Bible Glide

Exodus 38 Summary, Context, and Full Chapter

Exodus 38 describes the finishing work on the tabernacle area and the accounting of materials. It shows how the altar, basin, and courtyard were made, then records the gold, silver, and bronze used in the sanctuary. The chapter emphasizes careful obedience, skilled work, and faithful stewardship.

What happens in Exodus 38?

Bezalel makes the bronze altar and its tools, then the bronze basin and stand from the mirrors of the serving women. The chapter also describes the tabernacle courtyard, including its curtains, posts, bases, entrance curtain, and tent pegs. After the construction details, an inventory lists the metals used for the sanctuary. Moses, the Levites, and Ithamar oversee the record, and the chapter identifies Bezalel and Oholiab as the craftsmen who carried out the LORD's commands.

This chapter comes near the end of Exodus' tabernacle instructions and construction reports. It follows the making of the furnishings in chapter 37 and prepares for the priestly garments and final setup in chapter 39. The focus is on the completed work and the materials accounted for before the tabernacle is put into use.

  • Obedient craftsmanshipThe workers make each item as the LORD commanded Moses, showing careful obedience in practical work.
  • Holy spaceThe altar, basin, and courtyard set apart a place for worship and approach to God.
  • Faithful stewardshipThe recorded totals for gold, silver, and bronze show transparency and careful handling of what was given.
  • What does the detailed record of the tabernacle materials teach about responsibility before God?
  • Why might the bronze altar and basin be highlighted before the inventory of metals?
  • How do the courtyard and its entrance shape the experience of approaching the tent of meeting?

Read the full text of Exodus 38 below, then open it in the reader to highlight, take notes, or ask follow-up Bible questions. No account is required to read.

Exodus 38

The Bronze Altar

1Bezalel constructed the altar of burnt offering from acacia wood. It was square, five cubits long, five cubits wide, and three cubits high.2He made a horn at each of its four corners, so that the horns and altar were of one piece, and he overlaid the altar with bronze.3He made all the altar’s utensils of bronze—its pots, shovels, sprinkling bowls, meat forks, and firepans.4He made a grate of bronze mesh for the altar under its ledge, halfway up from the bottom.5At the four corners of the bronze grate he cast four rings as holders for the poles.6And he made the poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with bronze.7Then he inserted the poles into the rings on the sides of the altar for carrying it. He made the altar with boards so that it was hollow.

The Bronze Basin

8Next he made the bronze basin and its stand from the mirrors of the women who served at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.

The Courtyard

9Then he constructed the courtyard. The south side of the courtyard was a hundred cubits long and had curtains of finely spun linen,10with twenty posts and twenty bronze bases, and with silver hooks and bands on the posts.11The north side was also a hundred cubits long, with twenty posts and twenty bronze bases. The hooks and bands of the posts were silver.12The west side was fifty cubits long and had curtains, with ten posts and ten bases. The hooks and bands of the posts were silver.13And the east side, toward the sunrise, was also fifty cubits long.14The curtains on one side of the entrance were fifteen cubits long, with three posts and three bases.15And the curtains on the other side were also fifteen cubits long, with three posts and three bases as well.16All the curtains around the courtyard were made of finely spun linen.17The bases for the posts were bronze, the hooks and bands were silver, and the plating for the tops of the posts was silver. So all the posts of the courtyard were banded with silver.18The curtain for the entrance to the courtyard was embroidered with blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, and finely spun linen. It was twenty cubits long and, like the curtains of the courtyard, five cubits high,19with four posts and four bronze bases. Their hooks were silver, as well as the bands and the plating of their tops.20All the tent pegs for the tabernacle and for the surrounding courtyard were bronze.

An Inventory of Materials

21This is the inventory for the tabernacle, the tabernacle of the Testimony, as recorded at Moses’ command by the Levites under the direction of Ithamar son of Aaron the priest.22Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, made everything that the LORD had commanded Moses.23With him was Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, an engraver, designer, and embroiderer in blue, purple, and scarlet yarn and fine linen.

24All the gold from the wave offering used for the work on the sanctuary totaled 29 talents and 730 shekels, according to the sanctuary shekel.25The silver from those numbered among the congregation totaled 100 talents and 1,775 shekels, according to the sanctuary shekel—26a beka per person, that is, half a shekel, according to the sanctuary shekel, from everyone twenty years of age or older who had crossed over to be numbered, a total of 603,550 men.27The hundred talents of silver were used to cast the bases of the sanctuary and the bases of the veil—100 bases from the 100 talents, one talent per base.28With the 1,775 shekels of silver he made the hooks for the posts, overlaid their tops, and supplied bands for them.29The bronze from the wave offering totaled 70 talents and 2,400 shekels.30He used it to make the bases for the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, the bronze altar and its bronze grating, all the utensils for the altar,31the bases for the surrounding courtyard and its gate, and all the tent pegs for the tabernacle and its surrounding courtyard.

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