Exodus 30 Summary

God gives Moses detailed instructions for constructing a small golden altar of acacia wood overlaid with pure gold, to be placed before the veil of the ark, upon which Aaron is to burn sweet incense every morning and evening as a perpetual offering; once a year atonement is to be made on its horns with the blood of the sin offering. The LORD then commands that whenever a census is taken, every Israelite man twenty years and older must pay a flat half-shekel ransom for his soul, rich and poor alike, with the collected money devoted to the service of the tabernacle. God further instructs Moses to make a bronze laver for ritual handwashing, placed between the tabernacle and the altar, which Aaron and his sons must use before ministering under penalty of death. Finally, the LORD prescribes the precise formulas for a holy anointing oil—made from myrrh, cinnamon, calamus, cassia, and olive oil—to consecrate the tabernacle furnishings and the priests, and for a sacred incense blend of stacte, onycha, galbanum, and frankincense; both are strictly reserved for divine worship, and any unauthorized replication or misuse is punishable by being cut off from the people.