The craftsmen build the bronze altar and bronze basin for the courtyard, construct the courtyard enclosure, and provide an inventory of all materials used — gold, silver, and bronze — including the silver from the census ransom of 603,550 men.
What Makes This Chapter Remarkable
The material inventory (vv21-31) is a remarkable accounting document embedded in sacred narrative. The total gold used was about 29 talents (roughly one ton), the silver came from the half-shekel census ransom of 603,550 men, and the bronze was about 70 talents. The precision demonstrates that the tabernacle's construction was publicly accountable — no material disappeared. The bronze basin (v8) was made from the mirrors of the serving women, transforming instruments of personal adornment into instruments of priestly purification.
Translation Friction
The women's mirrors (mar'ot hatsov'ot, v8) are described as belonging to 'the women who served at the entrance of the tent of meeting.' The nature of this service is debated; we rendered the phrase literally without specifying the role. The talent and shekel measurements we retained in Hebrew units, providing approximate modern equivalents in notes. The census number 603,550 (v26) matches Numbers 1:46 exactly, anchoring the tabernacle construction to the community's demographic record.
Connections
The census number matches Numbers 1:46 and 2:32. The bronze basin connects to the priestly washing prescribed in 30:17-21 and anticipates the 'molten sea' in Solomon's temple (1 Kings 7:23-26). The women serving at the tent entrance reappear in 1 Samuel 2:22. The material accountability anticipates temple treasury practices in 2 Kings 12:9-16.
He built the altar for burnt offerings from acacia wood — five cubits long, five cubits wide (it was square), and three cubits tall.
KJV And 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.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The burnt offering altar, the largest piece of tabernacle furniture, stands in the courtyard. Its square shape and acacia wood construction provide stability.
He produced all the altar's equipment — the pots, shovels, sprinkling bowls, meat forks, and fire pans — fashioning everything from bronze.
KJV And 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.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The altar's bronze equipment — pots for ashes, shovels, bowls, forks, and fire pans — are the tools of daily sacrificial service.
He made a bronze mesh grating for the altar, fitting it beneath the ledge so it extended halfway up.
KJV And he made for the altar a brasen grate of network under the compass thereof beneath unto the midst of it.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The bronze grating fits inside the altar below the ledge, supporting the fire and allowing ashes to fall through — practical engineering for continual use.
He crafted the carrying poles from acacia wood and overlaid them with bronze.
KJV And he made the staves of shittim wood, and overlaid them with brass.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
Carrying poles of acacia wood overlaid with bronze (not gold, as for the inner furniture) — materials correspond to the courtyard's lower holiness grade.
He fashioned the bronze basin and its bronze stand from the mirrors of the women who served at the entrance to the tent of meeting.
KJV And 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.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The bronze basin is made from women's mirrors — a remarkable detail. Personal vanity items are transformed into instruments of priestly purification.
He constructed the courtyard. On the south side, the courtyard curtains were of finely twisted linen, spanning one hundred cubits.
KJV And he made the court: on the south side southward the hangings of the court were of fine twined linen, an hundred cubits:
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The courtyard dimensions begin: one hundred cubits on the south side. The courtyard creates sacred space separating the tabernacle from the common camp.
Their twenty posts and twenty bronze bases had silver hooks and silver bands on the posts.
KJV Their pillars were twenty, and their brasen sockets twenty; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets were of silver.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
Twenty posts with bronze bases and silver hooks/bands. The material gradient continues: bronze for structure, silver for fittings, in the courtyard zone.
On the north side the curtains also spanned one hundred cubits, with twenty posts and twenty bronze bases; the hooks and bands on the posts were silver.
KJV And 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.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The north side mirrors the south exactly — one hundred cubits, twenty posts, twenty bases. Symmetry in the courtyard reflects divine order.
On the west side the curtains spanned fifty cubits, supported by ten posts with ten bases; the hooks and bands on the posts were silver.
KJV And 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.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The west side (fifty cubits) with ten posts forms the rear boundary. Smaller dimensions reflect the courtyard's rectangular shape.
On the other side of the courtyard entrance — on both sides of the gate — were curtains of fifteen cubits, with three posts and three bases.
