SECTION XXIII.

 

PEKUDEY.

 

THESE are the admeasurements[1] of the Tabernacle, the Tabernacle of the Testimony, as they were numbered upon the word of Mosheh: the service of the Levites by the hand of Ithamar bar Aharon the priest. And Bezalel bar Uri bar Hur of the tribe of Jehudah made all that the Lord commanded Mosheh. And with him Ahaliab bar Achisamak, of the tribe of Dan, a woodworker, and artificer, and embroiderer in hyacinth, and in purple, and in crimson, and in fine linen. And all the gold which was used in making all the work of the sanctuary, and which had been a separation[2] (thereunto), was twenty and nine talents, and seven hundred and thirty shekels, of the shekels of the sanctuary. And the silver of the numbered ones of the congregation was a hundred talents, and a thousand and seven hundred and seventy and five shekels, in the shekels of the sanctuary. The weight was (appointed) by capitation; a half shekel, in the shekel of the sanctuary, for every one who passed to the adnumberments from twenty years (old) and upward, for six hundred and three thousand and five hundred and fifty men.

 

And the hundred talents of silver were for casting the bases of the sanctuary, and the bases of the veil (or tent), a hundred bases with a hundred talents, a talent for a base. And with the thousand and seven hundred and seventy and five (shekels) he made the hooks for the pillars, and covered their capitals, and made their uniting rods. And the brass of the oblation was seventy talents, and two thousand and four hundred shekels. And with it he made the bases of the door of the Tabernacle of Ordinance, and the altar of brass, and the brasen grate which pertained to it, and all the vessels of the altar; and the bases of the court round about, and the bases of the door of the court, and all the pins of the tabernacle, and all the pins of the court round about.

 

XXXIX. And of the hyacinth, and purple, and crimson, they made the vestments of ministration to minister in the sanctuary, and they made the holy vestments of Aharon, as the Lord commanded Mosheh. And he made the ephoda of gold, hyacinth, and purple, and crimson, and fine linen twined. And they beat out[3] the plates of gold, and cut (them) into threads, to insert into the hyacinth, and the purple, and the crimson, and the fine linen, the work of the artificer. Shoulder‑pieces made they for it, conjoined; at the two sides were they conjoined. And the band of its fastening which is upon it was of the same according to its work, of gold, hyacinth, and purple, and crimson, and fine linen twined, as the Lord had commanded Mosheh.

 

And they wrought the onyx stones, inset in sockets of gold, engraven in distinct writing, with the names of the sons of Israel. And he set them upon the shoulders of the ephoda, stones of memorial of the sons of Israel, as the Lord commanded Mosheh.

 

And he made the BREASTPLATE (chushena), the work of the artificer, according to the work of the ephoda, of gold, hyacinth, and purple, and crimson, and fine linen twined. Four‑square was it, doubled made they the breastplate; a span its length, and a span its breadth, doubled. And they filled it[4] with four rows of precious stones: the first row carnelian, topaz, and carbuncle, row one; the second row, smaragud, sapphire, and eme­rald; and the third row, jacinth, agate, and amethyst; and the fourth row, chrysolite, beryl, and jasper: they were set in sockets of gold, in their infillings. And the stones were according to the names of the sons of Israel, twelve, according to their names, written dis­tinctly, as the engraving of a ring, each according to his name for the twelve tribes. And they made upon the breastplate chains enwreathed,[5] a work of braiding, of pure gold. And they made two sockets of gold, and two golden rings, and put the two rings upon the two sides of the breastplate. And they put the two golden wreaths upon the two rings upon the sides of the breastplate, and the two wreaths which were upon the two sides they put upon the two sockets, and set them upon the shoulders of the ephoda towards its face. And they made two rings of gold, and set them on the two sides of the breastplate, upon its edge which was on the side of the ephoda inward. And they made two golden rings, and set them on the two shoulders of the ephoda underneath towards its front, toward the place of its conjoinment, above the band of the ephoda. And they adunited the breastplate by its rings to the rings of the ephoda, by a ribbon of hyacinth, to be upon the band of the ephoda, that the breastplate might not be loosened from the ephoda, as the Lord commanded Mosheh.[6]

 

And he made the ROBE of the ephoda, the work of the embroiderer, altogether of hyacinth. And the opening (mouth) of the robe in the middle of it like the opening of a corslet, with a binding going about its border, that it might not be torn. And they made upon the hem of the robe pomegranates of hyacinth and purple and crimson inwoven. And they made bells of pure gold, and set the bells among the pomegranates upon the hem of the robe round about among the pomegranates. A bell and a pomegranate, a bell and a pomegranate, upon the hem of the robe round about, to minister, as the Lord commanded Mosheh.

 

And they made the tunics of fine linen, the work of the weaver, for Aharon and for his sons. And the .tiara of fine linen, and the mitres of beauty of fine linen; and the drawers of linen, of fine linen twined. And the girdle of fine linen twined, and hyacinth and purple and crimson, the work of the embroiderer, as the Lord commanded Mosheh. And they made the plate of the diadem of holiness of pure gold, and wrote upon it as the engraving of a ring in distinct writing, HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD. And they put upon it a ribbon of hyacinth, that it might be upon the tiara above, as the Lord commanded Mosheh.

