Have them construct 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.
- BSB And they are to make a sanctuary for Me, so that I may dwell among them.
- NKJV And let them make Me a sanctuary, 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 has a temple of God with idols? For you are a temple of the living God. Even as God said, “I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they will be my people.”
- 1 Kgs 6:13I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will not forsake my people Israel.”
- Rev 21:3I heard a loud voice out of heaven saying, “Behold, God’s dwelling is with people, and he will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.
- Exod 29:45I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will be their God.
- Heb 9:1–2Now indeed even the first covenant had ordinances of divine service, and an earthly sanctuary.
- Zech 2:10Sing and rejoice, daughter of Zion; for, behold, I come, and I will dwell within you,’ says Yahweh.
- Heb 3:6but Christ is faithful as a Son over his house; whose house we are, if we hold fast our confidence and the glorying of our hope firm to the end.
- Zech 8:3Yahweh says: “I have returned to Zion, and will dwell in the middle of Jerusalem. Jerusalem shall be called ‘The City of Truth;’ and the mountain of Yahweh of Armies, ‘The Holy Mountain.’”
- Isa 12:6Cry aloud and shout, you inhabitant of Zion; for the Holy One of Israel is great among you!”
- Num 5:3Both you shall put male and female outside of the camp; that they not defile their camp, in the middle of which I dwell.”
- Lev 21:12He shall not go out of the sanctuary, nor profane the sanctuary of his God; for the crown of the anointing oil of his God is upon him. I am Yahweh.
- Exod 15:2Yah is my strength and song. He has become my salvation. This is my God, and I will praise him; my father’s God, and I will exalt him.
- Lev 4:6The priest shall dip his finger in the blood, and sprinkle some of the blood seven times before Yahweh, before the veil of the sanctuary.
- Lev 10:4Moses called Mishael and Elzaphan, the sons of Uzziel the uncle of Aaron, and said to them, “Draw near, carry your brothers from before the sanctuary out of the camp.”
- Exod 36:1–5“Bezalel and Oholiab shall work with every wise-hearted man, in whom Yahweh has put wisdom and understanding to know how to do all the work for the service of the sanctuary, according to all that Yahweh has commanded.”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Commentaries & study tools
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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.