“On the first day of the first month you are to set up the tabernacle, the Tent of Meeting.
Parallel translations
- WEB “On the first day of the first month you shall raise up the tabernacle of the Tent of Meeting.
- KJV On the first day of the first month shalt thou set up the tabernacle of the tent of the congregation.
- NKJV “On the first day of the first month you shall set up the tabernacle of the tent of meeting.
- NASB “On the first day of the first month you shall set up the tabernacle of the tent of meeting.
- NLT “Set up the Tabernacle on the first day of the new year.
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 Moses to raise up the tabernacle on the first day of the first month. A new beginning would be marked by God's dwelling among Israel.
Overview
The sanctuary was to be erected on New Year's Day, almost a year after the exodus, marking a fresh start for the redeemed nation now ordered around God's presence. The timing signaled that life with God at the center is the true beginning Israel was made for. It anticipates the new creation inaugurated in Christ, in whom God dwells with His people.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Exod 26:30So you are to set up the tabernacle according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.
- Exod 13:4Today, in the month of Abib, you are leaving.
- Exod 40:17–19So the tabernacle was set up on the first day of the first month of the second year.
- Exod 12:1–2Now the LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt,
- Num 7:1On the day Moses finished setting up the tabernacle, he anointed and consecrated it and all its furnishings, along with the altar and all its utensils.
- Num 1:1On the first day of the second month of the second year after the Israelites had come out of the land of Egypt, the LORD spoke to Moses in the Tent of Meeting in the Wilderness of Sinai. He said:
- Exod 30:36Grind some of it into fine powder and place it in front of the Testimony in the Tent of Meeting, where I will meet with you. It shall be most holy to you.
- Exod 40:6Place the altar of burnt offering in front of the entrance to the tabernacle, the Tent of Meeting.
- Exod 36:18He also made fifty bronze clasps to join the tent together as a unit.
- Exod 26:1“You are to construct the tabernacle itself with ten curtains of finely spun linen, each with blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, and cherubim skillfully worked into them.
- Exod 27:21In the Tent of Meeting, outside the veil that is in front of the Testimony, Aaron and his sons are to tend the lamps before the LORD from evening until morning. This is to be a permanent statute for the Israelites for the generations to come.
- Exod 26:7You are to make curtains of goat hair for the tent over the tabernacle—eleven curtains in all.
- Exod 35:11the tabernacle with its tent and covering, its clasps and frames, its crossbars, posts, and bases;
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 40:2 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.