 

Arid completed was all the work of the tabernacle, the tabernacle of ordinance; and the sons of Israel did according to all that the Lord had commanded Mosheh, so did they. And they brought the tabernacle to Mosheh, the tabernacle and all its vessels, its taches, its boards, its bars, and its pillars, and its bases. And the covering of rams' skins reddened, and the covering of purple skins, and the veil for the hanging; and the ark of the testimony and its staves, and the mercy seat; the table and all its vessels, and the bread of the Presence; the pure candelabrum and its lamps, the lamps of order, and all its vessels; and the oil for the light and the golden altar, and the oil of consecration, and the sweet incense; and the hanging for the door of the tabernacle; and the brasen altar and the brasen grate for it; its staves and all its vessels; and the laver and its base, the hangings of the court, its pillars, and its sockets, and the veil for the gate of the court, its cords, and its pins, and all the vessels of the service of the tabernacle, for the tabernacle of ordinance; the vestments of ministration to minister in the sanctuary, and the holy vestments of Aharon the priest, and the vestments of his sons to minister: according to all that the Lord commanded Mosheh, so made the sons of Israel all the service. And Mosheh surveyed all the work, and, behold, they had done it as the Lord had commanded, so had they done; and Mosheh blessed them.

 

XL. And the Lord spake with Mosheh, saying, In the day of the first month, in the first of the month, thou shalt uprear the tabernacle, the tabernacle of ordinance. And thou shalt set there the ark of the testimony, and outspread the veil before the ark; and thou shalt bring in the table, and arrange the order thereof. And thou shalt bring in the candelabrum, and kindle its lamps. And thou shalt put the golden altar of sweet incense before the ark of the testimony, and set the veil of the door of the tabernacle. And thou shalt put the altar of burnt offering before the door of the tabernacle, the tabernacle of ordinance. And thou shalt place the laver between the tabernacle of ordinance and the altar, and put water therein. And thou shalt set the court round about, and put the hanging at the gate of the court. And thou shalt take the oil of consecration, and anoint the tabernacle and all that is therein, and sanctify it, and all its vessels, and it shall be holy. And thou shalt anoint the altar of burnt offering, and all its vessels, and sanctify the altar; and it shall be an altar most holy. And thou shalt anoint the laver and its base, and sanctify it. And thou shalt bring Aharon and his sons to the door of the tabernacle of ordinance, and lave them with water, and shalt clothe Aharon with the holy vestments, and anoint him, and consecrate him, that he may minister before Me. And thou shalt bring ­his sons and clothe them with the tunics, and consecrate them, as thou didst consecrate their father, that they may minister before Me, and that it may be to them the consecration[7] of a perpetual priesthood in their generations.

 

And Mosheh did according to all which the Lord commanded, so did he. And it was in the first month, in the second year, on the first of the month, that the tabernacle was reared. And Mosheh reared the tabernacle, and placed its bases, and set its boards, and fixed its bars, and reared its pillars; arid he spread the tent upon the tabernacle, and set the covering of the tabernacle over it, above, as the Lord commanded Mosheh. And he took and placed the testimony in the ark, and set the staves upon the ark, and placed the mercy seat upon the ark above. And he brought the ark into the tabernacle, and placed the veil which was spread to overshadow the ark of the testimony, as the Lord commanded Mosheh. And he placed the table in the tabernacle of ordinance upon the side of the tabernacle northward without the veil. And he set in order upon it the rows of bread before the Lord, as the Lord commanded Mosheh. And he set the candelabrum in the tabernacle of ordinance over against the table on the side of the tabernacle southward. And he kindled the lamps before the Lord, as the Lord commanded Mosheh. And he set the golden altar in the tabernacle of ordinance before the veil, and burned thereon sweet incense, as the Lord commanded Mosheh. And he set the hanging of the door of the tabernacle, and the altar of burnt offering set he at the door of the tabernacle of ordinance, and offered upon it the burnt offering, and the oblation, (mincha,) as the Lord had commanded Mosheh. And he set the laver between the tabernacle of ordinance and the altar, and put water therein for purifying. And Mosheh and Aharon and his sons purified with it their hands and their feet. In their going into the tabernacle of ordinance and in their approachment to the altar, they purified (themselves), as the Lord commanded Mosheh. And he set up the court, round about the tabernacle and the altar, and set the hanging of the gate of the court: and Mosheh completed the work.

 

And the Cloud covered the tabernacle of ordinance, and the Glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. And Mosheh was not able to enter into the tabernacle of ordinance, because the Cloud abode upon it, and the Glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. And when the Cloud ascended above the tabernacle, the sons of Israel went forward in all their journeys. And if the Cloud did not ascend, they did not proceed, until the day of its uprising. For the Cloud of the Glory of the Lord was upon the tabernacle by day, and the vision of fire was in it by night, in the eyes of all the house of Israel in all their journeys.

 

END OF THE TARGUM OF ONTKELOS ON SHEMOTH.