He made the lampstand of pure gold. He made the lampstand–its base and its shaft–of hammered work; its cups, calyxes, and petals were of one piece with it. Six branches issued from its sides: three branches from one side of the lampstand, and three branches from the other side of the lampstand. There were three cups shaped like almond-blossoms, each with calyx and petals, on one branch; and there were three cups shaped like almond-blossoms, each with calyx and petals, on the next branch; so for all six branches issuing from the lampstand. On the lampstand itself there were four cups shaped like almond-blossoms, each with calyx and petals: a calyx, of one piece with it, under a pair of branches; and a calyx, of one piece with it, under the second pair of branches; and a calyx, of one piece with it, under the last pair of branches; so for all six branches issuing from it. Their calyxes and their stems were of one piece with it, the whole of it a single hammered piece of pure gold. He made its seven lamps, its tongs, and its fire pans of pure gold. He made it and all its furnishings out of a talent of pure gold.
He made the incense altar of acacia wood, a cubit long and a cubit wide–square–and two cubits high; its horns were of one piece with it. He overlaid it with pure gold: its top, its sides round about, and its horns; and he made a gold molding for it round about. e made two gold rings for it under its molding, on its two walls–on opposite sides–as holders for the poles with which to carry it. He made the poles of acacia wood, and overlaid them with gold. He prepared the sacred anointing oil and the pure aromatic incense, expertly blended.
From Parshat Vayakhel. From THE TANAKH: The New JPS Translation According to the Traditional Hebrew Text. Copyright 1985 by the Jewish Publication Society. Used by permission.