Skip to main content
Psalmlog Logo

Exodus 38

Exodus 38 records the construction and material costs of the tabernacle, showing skilled work carried out under God’s command.

Bezalel and his fellow workers make the bronze altar, the basin, and the linen enclosure around the tabernacle court. The basin is made from mirrors belonging to women who served at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. The account then names the craftsmen and records the metals used. At Moses’ command, Ithamar oversees the accounting, which includes silver collected from the men counted in the congregation and details of its use.

sermon or Bible study notesleadership weight
Read
1He made the altar of burnt offering of acacia wood. It was square. Its length was five cubits, its width was five cubits, and its height was three cubits.
2He made its horns on its four corners. Its horns were of one piece with it, and he overlaid it with bronze.
3He made all the vessels of the altar: the pots, the shovels, the basins, the forks, and the fire pans. He made all its vessels of bronze.
7He put the poles into the rings on the sides of the altar, with which to carry it. He made it hollow with planks.
8He made the basin of bronze, and its base of bronze, out of the mirrors of the ministering women who ministered at the door of the Tent of Meeting.
9He made the court: for the south side southward the hangings of the court were of fine twined linen, one hundred cubits;
20All the pins of the tabernacle, and around the court, were of bronze.
21These are the amounts of materials used for the tabernacle, even the Tabernacle of the Testimony, as they were counted, according to the commandment of Moses, for the service of the Levites, by the hand of Ithamar, the son of Aaron the priest.
22Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, made all that the LORD commanded Moses.
23With him was Oholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, an engraver, and a skillful workman, and an embroiderer in blue, in purple, in scarlet, and in fine linen.
24All the gold that was used for the work in all the work of the sanctuary, even the gold of the offering, was twenty-nine talents and seven hundred thirty shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary.
26a beka a head, that is, half a shekel, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, for everyone who passed over to those who were counted, from twenty years old and upward, for six hundred three thousand five hundred fifty men.
27The one hundred talents of silver were for casting the sockets of the sanctuary and the sockets of the veil: one hundred sockets for the one hundred talents, one talent per socket.
30With this he made the sockets to the door of the Tent of Meeting, the bronze altar, the bronze grating for it, all the vessels of the altar,
World English BibleRead in NIV in Psalmlog →Highlighted verses are the most connected.
Key verses
Exodus 38:26Each counted man contributes the same weight of silver, connecting the congregation’s census with the sanctuary’s construction.
Exodus 38:21The material totals are recorded under Moses’ command and Ithamar’s oversight, placing the construction within an ordered account of service.
Exodus 38:1The altar’s construction opens the chapter, giving precise dimensions and materials for this central object of Israel’s sacrificial worship.
Where this chapter reaches

Numbers shares the census total of 603,550 men and describes the Levites’ assigned service around the tabernacle. The bronze altar and basin also connect with 1 Kings and 2 Chronicles, whose temple accounts describe bronze furnishings used in Israel’s worship.

Exodus 38's chapter linksAll strongest linksHover or tap a book
Notice

After reading the whole chapter

What do the named workers and recorded material totals help you notice about worship in this account?

Write on this

What questions does the basin made from women’s mirrors raise for you about their part in the work?

Write on this

Questions people ask about Exodus 38

Why was the basin made from women’s mirrors in Exodus 38?

Verse 8 identifies the mirrors as the source of bronze for the basin and its base. These were metal mirrors belonging to women who served at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. The passage does not explain their duties or describe their reasons for providing the mirrors.

What was the half-shekel silver used for in Exodus 38?

Each of the 603,550 counted men, aged twenty and above, supplied half a shekel. The total was one hundred talents and 1,775 shekels of silver. The hundred talents became sockets for the sanctuary and veil; the remaining silver supplied pillar hooks, coverings for their capitals, and connecting bands.

Read it. Now write it.

Start an entry on Exodus 38. Your words go beside the text, and you get one next step for the week.

Exodus · 40 chapters
12345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031323334353637383940

Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).