testificarei de mim.

7E queimará sobre ele Arão incenso de aroma cada manhã quando preparar as lâmpadas o queimará.

8E quando Arão acender as lâmpadas ao anoitecer, queimará o incenso: rito perpétuo diante do SENHOR por vossas idades.

9Não oferecereis sobre ele incenso estranho, nem holocausto, nem oferta de cereais; nem tampouco derramareis libação sobre ele.

10E sobre suas pontas fará Arão expiação uma vez no ano com o sangue da expiação para as reconciliações: uma vez no ano fará expiação sobre ele em vossas idades: será muito santo ao SENHOR.

11E falou o SENHOR a Moisés, dizendo:

12Quando tomares o número dos filhos de Israel conforme a conta deles, cada um dará ao SENHOR o resgate de sua pessoa, quando os contares, e não haverá neles mortandade por havê-los contado.

13Isto dará qualquer um que passar pela contagem, meio siclo conforme o siclo do santuário. O siclo é de vinte óbolos: a metade de um siclo será a oferta ao SENHOR.

14Qualquer um que passar pela contagem, de vinte anos acima, dará a oferta ao SENHOR.

15Nem o rico aumentará, nem o pobre diminuirá de meio siclo, quando derem a oferta ao SENHOR para fazer expiação por vossas pessoas.

16E tomarás dos filhos de Israel o dinheiro das expiações, e o darás para a obra do tabernáculo do testemunho: e será por memória aos filhos de Israel diante do SENHOR, para expiar vossas pessoas.

17Falou mais o SENHOR a Moisés, dizendo:

18Farás também uma pia de bronze, com sua base de bronze, para lavar; e a porás entre o tabernáculo do testemunho e o altar; e porás nela água.

19E dela se lavarão Arão e seus filhos suas mãos e seus pés:

20Quando entrarem no tabernáculo do testemunho, se hão de lavar com água, e não morrerão: e quando se achegarem ao altar para ministrar, para acender ao SENHOR a oferta que se há de consumir ao fogo,

21Também se lavarão as mãos e os pés, e não morrerão. E o terão por estatuto perpétuo ele e sua semente por suas gerações.

22Falou mais o SENHOR a Moisés, dizendo:

23E tu tomarás das principais especiarias; de mirra excelente quinhentos siclos, e de canela aromática a metade, isto é, duzentos e cinquenta, e de cálamo aromático duzentos e cinquenta,

24E de cássia quinhentos, ao peso do santuário, e de azeite de olivas um him:

25E farás disso o azeite da santa unção, superior unguento, obra de perfumista, o qual será o azeite da unção sagrada.

26Com ele ungirás o tabernáculo do testemunho, e a arca do testemunho,

27E a mesa, e todos os seus utensílios, e o candelabro, e todos os seus utensílios, e o altar do incenso,

28E o altar do holocausto, todos os seus utensílios, e a pia e sua base.

29Assim os consagrarás, e serão coisas santíssimas: tudo o que tocar neles, será santificado.

30Ungirás também a Arão e a seus filhos, e os consagrarás para que sejam meus sacerdotes.

31E falarás aos filhos de Israel, dizendo: Este será meu azeite da santa unção por vossas idades.

32Sobre carne de homem não será untado, nem fareis outro semelhante, conforme sua composição: santo é; por santo haveis de tê-lo vós.

33Qualquer um que compuser unguento semelhante, e que puser dele sobre estranho, será cortado de seus povos.

34Disse ainda o SENHOR a Moisés: Toma para ti aromas, resina de estoraque e um material odorífero e gálbano aromático e incenso limpo; de tudo em igual peso:

35E farás disso uma mistura aromática de obra de perfumista, bem misturada, pura e santa:

36E moerás alguma dela pulverizando-a, e a porás diante do testemunho no tabernáculo do testemunho, onde eu te testificarei de mim. Isso vos será coisa santíssima.

37Como a mistura que farás, não vos fareis outra segundo sua composição: te será coisa sagrada para o SENHOR.