KJV And 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.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
Matching fifteen-cubit curtains on the other side frame the twenty-cubit entrance opening in the center of the east wall.
Exodus 38:16
כׇּל־קַלְעֵ֧י הֶחָצֵ֛ר סָבִ֖יב שֵׁ֥שׁ מׇשְׁזָֽר׃
All the curtains surrounding the courtyard were of finely twisted linen.
KJV All the hangings of the court round about were of fine twined linen.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
All courtyard curtains are finely twisted linen — white fabric creating a visible boundary of purity around the sacred precinct.
The bases for the posts were bronze, while the hooks and bands were silver. The post capitals were overlaid with silver, and all the courtyard posts were banded with silver.
KJV And 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.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The material breakdown: bronze bases, silver hooks and bands, silver-overlaid capitals. Every pillar in the courtyard gleams with silver.
The screen at the courtyard entrance was embroidered work of blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, and finely twisted linen. It was twenty cubits long and five cubits high, matching the courtyard curtains.
KJV And 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.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The courtyard gate screen is the most decorated element — embroidered with the same blue, purple, and scarlet as the tabernacle entrance, marking it as a sacred threshold.
It had four posts with four bronze bases. Their hooks were silver, and their capitals and bands were overlaid with silver.
KJV And 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.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
Four posts for the gate (vs. three for each side section). Silver hooks and overlaid capitals mark this entrance as more prominent than the surrounding curtains.
This is the inventory of materials for the tabernacle — the tabernacle of the testimony — recorded at Moses's direction, carried out by the Levites under the supervision of Ithamar son of Aaron the priest.
KJV This 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.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
This inventory (pequdei) transitions from construction narrative to material accounting. Ithamar son of Aaron oversees the Levitical record-keeping.
Working alongside him was Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan — an engraver, a skilled designer, and an embroiderer in blue, purple, and scarlet yarn and fine linen.
KJV And 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.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
Oholiab's triple skill set — engraving, design, embroidery — complements Bezalel's work. The two master artisans represent Judah and Dan working together.
The total gold used in all the sanctuary construction — the gold from the wave offering — amounted to twenty-nine talents and seven hundred thirty shekels by the sanctuary standard.
KJV All 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.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
Twenty-nine talents and 730 shekels of gold — approximately 2,200 pounds. The wave offering (tenufah) gold was ceremonially presented before use.
The silver collected from those in the community who were counted came to one hundred talents and one thousand seven hundred seventy-five shekels by the sanctuary standard —
KJV And 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:
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The census silver (one hundred talents plus 1,775 shekels) came from the mandatory half-shekel contribution, not freewill offering.
a bekah per person (that is, half a shekel by the sanctuary standard) for everyone who passed through the census, twenty years old or older — totaling 603,550 men.
KJV A 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.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The bekah (half-shekel) per person from 603,550 men connects the tabernacle's foundation literally to every counted Israelite — all share in supporting God's house.
The one hundred talents of silver were used to cast the bases for the sanctuary and the bases for the curtain — one hundred bases from one hundred talents, one talent per base.
KJV And 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.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
One hundred talents of silver cast one hundred bases — one talent per base. The sanctuary and veil rest on silver foundations contributed by all Israel.
From the remaining one thousand seven hundred seventy-five shekels, he made hooks for the posts, overlaid their capitals, and fashioned bands for them.
KJV And of the thousand seven hundred seventy and five shekels he made hooks for the pillars, and overlaid their chapiters, and filleted them.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The remaining silver covers the decorative elements — hooks, capitals, bands. Every shekel is accounted for in this transparent material audit.
With this bronze he made the bases for the entrance to the tent of meeting, the bronze altar, its bronze grating, and all the altar's equipment,
KJV And 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,
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
Bronze provides the bases, altar, grating, and vessels — all the elements exposed to weather, fire, and heavy use in the outer courtyard.
along with the bases around the courtyard, the bases for the courtyard entrance, and all the tent pegs for the tabernacle and the surrounding courtyard.
KJV And 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.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The inventory closes with the bronze tent pegs — from the most sacred interior furniture down to the humblest structural anchor, everything is accounted for.