Exodus 25 · WEB
Instructions for the Tabernacle: The Ark, Table, and Lampstand
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Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,
2"Speak to the children of Israel, that they take an offering for me. From everyone whose heart makes him willing you shall take my offering.
3This is the offering which you shall take from them: gold, silver, bronze,
4blue, purple, scarlet, fine linen, goats' hair,
5rams' skins dyed red, sea cow hides, acacia wood,
6oil for the light, spices for the anointing oil and for the sweet incense,
7onyx stones, and stones to be set for the ephod and for the breastplate.
8"Let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them.
9According to all that I show you, the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all of its furniture, even so you shall make it.
10"They shall make an ark of acacia wood. Its length shall be two and a half cubits, its width a cubit and a half, and a cubit and a half its height.
11You shall overlay it with pure gold. You shall overlay it inside and outside, and you shall make a gold molding around it.
12You shall cast four rings of gold for it and put them in its four feet. Two rings shall be on one side of it and two rings on the other side of it.
13You shall make poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold.
14You shall put the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark, to carry the ark with them.
15The poles shall be in the rings of the ark. They shall not be taken from it.
16You shall put the testimony which I shall give you into the ark.
17"You shall make a mercy seat of pure gold. Two and a half cubits shall be its length, and a cubit and a half its width.
18You shall make two cherubim of gold. You shall make them of hammered work at the two ends of the mercy seat.
19Make one cherub at the one end, and one cherub at the other end. You shall make the cherubim on its two ends of one piece with it.
20The cherubim shall spread out their wings upward, covering the mercy seat with their wings, facing each other. The faces of the cherubim shall be toward the mercy seat.
21You shall put the mercy seat on top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the testimony that I will give you.
22There I will meet with you, and I will tell you from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are on the ark of the testimony, all that I command you for the children of Israel.
23"You shall make a table of acacia wood. Its length shall be two cubits, and its width a cubit, and its height one and a half cubits.
24You shall overlay it with pure gold, and make a gold molding around it.
25You shall make a border of a handbreadth around it. You shall make a golden molding on its border around it.
26You shall make four rings of gold for it, and put the rings in the four corners that are on its four feet.
27The rings shall be close to the border, for places for the poles to carry the table.
28You shall make the poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold, that the table may be carried with them.
29You shall make its dishes, its spoons, its ladles, and its bowls to pour out offerings with. You shall make them of pure gold.
30You shall set bread of the presence on the table before me always.
31"You shall make a lamp stand of pure gold. The lamp stand shall be made of hammered work. Its base, its shaft, its cups, its buds, and its flowers shall be of one piece with it.
32There shall be six branches going out of its sides: three branches of the lamp stand out of one side of it, and three branches of the lamp stand out of the other side of it;
33three cups made like almond blossoms in one branch, a bud and a flower; and three cups made like almond blossoms in the other branch, a bud and a flower, so for the six branches going out of the lamp stand;
34and in the lamp stand four cups made like almond blossoms, its buds and its flowers;
35and a bud under two branches of one piece with it, and a bud under two branches of one piece with it, and a bud under two branches of one piece with it, for the six branches going out of the lamp stand.
36Their buds and their branches shall be of one piece with it, all of it one beaten work of pure gold.
37You shall make its lamps seven, and they shall light its lamps to give light to the space in front of it.
38Its snuffers and its snuff dishes shall be of pure gold.
39It shall be made of a talent of pure gold, with all these accessories.
40See that you make them after their pattern, which has been shown to you on the mountain."
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Summary
God instructs Moses on the Tabernacle — the portable sanctuary for divine presence among Israel. First, he calls for freewill offerings of precious materials. The purpose is stated simply: "Let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them." Instructions follow for three key pieces of furniture: the Ark of the Covenant (the gold-overlaid chest with the mercy seat and cherubim, where God meets with Moses); the Table of the Bread of the Presence; and the golden Lampstand (menorah) with seven branches, shaped like an almond tree.
Themes
- God's desire to dwell among his people — the heart of the Tabernacle
- The Tabernacle as a microcosm of creation and a model of heavenly reality
- Freewill generosity as the basis for the sanctuary's construction
- The Ark as the meeting point of God's presence and covenant
Key verses
- Ex 25:22 — “There I will meet with you, and I will tell you from above the mercy seat… all that I command you for the children of Israel.”
- Ex 25:40 — “See that you make them after their pattern, which has been shown to you on the mountain.”
- Ex 25:8 — “Let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them.”
Context & background
The Tabernacle was a portable tent-sanctuary designed for wilderness travel through the Sinai Peninsula (modern Egypt) and eventually set up in Canaan (modern Israel). The instruction "according to the pattern shown you on the mountain" (v. 9, 40) is understood in Hebrews 8:5 as meaning the earthly Tabernacle was a copy of a heavenly reality. The Ark of the Covenant — the holiest object in Israel's religion — contained the stone tablets, a jar of manna, and Aaron's rod (Hebrews 9:4). The mercy seat (Hebrew: kapporeth, "covering") is where atonement was made on the Day of Atonement and where God's presence dwelt. Paul uses kapporeth for Christ in Romans 3:25 (translated "propitiation" or "mercy seat").
Cross-references
- Hebrews 8:5 — The Tabernacle is "a copy and shadow of the heavenly things," citing Exodus 25:40.
- Hebrews 9:1-5 — Detailed description of the Tabernacle furnishings and their symbolic significance.
- John 1:14 — "The Word became flesh and tabernacled (eskēnōsen) among us" — the Incarnation as the fulfillment of Exodus 25:8.
- Romans 3:25 — Christ "put forward as a propitiation/mercy seat" (hilasterion — the same Greek word used for the kapporeth).