Exodus 26 · WEB
Instructions for the Tabernacle: The Curtains and Frame
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"Moreover you shall make the tabernacle with ten curtains of fine twined linen, and blue, purple, and scarlet. You shall make them with cherubim, the work of a skillful workman.
2The length of each curtain shall be twenty-eight cubits, and the width of each curtain four cubits. All its curtains shall have one measure.
3Five curtains shall be coupled together to one another, and the other five curtains shall be coupled to one another.
4You shall make loops of blue on the edge of the first curtain from the edge in the coupling. Likewise you shall make in the edge of the second curtain which is outermost in the second coupling.
5You shall make fifty loops in the first curtain, and you shall make fifty loops in the edge of the curtain that is in the second coupling. The loops shall be opposite each other.
6You shall make fifty clasps of gold, and couple the curtains together with the clasps. The tabernacle shall be a unit.
7"You shall make curtains of goats' hair for a covering over the tabernacle. You shall make eleven curtains.
8The length of each curtain shall be thirty cubits, and the width of each curtain four cubits. The eleven curtains shall have one measure.
9You shall couple five curtains by themselves, and six curtains by themselves, and shall double over the sixth curtain in the forefront of the tent.
10You shall make fifty loops on the edge of the one curtain that is outermost in the coupling, and fifty loops on the edge of the curtain which is outermost in the second coupling.
11You shall make fifty clasps of bronze, and put the clasps into the loops, and couple the tent together, that it may be one.
12The overhanging part that remains of the curtains of the tent—the half curtain that remains shall hang over the back of the tabernacle.
13The cubit on the one side and the cubit on the other side, of that which remains in the length of the curtains of the tent, shall hang over the sides of the tabernacle on this side and on that side, to cover it.
14"You shall make a covering for the tent of rams' skins dyed red, and a covering of sea cow hides above.
15"You shall make the boards for the tabernacle of acacia wood, standing up.
16Ten cubits shall be the length of a board, and a cubit and a half the width of each board.
17There shall be two tenons in each board, joined to one another. You shall make all the boards of the tabernacle this way.
18You shall make the boards for the tabernacle: twenty boards for the south side southward.
19You shall make forty sockets of silver under the twenty boards: two sockets under one board for its two tenons, and two sockets under another board for its two tenons.
20For the second side of the tabernacle, on the north side, twenty boards,
21and their forty sockets of silver: two sockets under one board, and two sockets under another board.
22For the far part of the tabernacle westward you shall make six boards.
23You shall make two boards for the corners of the tabernacle in the far part.
24They shall be double beneath, and in the same way they shall be whole to its top to one ring. It shall be so for both of them. They shall be for the two corners.
25There shall be eight boards, and their sockets of silver, sixteen sockets: two sockets under one board, and two sockets under another board.
26"You shall make bars of acacia wood: five for the boards of the one side of the tabernacle,
27and five bars for the boards of the other side of the tabernacle, and five bars for the boards of the side of the tabernacle, for the far part westward.
28The middle bar in the middle of the boards shall pass through from end to end.
29You shall overlay the boards with gold, and make their rings of gold for places for the bars. You shall overlay the bars with gold.
30"You shall set up the tabernacle according to the way that it was shown to you on the mountain.
31"You shall make a veil of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, with cherubim. It shall be the work of a skillful workman.
32You shall hang it on four pillars of acacia overlaid with gold. Their hooks shall be of gold, on four sockets of silver.
33You shall hang up the veil under the clasps, and shall bring the ark of the testimony in there within the veil. The veil shall separate the holy place from the most holy place for you.
34"You shall put the mercy seat on the ark of the testimony in the most holy place.
35You shall set the table outside the veil, and the lamp stand opposite the table on the south side of the tabernacle, and you shall put the table on the north side.
36You shall make a screen for the door of the tent, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, the work of the embroiderer.
37You shall make for the screen five pillars of acacia, and overlay them with gold. Their hooks shall be of gold. You shall cast five sockets of bronze for them."
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Summary
God gives detailed instructions for the physical structure of the Tabernacle: the inner curtains of fine linen with cherubim woven in blue, purple, and scarlet; the outer covering of goat-hair curtains; a third covering of ram skins and sea-cow hides. The wooden frame consists of acacia boards overlaid with gold, set in silver sockets, held together by gold-covered crossbars. Two key dividing curtains are specified: the inner veil that separates the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place (where the Ark will stand), and the outer screen at the entrance to the tent.
Themes
- The Tabernacle as a carefully ordered, layered approach to God's presence
- The veil as the boundary between human access and divine holiness
- Precise obedience to a heavenly pattern
- Beauty and craftsmanship as acts of worship
Key verses
Context & background
The Tabernacle's dimensions (approximately 45 feet long, 15 feet wide, 15 feet tall) created a three-part structure: the outer court, the Holy Place, and the Most Holy Place (Holy of Holies). The layered curtains — fine linen, then goat hair, then ram skins, then sea-cow hides — provided both beauty and weather protection for the wilderness journey through Sinai (modern Egypt). The silver sockets (96 in total) represented a significant weight of silver — each donated as a "ransom" payment by every Israelite adult male (Exodus 30:12-16). The veil separating the Most Holy Place from the Holy Place was the curtain torn in two at Jesus' death (Matthew 27:51), signifying open access to God through Christ.
Cross-references
- Hebrews 10:19-22 — "We have boldness to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by the way which he dedicated for us, a new and living way, through the veil."
- Hebrews 9:2-8 — The writer explains the Tabernacle's two-room structure as symbolic: the Most Holy Place not yet accessible while the first tent stood.
- Matthew 27:51 — "The veil of the temple was torn in two from the top to the bottom" — the Tabernacle veil fulfilled and transcended at the cross.
- Revelation 21:22 — In the new Jerusalem, there is no temple — because God himself is the temple, the veil gone forever.