Setting Up the Tabernacle
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Then the LORD said to Moses:
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"Set up the tabernacle, the Tent of Meeting on the first day of the first month.
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Place the ark of the Testimony in it and shield the ark with the curtain.
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Bring in the table and set out what belongs on it.
Then bring in the lampstand and set up its lamps.
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Place the gold altar of incense in front of the ark of the Testimony
and put the curtain at the entrance to the tabernacle.
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"Place the altar of burnt offering in front of the entrance to the tabernacle,
the Tent of Meeting;
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place the basin between the Tent of Meeting and the altar and put water in it.
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Set up the courtyard around it and put the curtain at the entrance
to the courtyard.
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"Take the anointing oil and anoint the tabernacle and everything in it;
consecrate it and all its furnishings, and it will be holy.
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Then anoint the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils;
consecrate the altar, and it will be most holy.
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Anoint the basin and its stand and consecrate them.
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"Bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance to the Tent of Meeting
and wash them with water.
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Then dress Aaron in the sacred garments, anoint him
and consecrate him so he may serve me as priest.
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Bring his sons and dress them in tunics.
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Anoint them just as you anointed their father, so they may serve me as priests.
Their anointing will be to a priesthood that will continue for all generations to come."
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Moses did everything just as the LORD commanded him.
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So the tabernacle was set up on the first day of the first month in the second year.
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When Moses set up the tabernacle, he put the bases in place,
erected the frames, inserted the crossbars and set up the posts.
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Then he spread the tent over the tabernacle and put the covering over the tent,
as the LORD commanded him.
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He took the Testimony and placed it in the ark,
attached the poles to the ark and put the atonement cover over it.
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Then he brought the ark into the tabernacle and hung the shielding curtain
and shielded the ark of the Testimony, as the LORD commanded him.
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Moses placed the table in the Tent of Meeting on the north side of the tabernacle
outside the curtain
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and set out the bread on it before the LORD, as the LORD commanded him.
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He plced the lampstand in the Tent of Meeting opposit the table
on the south side of the tabernacle
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and set up the lamps before the LORD, as the LORD commanded him.
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Moses placed the gold altar in the Tent of Meeting in front of the curtain.
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and burned fragrant incense on it, as the LORD commanded him.
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Then he put up the curtain at the entrance to the tabernacle.
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He set the altar of burnt offering near the entrance to the tabernacle,
the Tent of Meeting, and offered on it burnt offerings and grain offerings,
as the LORD commanded him.
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He placed the basin between the Tent of Meeting and the altar
and put water in it for washing,
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and Moses and Aaron and his sons used it to wash their hands and feet.
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They washed whenever they entered the Tent of Meeting
or approached the altar, as the LORD commanded him.
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Then Moses set up the courtyard around the tabernacle and altar and put up
the curtain at the entrance to the courtyard. And so Moses finished the work.
The Glory of the LORD
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Then the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the glory of the LORD
filled the tabernacle.
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Moses could not enter the Tent of Meeting because the cloud had settled
upon it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.
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In all the travels of the Israelites, whenver the cloud lifted from above
the tabernacle, they would set out;
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but if the cloud did not lift, they did not set out - until the day is lifted.
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So the cloud of the LORD was over the tabernacle by day, and fire was
in the cloud by night, in the sight of all the houses of Israel during all
their travels.
