# Exodus 25 📖: Offerings for the Tabernacle [[📚 Explore the Bible Books]] [[-Exodus Overview]] | [[Exodus 24]] | [[Exodus 26]] > [!info] Table of Contents > [[#📜 Scripture Text (NET)]] > [[#📖 Verse-by-Verse Commentary]] > [[#🤔 Interesting Facts / Historical and Cultural Insights]] > [[#🧠 Chapter Summary]] > [[#✝️ Christ in This Chapter]] > [[#🔎 Key Principles / 🛟 Life Application]] > [[#💬 Discussion Questions]] > [[#✍️ Key Verses to Remember]] > [[#🔗 Related Passages/Cross Reference]] > [[#🙏 Devotional Reflection]] > [[#📂 Internal Notes]] ## 📜 Scripture Text (NET) (The NET Bible: New English Translation. Biblical Studies Press, 2005) ### The Materials for the Tabernacle [[#Verse 01.]] The Lord spoke to Moses,  [[#Verse 02.]] “Tell the Israelites to take an offering for me; from every person motivated by a willing heart you are to receive my offering.  [[#Verse 03.]] This is the offering you are to accept from them: gold, silver, bronze,  [[#Verse 04.]] blue, purple, scarlet, fine linen, goats’ hair,  [[#Verse 05.]] ram skins dyed red, fine leather, acacia wood, [[#Verse 06.]] oil for the light, spices for the anointing oil and for fragrant incense,  [[#Verse 07.]] onyx stones, and other gems to be set in the ephod and in the breastpiece.  [[#Verse 08.]] Let them make for me a sanctuary, so that I may live among them.  [[#Verse 09.]] According to all that I am showing you—the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furnishings—you must make it exactly so. ## The Ark of the Testimony [[#Verse 10.]]  “They are to make an ark of acacia wood—its length is to be 45 inches, its width 27 inches, and its height 27 inches.  [[#Verse 11.]] You are to overlay it with pure gold—both inside and outside you must overlay it, and you are to make a surrounding border of gold over it.  [[#Verse 12.]] You are to cast four gold rings for it and put them on its four feet, with two rings on one side and two rings on the other side.  [[#Verse 13.]] You are to make poles of acacia wood, overlay them with gold, [[#Verse 14.]] and put the poles into the rings at the sides of the ark in order to carry the ark with them.  [[#Verse 15.]] The poles must remain in the rings of the ark; they must not be removed from it.  [[#Verse 16.]] You are to put into the ark the testimony that I will give to you. [[#Verse 17.]] “You are to make an atonement lid of pure gold; its length is to be 45 inches, and its width is to be 27 inches.  [[#Verse 18.]] You are to make two cherubim of gold; you are to make them of hammered metal on the two ends of the atonement lid.  [[#Verse 19.]] Make one cherub on one end and one cherub on the other end; from the atonement lid you are to make the cherubim on the two ends.  [[#Verse 20.]] The cherubim are to be spreading their wings upward, overshadowing the atonement lid with their wings, and the cherubim are to face each other, looking toward the atonement lid.  [[#Verse 21.]] You are to put the atonement lid on top of the ark, and in the ark you are to put the testimony I am giving you.  [[#Verse 22.]] I will meet with you there, and from above the atonement lid, from between the two cherubim that are over the ark of the testimony, I will speak with you about all that I will command you for the Israelites. ## The Table for the Bread of the Presence [[#Verse 23.]]  “You are to make a table of acacia wood; its length is to be 36 inches, its width 18 inches, and its height 27 inches.  [[#Verse 24.]] You are to overlay it with pure gold, and you are to make a surrounding border of gold for it.  [[#Verse 25.]] You are to make a surrounding frame for it about three inches broad, and you are to make a surrounding border of gold for its frame.  [[#Verse 26.]] You are to make four rings of gold for it and attach the rings at the four corners where its four legs are.  [[#Verse 27.]] The rings are to be close to the frame to provide places for the poles to carry the table.  [[#Verse 28.]] You are to make the poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold, so that the table may be carried with them. [[#Verse 29.]] You are to make its plates, its ladles, its pitchers, and its bowls, to be used in pouring out offerings; you are to make them of pure gold.  [[#Verse 30.]] You are to set the Bread of the Presence on the table before me continually. ## The Lampstand [[#Verse 31.]] “You are to make a lampstand of pure gold. The lampstand is to be made of hammered metal; its base and its shaft, its cups, its buds, and its blossoms are to be from the same piece.  [[#Verse 32.]] Six branches are to extend from the sides of the lampstand, three branches of the lampstand from one side of it and three branches of the lampstand from the other side of it.  [[#Verse 33.]] Three cups shaped like almond flowers with buds and blossoms are to be on one branch, and three cups shaped like almond flowers with buds and blossoms are to be on the next branch, and the same for the six branches extending from the lampstand.  [[#Verse 34.]] On the lampstand there are to be four cups shaped like almond flowers with buds and blossoms,  [[#Verse 35.]] with a bud under the first two branches from it, and a bud under the next two branches from it, and a bud under the third two branches from it, according to the six branches that extend from the lampstand.  [[#Verse 36.]] Their buds and their branches will be one piece, all of it one hammered piece of pure gold. [[#Verse 37.]] “You are to make its seven lamps and then set its lamps up on it, so that it will give light to the area in front of it.  [[#Verse 38.]] Its trimmers and its trays are to be of pure gold.  [[#Verse 39.]] About seventy-five pounds of pure gold is to be used for it and for all these utensils.  [[#Verse 40.]] Now be sure to make them according to the pattern you were shown on the mountain. ## 📖 Verse-by-Verse Commentary ###### Overall. ###### Verse 01. ###### Verse 02. ###### Verse 03. ###### Verse 04. ###### Verse 05. ###### Verse 06. ###### Verse 07. ###### Verse 08. ###### Verse 09. ###### Verse 10. ###### Verse 11. ###### Verse 12. ###### Verse 13. ###### Verse 14. ###### Verse 15. ###### Verse 16. ###### Verse 17. ###### Verse 18. ###### Verse 19. ###### Verse 20. ###### Verse 21. ###### Verse 22. ###### Verse 23. ###### Verse 24. ###### Verse 25. ###### Verse 26. ###### Verse 27. ###### Verse 28. ###### Verse 29. ###### Verse 30. ###### Verse 31. ###### Verse 32. ###### Verse 33. ###### Verse 34. ###### Verse 35. ###### Verse 36. ###### Verse 37. ###### Verse 38. ###### Verse 39. ###### Verse 40. ## 🤔 Interesting Facts / Historical and Cultural Insights 1. Offerings came only from those whose hearts moved them (25:2). 2. Acacia wood, used throughout the tabernacle, is a hard, durable wood that grows in the Sinai desert. 3. The ark measured two and a half by one and a half by one and a half cubits (25:10), about 3.75 by 2.25 by 2.25 feet. 4. The poles were never to be removed from the ark (25:15). 5. The "atonement lid" or mercy seat (*kapporet*) is related to the Hebrew word for atonement. The Greek word used for it, *hilasterion*, appears in Romans 3:25 and Hebrews 9:5. 6. Two cherubim of hammered gold faced each other over the lid (25:18-20). 7. The ark held "the testimony," the tablets of the law (25:16). Hebrews 9:4 says it also held the jar of manna and Aaron's staff. 8. The bread of the Presence was kept on the table before the Lord (25:30). Jesus mentions David eating it (Mark 2:26). 9. The lampstand was decorated with almond blossoms (25:33) and made from a talent of pure gold, about 75 pounds (25:39). 10. Moses was to follow the pattern shown to him on the mountain (25:40). Hebrews 8:5 calls the tabernacle a copy and shadow of heavenly things. ## 🧠 Chapter Summary > [!note] 🌱 Still growing. This section is on its way. ## ✝️ Christ in This Chapter Christ is God dwelling among His people. God told Israel to build a sanctuary so He could live among them (25:8), and the Word became flesh and took up residence among us (John 1:14). ## 🔎 Key Principles / 🛟 Life Application > [!note] 🌱 Still growing. This section is on its way. ## 💬 Discussion Questions 1. God asked for offerings only from those whose hearts moved them (25:2). Why does God care about the heart behind our giving? 2. God said, "I will meet with you there" (25:22). What does it mean that God wants to meet with His people? 3. The tabernacle was a copy of heavenly realities (25:9, 40; Hebrews 8:5). How does that change how you read these detailed instructions? ## ✍️ Key Verses to Remember - 📖 verse 2: Receive an offering from everyone whose heart moves them to give. - 📖 verse 8: Let them make a sanctuary for Me, so that I may live among them. - 📖 verse 22: I will meet with you there, above the atonement lid between the cherubim. ## 🔗 Related Passages/Cross Reference - 🔗 [[John 01#Verse 14.|John 1:14]] - The Word took up residence among us. - 🔗 [[Hebrews 08#Verse 05.|Hebrews 8:5]] - A copy and shadow of heavenly things. - 🔗 [[Hebrews 09#Verse 01.|Hebrews 9:1-5]] - The furnishings of the earthly sanctuary. - 🔗 [[Romans 03#Verse 25.|Romans 3:25]] - God displayed Christ as the mercy seat. - 🔗 [[Revelation 21#Verse 03.|Revelation 21:3]] - God's dwelling is among His people. ## 🙏 Devotional Reflection 📝 SOAP: [[Exodus 25- SOAP|Make A Place to Meet With the LORD]] ## 📂 Internal Notes