And they are to make a sanctuary for Me, so that I may dwell among them.
Parallel translations
- WEB Let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them.
- KJV And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them.
- NKJV And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them.
- NASB Have them construct a sanctuary for Me, so that I may dwell among them.
- NLT “Have the people of Israel build me a holy sanctuary so I can live among them.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
God commanded Israel to make Him a sanctuary so that He might dwell among them. The astonishing purpose of the tabernacle is God dwelling with His people.
Overview
This verse states the heart of the whole tabernacle project: God's desire to dwell in the midst of His redeemed people. That the holy God would tabernacle among sinful Israel is an act of immense grace, rooted in the covenant. The sanctuary made His presence accessible, though still veiled. This longing of God to dwell with us is fulfilled in Christ, who 'tabernacled' among us, and finally in the new creation where God dwells with His people forever.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- 2 Cor 6:16What agreement can exist between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will dwell with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be My people.”
- 1 Kgs 6:13And I will dwell among the Israelites and will not abandon My people Israel.”
- Rev 21:3And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying: “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man, and He will dwell with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them as their God.
- Exod 29:45Then I will dwell among the Israelites and be their God.
- Heb 9:1–2Now the first covenant had regulations for worship and also an earthly sanctuary.
- Zech 2:10“Shout for joy and be glad, O Daughter of Zion, for I am coming to dwell among you,” declares the LORD.
- Heb 3:6But Christ is faithful as the Son over God’s house. And we are His house, if we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope of which we boast.
- Zech 8:3This is what the LORD says: “I will return to Zion and dwell in Jerusalem. Then Jerusalem will be called the City of Truth, and the mountain of the LORD of Hosts will be called the Holy Mountain.”
- Isa 12:6Cry out and sing, O citizen of Zion, for great among you is the Holy One of Israel.”
- Num 5:3You must send away male and female alike; send them outside the camp so they will not defile their camp, where I dwell among them.”
- Lev 21:12He must not leave or desecrate the sanctuary of his God, for the consecration of the anointing oil of his God is on him. I am the LORD.
- Exod 15:2The LORD is my strength and my song, and He has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise Him, my father’s God, and I will exalt Him.
- Lev 4:6The priest is to dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle some of it seven times before the LORD, in front of the veil of the sanctuary.
- Lev 10:4Moses summoned Mishael and Elzaphan, sons of Aaron’s uncle Uzziel, and said to them, “Come here; carry the bodies of your cousins outside the camp, away from the front of the sanctuary.”
- Exod 36:1–5“So Bezalel, Oholiab, and every skilled person are to carry out everything commanded by the LORD, who has given them skill and ability to know how to perform all the work of constructing the sanctuary.”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
The Passover lamb whose blood turns away death, the exodus through the sea, the manna, the rock, and the tabernacle where God dwells with his people all foreshadow Jesus — our Passover, our redemption, the bread from heaven, and God-with-us in the flesh.
How Exodus 25:8 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.