'Tabernacle' in the Bible
You shall construct it in accordance with everything that I am going to show you, as the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furniture.
“Moreover, you shall make the tabernacle (sacred tent of worship) with ten [interior] curtains of fine twisted linen, and blue, purple, and scarlet fabric; you shall make them with [embroidered] cherubim, the handwork of a skillful craftsman.
You shall make fifty gold hooks, and fasten the curtains together with the hooks; and the tabernacle shall be one unit.
“Then you shall make [exterior] curtains of goats’ hair as a tent over the tabernacle. You shall make eleven curtains in all.
You shall join five curtains by themselves and the other six curtains by themselves, and you shall double over the sixth curtain at the front of the tent [to make a closed door].
The overlapping part that is left over from the tent curtains, the half curtain that is left over, shall lap over the back of the tabernacle.
The cubit on one side and the cubit on the other, of what is left over in the length of the curtains of the tent shall lap over the sides of the tabernacle on one side and the other side, to cover it.
“Then you shall make the boards for the tabernacle of acacia wood, standing upright [as a trellis-like frame].
Make two dovetails in each board for fitting [them] together; you shall do the same for all the tabernacle boards.
You shall make the boards for the tabernacle [in the following quantities]: twenty boards for the south side.
for the north side of the tabernacle there shall be twenty boards,
For the back or west side of the tabernacle you shall make six boards.
Make two boards for the corners of the tabernacle at the rear [on both sides].
and five bars for the boards of the other side of the tabernacle, and five bars for the boards of the rear end of the tabernacle, for the back wall toward the west.
You shall erect the tabernacle according to its plan [the direction corresponding to its meaning and purpose] which has been shown to you on the mountain.
You shall set the table [for the bread] outside the veil [in the Holy Place] on the north side, and the lampstand opposite the table on the south side of the tabernacle.
“You shall make the court of the tabernacle. The south side of the court is to have curtains of fine twisted linen, a hundred cubits long for one side;
the tabernacle (sacred dwelling of God), its tent and its covering, its hooks, its boards, its bars, its pillars, and its sockets;
and the altar of incense and its carrying poles, the anointing oil and the fragrant incense, the screen (curtain) for the doorway at the entrance of the tabernacle;
the pegs of the tabernacle and the pegs of the court and their cords;
All the skilled men among them who were doing the work on the tabernacle made ten curtains of fine twisted linen and blue, purple, and scarlet fabric, with cherubim [worked into them], the work of an embroiderer, Bezalel made them.
He made fifty gold hooks and joined the curtains together with the hooks, so that the tabernacle became a unit.
Then he made curtains of goats’ hair for a tent over the tabernacle; he made eleven curtains in all.
Bezalel made boards of acacia wood for the upright framework of the tabernacle.
Each board had two tenons (dovetails), fitted to one another; he did this for all the boards of the tabernacle.
And [this is how] he made the boards [for frames] for the tabernacle: twenty boards for the south side;
For the other side of the tabernacle, the north side, he made twenty boards,
And for the rear of the tabernacle, to the west, he made six [frame] boards.
And he made two boards for each corner of the tabernacle in the rear.
Bezalel made bars of acacia wood, five for the [frame] boards of the one side of the tabernacle,
All the pegs for the tabernacle and the court were bronze.
This is the sum of the things for the tabernacle, the tabernacle of the Testimony, as counted according to the command of Moses, for the work of the Levites, under the direction of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest.
and the sockets of the court all around and the sockets of the court gate, and all the pegs of the tabernacle and all the pegs around the court.
Thus all the work of the tabernacle of the Tent of Meeting was finished; and the Israelites did according to all that the Lord had commanded Moses; that is what they did.
They brought the tabernacle to Moses [for him to inspect]: the tent and all its furnishings, its hooks, its [frame] boards, its bars, its support poles, its sockets or bases;
the curtains of the courtyard, its support poles and sockets, and the screen (curtain) for the courtyard gate, its cords and pegs, and all the utensils for the service of the tabernacle, for the Tent of Meeting [of God with His people];
“On the first day of the first month (Abib) you shall set up the tabernacle of the Tent of Meeting [of God with you].
You shall set the golden altar of incense in front of the ark of the Testimony [outside the veil], and put the [hanging] veil at the doorway of the tabernacle.
You shall set the [bronze] altar of burnt offering in front of the doorway of the tabernacle of the Tent of Meeting.
Then you shall take the anointing oil and anoint the tabernacle and all that is in it, and consecrate it and all its furniture; and it shall be holy (declared sacred, separated from secular use).
Now it happened on the first day of the first month (Abib) in the second year [after the exodus from Egypt], that the tabernacle was erected.
Moses erected the tabernacle, laid its sockets, set up its boards, put in its bars and erected its support poles.
He spread the tent over the tabernacle and put the covering of the tent over it, just as the Lord had commanded him.
Moses brought the ark into the tabernacle, and set up a veil (partition) for the screen (curtain), and screened off the ark of the Testimony, just as the Lord had commanded him.
Then he put the table in the Tent of Meeting on the north side of the tabernacle, outside the veil.
Then he put the lampstand in the Tent of Meeting, opposite the table, on the south side of the tabernacle.
He set the altar of burnt offering before the doorway of the tabernacle of the Tent of Meeting, and offered on it the burnt offering and the grain offering, just as the Lord commanded him.
And he erected the courtyard all around the tabernacle and the altar, and hung the screen (curtain) at the gateway of the courtyard. So Moses finished the work.
Then the cloud [the Shekinah, God’s visible, dwelling presence] covered the Tent of Meeting, and the glory and brilliance of the Lord filled the tabernacle.
Moses was not able to enter the Tent of Meeting because the cloud remained on it, and the glory and brilliance of the Lord filled the tabernacle.
In all their journeys, whenever the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the Israelites would set out;
For throughout all their journeys, the cloud of the Lord was on the tabernacle by day, and there was fire in it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel.