1 The LORD said to Moses,
2 "On the first day of the first month set up the tabernacle, the tent of meeting.
3 Place the ark of the testimony in it and screen off the ark with the veil.
4 Bring in the table and arrange what belongs on it. Then bring in the lampstand and set up its lamps.
5 Place the gold altar of incense in front of the ark of the testimony, and hang the screen at the entrance to the tabernacle.
6 Put the altar of burnt offering in front of the entrance to the tabernacle, the tent of meeting.
7 Put the basin between the tent of meeting and the altar and fill it with water.
8 Set up the court around it and hang the screen at the gate of the court.
9 Take the anointing oil and anoint the tabernacle and everything in it. Consecrate it with all its furnishings, and it will be holy.
10 Anoint the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils; consecrate the altar, and it will be most holy.
11 Anoint the basin and its stand and consecrate it.
12 Bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance of the tent of meeting and wash them with water.
13 Dress Aaron in the sacred garments, anoint him and consecrate him, so that he may serve me as priest.
14 Bring his sons and clothe them with tunics.
15 Anoint them just as you anointed their father, so that they may serve me as priests. Their anointing will make them a lasting priesthood for all their generations."
16 Moses did everything just as the LORD had commanded him.
17 So the tabernacle was set up on the first day of the first month in the second year.
18 When Moses set up the tabernacle, he put its bases in place, set up its frames, inserted its bars and erected its pillars.
19 He spread the tent over the tabernacle and put the covering of the tent over it, as the LORD had commanded Moses.
20 He took the testimony and placed it in the ark, attached the poles to the ark, and set the mercy seat on top of the ark.
21 Then he brought the ark into the tabernacle and hung the veil that screens it off, so that the ark of the testimony was screened off, as the LORD had commanded Moses.
22 He placed the table in the tent of meeting on the north side of the tabernacle, outside the veil,
23 and arranged the bread on it before the LORD, as the LORD had commanded Moses.
24 He set the lampstand in the tent of meeting across from the table, on the south side of the tabernacle,
25 and set up the lamps before the LORD, as the LORD had commanded Moses.
26 He placed the gold altar in the tent of meeting, in front of the veil,
27 and burned fragrant incense on it, as the LORD had commanded Moses.
28 He hung the screen at the entrance to the tabernacle.
29 He set the altar of burnt offering at the entrance to the tabernacle, the tent of meeting, and offered on it the burnt offering and the grain offering, as the LORD had commanded Moses.
30 He put the basin between the tent of meeting and the altar and filled it with water for washing,
31 and Moses, Aaron and his sons used it to wash their hands and feet.
32 They washed whenever they entered the tent of meeting and whenever they approached the altar, as the LORD had commanded Moses.
33 Finally he set up the court around the tabernacle and the altar and hung the screen at the gate of the court. And so Moses completed the work.
34 Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.
35 Moses could not go into the tent of meeting, because the cloud had settled on it and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.
36 Throughout all their journeys, whenever the cloud lifted from above the tabernacle, the children of Israel would set out;
37 but if the cloud did not lift, they did not set out until the day it lifted.
38 For the cloud of the LORD was over the tabernacle by day, and fire was in it by night, in the sight of the whole house of Israel throughout all their journeys.