Exodus 29-30

Complete Jewish Bible

29 (iv) “Here is what you are to do to consecrate them for ministry to me in the office of cohen. Take one young bull and two rams without defect, ² also matzah, matzah cakes mixed with olive oil, and matzah wafers spread with oil — all made from fine wheat flour; ³ put them together in a basket, and present them in the basket, along with the bull and the two rams.

⁴ “Bring Aharon and his sons to the entrance of the tent of meeting, and wash them with water. ⁵ Take the garments, and put on Aharon the tunic, the robe for the ritual vest, the vest itself, and the breastplate. Fasten the vest on him with its belt. ⁶ Put the turban on his head and attach the holy ornament to the turban. ⁷ Then take the anointing oil, and anoint him by pouring it on his head. ⁸ Bring his sons; put tunics on them; ⁹ wrap sashes around them, Aharon and his sons; and put the headgear on their heads. The office of cohen is to be theirs by a permanent regulation. Thus you will consecrate Aharon and his sons.

¹⁰ “Bring the young bull to the front of the tent of meeting. Aharon and his sons are to lay their hands on the bull’s head, ¹¹ and you are to slaughter the bull in the presence of Adonai at the entrance to the tent of meeting. ¹² Take some of the bull’s blood, and put it on the horns of the altar with your finger; pour out all the rest of the blood at the base of the altar. ¹³ Take all the fat that covers the inner organs, the covering of the liver and the two kidneys with their fat, and offer them up in smoke on the altar. ¹⁴ But the bull’s flesh, skin and dung you are to destroy by fire outside the camp; it is a sin offering.

¹⁵ “Take one of the rams: Aharon and his sons are to lay their hands on the ram’s head; ¹⁶ and you are to slaughter the ram, take its blood, and splash it on all sides of the altar. ¹⁷ Quarter the ram, wash the inner organs and the lower parts of the legs, and put them with the quarters and the head. ¹⁸ Then offer up the whole ram in smoke on the altar. It is a burnt offering for Adonai, a pleasing aroma, an offering made to Adonai by fire.

(v) ¹⁹ “Take the other ram: Aharon and his sons are to lay their hands on the ram’s head; ²⁰ and you are to slaughter the ram, take some of its blood, and put it on the lobe of Aharon’s right ear, on the lobes of his sons’ right ears, on the thumbs of their right hands and on the big toes of their right feet. Take the rest of the blood and splash it on all sides of the altar. ²¹ Then take some of the blood that is on the altar and some of the anointing oil, and sprinkle it on Aharon and his clothing and on his sons and the clothing of his sons with him; so that he and his clothing will be consecrated, and with him his sons and his sons’ clothing. ²² Also take the fat from the ram, the fat tail, the fat that covers the inner organs, the two kidneys, the fat covering them and the right thigh — for it is a ram of consecration — ²³ along with one loaf of bread, one cake of oiled bread and one wafer from the basket of matzah which is before Adonai — ²⁴ and put it all in the hands of Aharon and his sons. They are to wave them as a wave offering in the presence of Adonai. ²⁵ Then take them back; and burn them up in smoke on the altar, on top of the burnt offering, to be a pleasing aroma before Adonai; it is an offering made to Adonai by fire.

²⁶ “Take the breast of the ram for Aharon’s consecration, and wave it as a wave offering before Adonai; it will be your share. ²⁷ Consecrate the breast of the wave offering and the thigh of any contribution that has been waved and raised up, whether from the ram of consecration, or from anything else meant for Aharon or his sons; ²⁸ this will belong to Aharon and his sons as their share perpetually due from the people of Isra’el — it will be a contribution from the people of Isra’el from their peace offerings, their contribution to Adonai.

²⁹ “The holy garments of Aharon will be used by his sons after him; they will be anointed and consecrated in them. ³⁰ The son who becomes cohen in his place, who comes into the tent of meeting to serve in the Holy Place, is to wear them for seven days. ³¹ Take the ram of consecration, and boil its meat in a holy place. ³² Aharon and his sons will eat the ram’s meat and the bread in the basket at the entrance to the tent of meeting. ³³ They are to eat the things with which atonement was made for them, to inaugurate and consecrate them; no one else may eat this food, because it is holy. ³⁴ If any of the meat for the consecration or any of the bread remains until morning, burn up what remains; it is not to be eaten, because it is holy. ³⁵ Carry out all these orders I have given you concerning Aharon and his sons. You are to spend seven days consecrating them.

³⁶ “Each day, offer a young bull as a sin offering, besides the other offerings of atonement; offer the sin offering on the altar as your atonement for it; then anoint it to consecrate it. ³⁷ Seven days you will make atonement on the altar and consecrate it; thus the altar will be especially holy, and whatever touches the altar will become holy.

