Exodus 38

KJV · Chapter 38/40

1And he made the altar of burnt offering of shittim wood: five cubits was the length thereof, and five cubits the breadth thereof; it was foursquare; and three cubits the height thereof.

2And he made the horns thereof on the four corners of it; the horns thereof were of the same: and he overlaid it with brass.

3And he made all the vessels of the altar, the pots, and the shovels, and the basons, and the fleshhooks, and the firepans: all the vessels thereof made he of brass.

4And he made for the altar a brasen grate of network under the compass thereof beneath unto the midst of it.

5And he cast four rings for the four ends of the grate of brass, to be places for the staves.

6And he made the staves of shittim wood, and overlaid them with brass.

7And he put the staves into the rings on the sides of the altar, to bear it withal; he made the altar hollow with boards.

8And he made the laver of brass, and the foot of it of brass, of the lookingglasses of the women assembling, which assembled at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.

9And he made the court: on the south side southward the hangings of the court were of fine twined linen, an hundred cubits:

10Their pillars were twenty, and their brasen sockets twenty; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets were of silver.

11And for the north side the hangings were an hundred cubits, their pillars were twenty, and their sockets of brass twenty; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets of silver.

12And for the west side were hangings of fifty cubits, their pillars ten, and their sockets ten; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets of silver.

13And for the east side eastward fifty cubits.

14The hangings of the one side of the gate were fifteen cubits; their pillars three, and their sockets three.

15And for the other side of the court gate, on this hand and that hand, were hangings of fifteen cubits; their pillars three, and their sockets three.

16All the hangings of the court round about were of fine twined linen.

17And the sockets for the pillars were of brass; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets of silver; and the overlaying of their chapiters of silver; and all the pillars of the court were filleted with silver.

18And the hanging for the gate of the court was needlework, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen: and twenty cubits was the length, and the height in the breadth was five cubits, answerable to the hangings of the court.

19And their pillars were four, and their sockets of brass four; their hooks of silver, and the overlaying of their chapiters and their fillets of silver.

20And all the pins of the tabernacle, and of the court round about, were of brass.

21This is the sum of the tabernacle, even of the tabernacle of testimony, as it was counted, according to the commandment of Moses, for the service of the Levites, by the hand of Ithamar, son to Aaron the priest.

22And Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, made all that the Lord commanded Moses.

23And with him was Aholiab, son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, an engraver, and a cunning workman, and an embroiderer in blue, and in purple, and in scarlet, and fine linen.

24All the gold that was occupied for the work in all the work of the holy place, even the gold of the offering, was twenty and nine talents, and seven hundred and thirty shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary.

25And the silver of them that were numbered of the congregation was an hundred talents, and a thousand seven hundred and threescore and fifteen shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary:

26A bekah for every man, that is, half a shekel, after the shekel of the sanctuary, for every one that went to be numbered, from twenty years old and upward, for six hundred thousand and three thousand and five hundred and fifty men.

27And of the hundred talents of silver were cast the sockets of the sanctuary, and the sockets of the vail; an hundred sockets of the hundred talents, a talent for a socket.

28And of the thousand seven hundred seventy and five shekels he made hooks for the pillars, and overlaid their chapiters, and filleted them.

29And the brass of the offering was seventy talents, and two thousand and four hundred shekels.

30And therewith he made the sockets to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and the brasen altar, and the brasen grate for it, and all the vessels of the altar,

31And the sockets of the court round about, and the sockets of the court gate, and all the pins of the tabernacle, and all the pins of the court round about.

📖 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. Exodus 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. Exodus 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. Exodus 38:3All the altar’s auxiliary utensils—ash containers, shovels, basins, forks, and firepans—are made of copper.
  4. Exodus 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. Exodus 38:5Four metal rings are cast at the corners of the grate, ready to hold the altar’s carrying poles.
  6. Exodus 38:6The altar’s poles are made of acacia wood overlaid with copper, keeping the material pattern for this particular piece.
  7. Exodus 38:7The poles are fitted into the altar’s side rings, allowing it to be carried whenever the camp moves.
  8. Exodus 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. Exodus 38:9The outer courtyard is set up with fine linen curtains along the south side, measuring a hundred cubits long, as specified before.
  10. Exodus 38:10The twenty pillars supporting these south-side curtains are made of copper, with silver finishing details.
  11. Exodus 38:11The north side of the courtyard receives exactly the same treatment, with its own twenty copper pillars and silver finishing.
  12. Exodus 38:12The narrower west side is closed off with fifty cubits of curtain supported by ten pillars.
  13. Exodus 38:13The east side, facing the main entrance, also receives fifty cubits of curtain, divided between the gate and the sides.
  14. Exodus 38:14On one side of the entrance, fifteen cubits of curtain complete part of the courtyard’s east-side width.
  15. Exodus 38:15The other side of the entrance receives the same measurement, symmetrically closing off the courtyard’s front.
  16. Exodus 38:16All the curtains around the courtyard, without exception, are made of finely twisted linen, keeping to a single material standard.
  17. Exodus 38:17The sockets of all the courtyard pillars are made of copper, while the finishings—hooks and bands—are silver throughout.
  18. Exodus 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. Exodus 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. Exodus 38:20All the pegs used to secure both the tabernacle and the courtyard to the ground are made of copper.
  21. Exodus 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. Exodus 38:22It confirms that Bezalel personally carried out everything God had commanded Moses, fully fulfilling his part in leading the work.
  23. Exodus 38:23Oholiab works alongside Bezalel, contributing specifically his embroidery skills on the colored fabrics used in several pieces of the set.
  24. Exodus 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. Exodus 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. Exodus 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. Exodus 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. Exodus 38:28The rest of the silver, just under two thousand shekels, was used for the hooks and decorative finishings of the pillars.
  29. Exodus 38:29The copper donated totaled seventy talents and two thousand four hundred shekels, a generous amount used in several parts of the structure.
  30. Exodus 38:30This copper went toward the sockets at the tabernacle’s entrance, the sacrifice altar, its grate, and all the related utensils.
  31. Exodus 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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