38Qualquer um que fizer outra como ela para cheirá-la, será cortado de seus povos.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Instructions are given for building the altar of incense, collecting a half-shekel tax for the sanctuary, the bronze basin for ritual washing, and the special formula for the anointing oil and the sacred incense.

Explanation

This chapter adds final, important elements to the furnishings and practices of the tabernacle. The altar of incense, placed in front of the veil of the Most Holy Place, represented the constant offering of prayer rising before God, a symbol taken up repeatedly in later biblical tradition, including in the book of Revelation. The half-shekel tax, collected equally from rich and poor 'to make an atonement for your souls' (v. 15), established an important principle of spiritual equality before God regardless of a person's economic standing. The bronze basin, used for ritual washing of hands and feet before priestly service, reinforced the need for physical and symbolic purity before approaching what was holy. Finally, the strict prohibition against reproducing the sacred anointing oil or the sanctuary incense for common use (v. 32-33, 37-38) showed that certain elements of worship had to remain exclusively set apart and distinct from any everyday or profane use.

Fun facts

  • The 'half shekel' tax collected equally from all Israelites (v. 15) is referenced centuries later in Matthew 17:24-27, when Jesus miraculously pays the 'temple tax' using a coin found in the mouth of a fish — a direct historical continuity of this ancient practice of contributing to the sanctuary.
  • The sacred incense, whose specific formula was forbidden to be copied for personal use (v. 34-38), was made of aromatic resins such as stacte, onycha, and galbanum, substances that archaeologists confirm were traded and highly valued along real trade routes of the ancient Near East.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Êxodo 30:1Besides the altar of sacrifice outside, the tabernacle had a second, smaller altar, meant specifically for burning incense inside the sanctuary.
  2. Êxodo 30:2The incense altar was small, about 18 inches on each side, but much taller than it was wide, with the same horns at its corners seen on the larger altar.
  3. Êxodo 30:3Unlike the altar of sacrifice covered in bronze, this smaller altar was overlaid with pure gold, including a decorative rim around the top.
  4. Êxodo 30:4Gold rings below the rim allowed the carrying poles to be fitted, following the same system used for other movable pieces of the tabernacle.
  5. Êxodo 30:5The incense altar’s poles were also acacia wood overlaid with gold, keeping the material standard of the other portable pieces.
  6. Êxodo 30:6Its location was strategic: right in front of the veil that hid the ark, as close as possible to the most holy place without crossing the barrier.
  7. Êxodo 30:7Aaron burned incense on this altar every morning, at the same time he tended the lamps of the lampstand, linking the two daily tasks.
  8. Êxodo 30:8The same burning of incense was repeated in the evening, when Aaron lit the lamps for the night, making incense a continual practice, day after day.
  9. Êxodo 30:9Forbids using this particular altar for any other kind of offering, incense different from what was prescribed, animal sacrifices, or wine libations.
  10. Êxodo 30:10This annual ritual, performed on the incense altar’s “horns,” corresponds to what would later be the Day of Atonement, the most solemn day of the Israelite priestly calendar. It was the only time of the year that this particular altar received this purification treatment.
  11. Êxodo 30:11Introduces a new subject in the conversation between God and Moses: the rules for a census, detailed in the following verses.
  12. Êxodo 30:12Taking a census, counting the people, was seen as something that required this “ransom,” a small payment in silver, as a way of acknowledging that each person’s life belonged to God, not just an administrative number. The idea that counting without this payment would bring a plague comes up again later in the Bible, when a king takes a census without following this rule.
  13. Êxodo 30:13The shekel was a unit of weight used as currency in the ancient world, usually silver. The “shekel of the sanctuary” was an official standard kept by the temple, to ensure that the half shekel charged to each person counted was always the same value, without variation.
  14. Êxodo 30:14Specifies the minimum age to take part in this census and pay the ransom: twenty full years old, the same age used later to count men fit for military service.