(vi) ³⁸ “Now this is what you are to offer on the altar: two lambs a year old, regularly, every day. ³⁹ The one lamb you are to offer in the morning and the other lamb at dusk. ⁴⁰ With the one lamb offer two quarts of finely ground flour mixed with one quart of oil from pressed olives; along with one quart of wine as a drink offering. ⁴¹ The other lamb you are to offer at dusk; do with it as with the morning grain and drink offerings — it will be a pleasing aroma, an offering made to Adonai by fire. ⁴² Through all your generations this is to be the regular burnt offering at the entrance to the tent of meeting before Adonai. There is where I will meet with you to speak with you. ⁴³ There I will meet with the people of Isra’el; and the place will be consecrated by my glory. ⁴⁴ I will consecrate the tent of meeting and the altar, likewise I will consecrate Aharon and his sons to serve me in the office of cohen. ⁴⁵ Then I will live with the people of Isra’el and be their God: ⁴⁶ they will know that I am Adonai their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt in order to live with them. I am Adonai their God.

30 (vii) “You are to make an altar on which to burn incense; make it of acacia-wood. ² It is to be eighteen inches square and three feet high; its horns are to be of one piece with it. ³ Overlay it with pure gold — its top, all around its sides, and its horns; and put around it a molding of gold. ⁴ Make two gold rings for it under its molding at the two corners on both sides; this is where the carrying-poles will go. ⁵ Make the poles of acacia-wood, and overlay them with gold.

⁶ “Place it in front of the curtain by the ark for the testimony, in front of the ark-cover that is over the testimony, where I will meet with you. ⁷ Aharon will burn fragrant incense on it as a pleasing aroma every morning; he is to burn it when he prepares the lamps. (Maftir) ⁸ Aharon is also to burn it when he lights the lamps at dusk; this is the regular burning of incense before Adonai through all your generations. ⁹ You are not to offer unauthorized incense on it, or a burnt offering or a grain offering; and you are not to pour a drink offering on it. ¹⁰ Aharon is to make atonement on its horns once a year — with the blood of the sin offering of atonement he is to make atonement for it once a year through all your generations; it is especially holy to Adonai.”

Haftarah Tetzaveh: Yechezk’el (Ezekiel) 43:10–27

B’rit Hadashah suggested reading for Parashah Tetzaveh: Philippians 4:10–20

Parashah 21: Ki Tissa (When you take) 30:11–34:35

¹¹ Adonai said to Moshe, ¹² “When you take a census of the people of Isra’el and register them, each, upon registration, is to pay a ransom for his life to Adonai, to avoid any breakout of plague among them during the time of the census. ¹³ Everyone subject to the census is to pay as an offering to Adonai half a shekel [one-fifth of an ounce of silver]— by the standard of the sanctuary shekel (a shekel equals twenty gerahs). ¹⁴ Everyone over twenty years of age who is subject to the census is to give this offering to Adonai — ¹⁵ the rich is not to give more or the poor less than the half-shekel when giving Adonai’s offering to atone for your lives. ¹⁶ You are to take the atonement money from the people of Isra’el and use it for the service in the tent of meeting, so that it will be a reminder of the people of Isra’el before Adonai to atone for your lives.”

¹⁷ Adonai said to Moshe, ¹⁸ “You are to make a basin of bronze, with a base of bronze, for washing. Place it between the tent of meeting and the altar, and put water in it. ¹⁹ Aharon and his sons will wash their hands and feet there ²⁰ when they enter the tent of meeting — they are to wash with water, so that they won’t die. Also when they approach the altar to minister by burning an offering for Adonai, ²¹ they are to wash their hands and feet, so that they won’t die. This is to be a perpetual law for them through all their generations.”

²² Adonai said to Moshe, ²³ “Take the best spices — 500 shekels of myrrh [12 1/2 pounds], half this amount (250 shekels) of aromatic cinnamon [6 1/4 pounds], 250 shekels of aromatic cane, ²⁴ 500 shekels of cassia (use the sanctuary standard), and one gallon of olive oil — ²⁵ and make them into a holy anointing oil; blend it and perfume it as would an expert perfume-maker; it will be a holy anointing oil. ²⁶ Use it to anoint the tent of meeting, the ark for the testimony, ²⁷ the table and all its utensils, the menorah and all its utensils, the incense altar, ²⁸ the altar for burnt offerings and all its utensils, and the basin with its base. ²⁹ You are to consecrate them — they will be especially holy, and whatever touches them will be holy. ³⁰ Then you are to anoint Aharon and his sons — you are to consecrate them to serve me in the office of cohen.

³¹ “Tell the people of Isra’el, ‘This is to be a holy anointing oil for me through all your generations. ³² It is not to be used for anointing a person’s body; and you are not to make any like it, with the same composition of ingredients — it is holy, and you are to treat it as holy. ³³ Whoever makes any like it or uses it on any unauthorized person is to be cut off from his people.’”

³⁴ Adonai said to Moshe, “Take aromatic plant substances — balsam resin, sweet onycha root and bitter galbanum gum — these spices along with frankincense, all in equal quantities; ³⁵ and make incense, blended and perfumed as would an expert perfume-maker, salted, pure and holy. ³⁶ You are to grind up some of it very finely and put it in front of the testimony in the tent of meeting where I will meet with you; you are to regard it as especially holy. ³⁷ You are not to make for your own use any incense like it, with the same composition of ingredients — you are to treat it as holy, for Adonai. ³⁸ Whoever makes up any like it to use as perfume is to be cut off from his people.”