Exodus 35 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.
Time Period
~1446 BC by the traditional dating, or ~1260 BC by the later dating, in the first year after leaving Egypt
Location
The Israelite camp at the base of Mount Sinai in the Sinai wilderness
Audience
The Israelites of the wilderness generation and their descendants, for whom this recorded how the portable sanctuary was funded and staffed
Situation
Moses gathers the whole community, restates the command to rest on the seventh day, and invites anyone willing to bring materials for building the sacred tent. People bring gold, fabric, hides, oil and spices in such volume that the collection has to be stopped, and two craftsmen, Bezalel and Oholiab, are named as leaders of the work.
Key Background
The valuables being donated are the same gold and cloth the Israelites carried out of Egypt as parting gifts from their neighbours, so the wealth of the country that enslaved them ends up furnishing their place of worship. Temple building in the ancient Near East was normally a royal project paid for by taxation or plunder, which makes a sanctuary funded entirely by voluntary gifts from ordinary households unusual. Naming individual artisans and crediting their skill to God's spirit is also striking, since craftsmen in surrounding cultures were usually anonymous labour attached to a palace workshop.
Moses gathered the entire of Israel together and said to them, "These are the things Yahweh has commanded you to do:
"You can work for six days, but the seventh day must be for a day of for Yahweh. Anyone who does work on that day will be put to death.
"Don't even light a fire in any of your homes on the of
Moses said to the entire community of Israel, "Here is what Yahweh has commanded:
"Take up a from what you have for Yahweh. Everyone whose heart moves them to give should bring a to Yahweh: gold, silver, and bronze,
purple, and fine linen, goat hair,
ram skins dyed red,
for the lamps, spices for the and for the fragrant incense,
onyx stones, and other gemstones for setting into the and the
"Everyone among you who has should come and make everything Yahweh has commanded:
the and its outer tent with its covering, its clasps, its frames, its crossbars, its posts, and its bases,
the and its carrying poles, the on top of it, and the curtain that screens it off,
the table with its carrying poles and all its utensils, and the that is out
the for light with its equipment and its lamps, and the oil for the light,
the with its carrying poles, the anointing oil, the fragrant and the entrance screen for the doorway of the dwelling,
the altar for with its bronze grate, its carrying poles, and all its utensils, the and its stand,
the hangings for the courtyard, its posts and bases, and the screen for the courtyard gate,
the tent pegs for the dwelling and the tent pegs for the courtyard, along with their ropes,
the for serving in the Sacred Room, the clothes kept for God that Aaron the priest wears, and the clothes his sons wear to serve as priests."
Then the entire community of Israel left Moses' presence.
And everyone whose them and whose spirit moved them came and brought their contribution to Yahweh for the work on the for all its service, and for the clothes kept for God.
They came — men and women alike — everyone with a willing heart. They brought brooches, earrings, rings, and necklaces, every kind of gold jewelry. And everyone who had gold brought it as a to Yahweh.
Everyone who had blue, purple, or scarlet yarn, fine linen, goat hair, ram skins dyed red, or fine leather brought them.
Everyone who could give silver or bronze brought it as a contribution to Yahweh, and everyone who had acacia wood for any part of the work brought it.
Every woman who was with spun yarn and brought what she had spun — blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, and fine linen.
And all the women whose hearts stirred them with skill spun the goat hair.
The brought the onyx stones and the gemstones for setting into the priestly vest and the chest-piece,
and the spices and the oil for the light, for the anointing oil, and for the fragrant incense.
Every man and woman among the Israelites whose heart moved them to bring something for any of the work that Yahweh had commanded through Moses — they brought it as a to Yahweh.
Then Moses said to the Israelites, "Look — Yahweh has chosen son of Uri, son of Hur, from the tribe of Judah.
He has filled him with the of — with understanding, knowledge, and ability in every kind of craft,
to design artistic works, to work in gold, silver, and bronze,
to cut and set gemstones, to carve wood — to do every kind of artistic craft.
And he has given both him and son of Ahisamakh, from the tribe of Dan, the ability to teach others.
He has them with to do every kind of work — engraving, designing, embroidering with blue, purple, and scarlet yarn and fine linen, and weaving. They can do every kind of craft and design artistic works.