  15. Êxodo 30:15This census payment was the same for everyone, regardless of each person’s income: the rich did not pay more, the poor did not pay less. The idea is that, in this particular ransom, the value of each person’s life was treated as equal before God.
  16. Êxodo 30:16The money collected in this census had a fixed purpose: funding the tabernacle’s service, while also serving as a symbolic record of each person counted.
  17. Êxodo 30:17Introduces another subject in the sequence of instructions: building a basin for ritual washing, detailed in the next verse.
  18. Êxodo 30:18The bronze basin was positioned strategically between the entrance of the tabernacle and the altar of sacrifice, along the path the priests walked to their service.
  19. Êxodo 30:19The “laver” was a bronze basin placed between the altar and the tent, where the priests washed their hands and feet before any service in the sanctuary. It was not ordinary hygiene: it was a purification ritual required before approaching what was considered holy, on pain of death.
  20. Êxodo 30:20Washing hands and feet before entering the tabernacle or approaching the altar was not optional: neglecting this ritual put the priest’s life at risk.
  21. Êxodo 30:21Reinforces the seriousness of the rule, repeating the threat of death, and determines that this practice had to keep being followed by all future generations of priests.
  22. Êxodo 30:22Introduces yet another subject in the sequence: the exact formula for the special anointing oil, detailed in the following verses.
  23. Êxodo 30:23Lists the main ingredients of the holy oil: pure myrrh, sweet cinnamon, and sweet calamus, each in a specific amount measured in shekels.
  24. Êxodo 30:24Completes the list of ingredients with cassia and olive oil, forming the liquid base into which the spices would be mixed.
  25. Êxodo 30:25This perfumed oil, made with a specific blend of myrrh, cinnamon, calamus, and cassia, was used only to consecrate objects and people in sacred service, such as the tabernacle, its utensils, Aaron, and his sons. It was not a perfume for ordinary use, and the following verses forbid anyone from making the same formula for another purpose.
  26. Êxodo 30:26The holy oil would be used to formally anoint the whole tabernacle, starting with its most important piece: the ark of the covenant.
  27. Êxodo 30:27The anointing also extended to the table of bread, the lampstand, and the altar of incense, consecrating every piece inside the sanctuary.
  28. Êxodo 30:28Completes the list of anointed objects with the altar of sacrifice outside and the basin for ritual washing.
  29. Êxodo 30:29Once anointed, these objects would become so holy that anything coming into contact with them would also come to be considered holy.
  30. Êxodo 30:30The same oil used on the tabernacle’s objects also consecrated people: Aaron and his sons would be anointed to formalize their entry into the priesthood.
  31. Êxodo 30:31God instructs Moses to explain to the people that this specific oil formula had to keep being used, without changes, by the generations to come.
  32. Êxodo 30:32Forbids using this holy oil to anoint ordinary people outside the priestly context, and also forbids reproducing the same formula for any other use.
  33. Êxodo 30:33Cut off from his people is a phrase used several times in these laws to indicate a serious punishment, probably expulsion from the community or even the death penalty, depending on the reading, since the text does not spell out exactly how this punishment was applied. Here it falls on anyone who tried to copy the exclusive formula of the holy oil for use outside the religious context.
  34. Êxodo 30:34Like the anointing oil, the sanctuary’s incense also had a specific formula, with ingredients such as stacte, onycha, and galbanum in equal parts.
  35. Êxodo 30:35The incense had to be prepared by a specialist, blended, seasoned, and kept pure, following a demanding quality standard.
  36. Êxodo 30:36Part of the prepared incense was ground into a fine powder and placed very close to where the tablets of the law stood, inside the tabernacle’s most sacred space.
  37. Êxodo 30:37Repeats the prohibition already made regarding the anointing oil: this specific incense formula could not be reproduced for personal or ordinary use.
  38. Êxodo 30:38Closes the chapter with the same severe penalty: whoever made this incense just for his own enjoyment, outside the sacred context, would be cut off from the community.

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