~ Moses Sets Up the Tabernacle ~

Moses did everything just as the Lord commanded him.

So the tabernacle was set up
on the first day of the first month in the second year.
When Moses set up the tabernacle,
he put the bases in place,
erected the frames,
inserted the crossbars and set up the posts.
Then he spread the tent over the tabernacle
and put the covering over the tent,
as the Lord commanded him.

He took the Testimony and placed it in the ark,
attached the poles to the ark
and put the atonement cover over it.
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.

Moses placed the table in the Tent of Meeting
on the north side of the tabernacle outside the curtain
and set out the bread on it before the Lord,
as the Lord commanded him.

He placed the lampstand in the tent of Meeting
opposite the table on the south side of the tabernacle
and set up the lamps before the Lord,
as the Lord commanded him.

Moses placed the gold altar in the Tent of Meeting
in front of the curtain
and burned fragrant incense on it,
as the Lord commanded him.
Then he put up the curtain
at the entrance to the tabernacle.

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.

He placed the basin
between the Tent of Meeting and the altar
and put water in it for washing,
and Moses and Aaron and his sons
used it to wash their hands and feet.
they washed whenever they entered the Tent of Meeting
or approached the altar,
as the Lord commanded Moses.

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.

Then the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting,
and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.
Moses could not enter the Tent of Meeting
because the cloud had settled upon it,
and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.

In all the travels of the Israelites,
whenever the cloud lifted from above the tabernacle,
they would set out;
but if the cloud did not lift,
they did not set out -- until the day it lifted.
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 house of Israel
during all their travels.

(Exodus 40:16-38)