Sinai & The Law

likewise for the other side -on either side [of the gate] were tapestries twenty-two-and-a-half feet long on three posts in three sockets.

All the tapestries for the courtyard, all the way around, were of finely woven linen;

the sockets for the posts were of bronze; the hooks on the posts and their rings were of silver; the capitals of the posts were overlaid with silver; and all the posts of the courtyard were banded with silver.

The screen for the gateway to the courtyard was the work of a weaver in colors, of blue, purple and scarlet yarn and finely woven linen. Its length was thirty feet and its height seven-and-a-half feet all the way along, like the tapestries of the courtyard.

It had four posts in four bronze sockets, with silver hooks, capitals overlaid with silver and silver fasteners.

The tent pegs for the tabernacle and for the courtyard around it were of bronze.

These are the accounts of the tabernacle, the tabernacle of the testimony, recorded, as Moshe ordered, by the L'vi'im under the direction of Itamar the son of Aharon, the cohen.

B'tzal'el the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Y'hudah, made everything that ADONAI ordered Moshe to make.

Assisting him was Oholi'av the son of Achisamakh, of the tribe of Dan, who was an engraver, a designer and a weaver in colors -in blue, purple and scarlet yarn and in fine linen.

All the gold used for the work in everything needed for the sanctuary, the gold of the offering, weighed 29 talents 730 shekels [1,930 pounds], using the sanctuary shekel.

The silver given by the community weighed 100 talents 1,775 shekels [6,650 pounds], using the sanctuary shekel.

This was a beka per person, that is, half a shekel [one-fifth of an ounce], using the sanctuary shekel, for everyone twenty years old or older counted in the census, 603,550 men.

The hundred talents of silver were used to cast the sockets for the sanctuary and the sockets for the curtain -one hundred sockets made from the hundred talents, one talent [sixty-six pounds] per socket.

The 1,775 shekels [fifty pounds] he used to make hooks for the posts, to overlay their capitals and to make fasteners for them.

The bronze in the offering came to 4,680 pounds.

He used it to make the sockets for the entrance to the tent of meeting, the bronze altar, its bronze grate, all the utensils for the altar,

the sockets for the courtyard around it, the sockets for the gateway to the courtyard, all the tent pegs for the tabernacle and all the tent pegs for the courtyard around it.

From the blue, purple and scarlet yarn they made the garments for officiating, for serving in the Holy Place; and they made the holy garments for Aharon, as ADONAI had ordered Moshe.

He made the ritual vest of gold, of blue, purple and scarlet yarn, and of finely woven linen.

They hammered the gold into thin plates and cut them into threads in order to work it into the blue, purple and scarlet yarn and the fine linen crafted by the skilled artisan.

They made shoulder-pieces for it, joined together; they were joined together at the two ends.

The decorated belt on the vest, used to fasten it, was of the same workmanship and materials -gold; blue, purple and scarlet yarn; and finely twined linen -as ADONAI had ordered Moshe.

They worked the onyx stones, mounted in gold settings, engraving them with the names of the sons of Isra'el as they would be engraved on a seal.

Then he put them on the shoulder-pieces of the vest to be stones calling to mind the sons of Isra'el, as ADONAI had ordered Moshe.

He made the breastplate; it was crafted by a skilled artisan and made like the work of the ritual vest -of gold; blue, purple and scarlet yarn; and finely woven linen.