Exodus 30

Read the chapter

¹“Now you shall make an altar as a place for burning incense; you shall make it of acacia wood. ✦ ²Its length shall be a cubit, and its width a cubit; it shall be square, and its height shall be two cubits; its horns shall be of one piece with it. ✦ ³You shall overlay it with pure gold, its top and its sides all around, and its horns; and you shall make a gold molding all around for it. ✦ ⁴You shall also make two gold rings for it under its molding; you shall make them on its two sides—on opposite sides—and they shall be holders for poles with which to carry it. ✦ ⁵And you shall make the poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold. ✦ ⁶You shall put this altar in front of the veil that is near the ark of the testimony, in front of the atoning cover that is over the ark of the testimony, where I will meet with you. ✦ ⁷Aaron shall burn fragrant incense on it; he shall burn it every morning when he trims the lamps. ✦ ⁸And when Aaron sets up the lamps at twilight, he shall burn incense. There shall be perpetual incense before the Lord throughout your generations. ✦ ⁹You shall not offer any strange incense on this altar, or burnt offering, or meal offering; and you shall not pour out a drink offering on it. ✦ ¹⁰However, Aaron shall make atonement on its horns once a year; he shall make atonement on it with the blood of the sin offering of atonement once a year throughout your generations. It is most holy to the Lord.” ✦ ¹¹The Lord also spoke to Moses, saying, ¹²“When you take a census of the sons of Israel to count them, then each one of them shall give a ransom for himself to the Lord, when you count them, so that there will be no plague among them when you count them. ✦ ¹³This is what everyone who is counted shall give: half a shekel according to the shekel of the sanctuary (the shekel is twenty gerahs), half a shekel as a contribution to the Lord. ✦ ¹⁴Everyone who is counted, from twenty years old and over, shall give the contribution to the Lord. ✦ ¹⁵The rich shall not pay more, and the poor shall not pay less, than the half shekel, when you give the contribution to the Lord to make atonement for yourselves. ✦ ¹⁶And you shall take the atonement money from the sons of Israel and give it for the service of the tent of meeting, so that it may be a memorial for the sons of Israel before the Lord, to make atonement for yourselves.” ✦ ¹⁷Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁸“You shall also make a basin of bronze, with its base of bronze, for washing; and you shall put it between the tent of meeting and the altar, and you shall put water in it. ✦ ¹⁹Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet from it; ✦ ²⁰when they enter the tent of meeting, they shall wash with water, so that they do not die; or when they approach the altar to minister, by offering up in smoke a fire sacrifice to the Lord. ✦ ²¹So they shall wash their hands and their feet, so that they do not die; and it shall be a permanent statute for them, for Aaron and his descendants throughout their generations.” ✦ ²²Moreover, the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²³“Take also for yourself the finest of spices: of liquid myrrh five hundred shekels, and of fragrant cinnamon half as much, 250, and of fragrant cane 250, ✦ ²⁴and of cassia 500, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, and of olive oil a hin. ✦ ²⁵You shall make from these a holy anointing oil, a fragrant mixture of ointments, the work of a perfumer; it shall be a holy anointing oil. ✦ ²⁶And you shall anoint the tent of meeting with it, and the ark of the testimony, ✦ ²⁷and the table and all its utensils, and the lampstand and its utensils, and the altar of incense, ²⁸and the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils, and the basin and its stand. ²⁹You shall also consecrate them, so that they may be most holy; whatever touches them shall be holy. ✦ ³⁰And you shall anoint Aaron and his sons, and consecrate them, so that they may serve as priests to Me. ✦ ³¹Furthermore, you shall speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘This shall be a holy anointing oil to Me throughout your generations. ✦ ³²It shall not be poured on anyone’s body, nor shall you make any like it in the same proportions; it is holy, and it shall be holy to you. ✦ ³³Whoever mixes any like it or whoever puts any of it on a layman shall be cut off from his people.’ ” ✦ ³⁴Then the Lord said to Moses, “Take for yourself spices—stacte, onycha, and galbanum, spices and pure frankincense; there shall be an equal part of each. ✦ ³⁵You shall make incense from it all, a skillful mixture, the work of a perfumer, salted, pure, and holy. ✦ ³⁶And you shall crush some of it very fine, and put part of it in front of the testimony in the tent of meeting where I will meet with you; it shall be most holy to you. ✦ ³⁷And the incense which you shall make, you shall not make in the same proportions for yourselves; it shall be holy to you for the Lord. ✦ ³⁸Whoever makes any like it, to use as perfume, shall be cut off from his people.” ✦

Tap any verse for its study page. Underlined terms mark a concept, person, or place; ✦ marks verses with cross-references.

Where this chapter connects

Exod 30 ·13 Exod 25 ·10 Exod 40 ·10 Exod 29 ·8 Heb 9 ·6 Lev 16 ·6 Lev 8 ·5 Exod 37 ·5

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 30 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.

Resources, by level

Lay

★ Start hereDocumentaryExpedition BibleJoel Kramer · Free · evangelical
On-location biblical archaeology from a credentialed archaeologist (M.A., excavated in Israel) — the best free place to start on "did it really happen?"
★ Start hereVideoBibleProject — video overviews & word studiesBibleProject · 5–10 min · Free · evangelical
Free animated overviews of every book of the Bible, plus themes and Hebrew/Greek word studies — the best visual on-ramp to any book. (Biblical-theology, broadly evangelical, not distinctly Reformed.)
★ Start hereAudioThrough the WordThrough the Word · ~10 min/chapter · Free · evangelical
A clear ~10-minute audio teaching for every one of the Bible's 1,189 chapters — the most systematic free way to study chapter by chapter.
VideoSpoken GospelSpoken Gospel · Free · evangelical
Short, gospel-centered videos and spoken-word poems showing how each passage points to Jesus — especially strong on the Old Testament.
DocumentaryPatterns of Evidence: The ExodusTim Mahoney · Paid · evangelical
Investigates the archaeological evidence for the Exodus. Note: it advances a minority biblical chronology that mainstream scholars dispute — engaging, but weigh its conclusions critically.

Pastoral

★ Start hereCommentaryExodus (New American Commentary)Douglas K. Stuart · Paid · evangelical
The best evangelical, semi-technical commentary on Exodus — accessible to pastors and serious students.
DocumentaryThat the World May KnowRay Vander Laan · Paid · evangelical
Ray Vander Laan's on-location series immersing you in the Bible's historical and cultural world. (Mostly paid via Focus on the Family; some free clips.)
SermonChuck Smith — C2000 SeriesChuck Smith · Free · evangelical
Free verse-by-verse audio through the entire Bible from the founder of Calvary Chapel.

Commentaries & study tools

VideoBibleProject — Exodus videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
VideoWatch teaching on Exodus 30YouTube · Lay · Free
Sermons and chapter teaching from across YouTube.
CommentaryEnduring Word — Exodus 30David Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical
Readable, verse-by-verse exposition of the whole chapter.
CommentaryMatthew Henry on ExodusMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
ReferenceBlue Letter Bible — Exodus 30Blue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free
Interlinear, lexicon, and study tools across the chapter.

← Exodus 29 Exodus 31 →