Back to Exodus 30

Exodus 30:34-38

Yahweh said to Moses, “Take to yourself sweet spices, gum resin, onycha, and galbanum; sweet spices with pure frankincense. There shall be an equal weight of each. You shall make incense of it, a perfume after the art of the perfumer, seasoned with salt, pure and holy. You shall beat some of it very small, and put some of it before the covenant in the Tent of Meeting, where I will meet with you. It shall be to you most holy. The incense which you shall make, according to its composition you shall not make for yourselves: it shall be to you holy for Yahweh. Whoever shall make any like that, to smell of it, he shall be cut off from his people.”

World English Bible · Public Domain

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Parallel Translations

  • WEB World English Bible

    Yahweh said to Moses, “Take to yourself sweet spices, gum resin, onycha, and galbanum; sweet spices with pure frankincense. There shall be an equal weight of each.

    You shall make incense of it, a perfume after the art of the perfumer, seasoned with salt, pure and holy.

    You shall beat some of it very small, and put some of it before the covenant in the Tent of Meeting, where I will meet with you. It shall be to you most holy.

    The incense which you shall make, according to its composition you shall not make for yourselves: it shall be to you holy for Yahweh.

    Whoever shall make any like that, to smell of it, he shall be cut off from his people.”

  • KJV King James Version

    And the LORD said unto Moses, Take unto thee sweet spices, stacte, and onycha, and galbanum; these sweet spices with pure frankincense: of each shall there be a like weight:

    And thou shalt make it a perfume, a confection after the art of the apothecary, tempered together, pure and holy:

    And thou shalt beat some of it very small, and put of it before the testimony in the tabernacle of the congregation, where I will meet with thee: it shall be unto you most holy.

    And as for the perfume which thou shalt make, ye shall not make to yourselves according to the composition thereof: it shall be unto thee holy for the LORD.

    Whosoever shall make like unto that, to smell thereto, shall even be cut off from his people.

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  • JPS JPS Tanakh (1917)

    And the LORD said unto Moses: 'Take unto thee sweet spices, stacte, and onycha, and galbanum; sweet spices with pure frankincense; of each shall there be a like weight.

    And thou shalt make of it incense, a perfume after the art of the perfumer, seasoned with salt, pure and holy.

    And thou shalt beat some of it very small, and put of it before the testimony in the tent of meeting, where I will meet with thee; it shall be unto you most holy.

    And the incense which thou shalt make, according to the composition thereof ye shall not make for yourselves; it shall be unto thee holy for the LORD.

    Whosoever shall make like unto that, to smell thereof, he shall be cut off from his people.'

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Examined in Scripture Analysis

Contradictions (1)

Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.

  • Is it OK to use perfume?

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Commandments (1)

The laws of the Torah, each cited and shown as a primary source.

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Cross-references (26)

  • Exodus 25:22 (v36) There I will meet with you, and I will tell you from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are on the ark of the…
  • Exodus 37:29 (v34) He made the holy anointing oil and the pure incense of sweet spices, after the art of the perfumer.
  • Exodus 25:6 (v34) oil for the light, spices for the anointing oil and for the sweet incense,
  • Exodus 30:23 (v34) “Also take fine spices: of liquid myrrh, five hundred shekels; and of fragrant cinnamon half as much, even two hundred and fifty; and of…
  • Leviticus 2:15 (v34) You shall put oil on it and lay frankincense on it. It is a meal offering.
Show all 25 cross-references
  • Exodus 30:25 (v35) You shall make it into a holy anointing oil, a perfume compounded after the art of the perfumer: it shall be a holy anointing oil.
  • Exodus 30:33 (v38) Whoever compounds any like it, or whoever puts any of it on a stranger, he shall be cut off from his people.’ ”
  • Leviticus 2:13 (v35) Every offering of your meal offering you shall season with salt. You shall not allow the salt of the covenant of your God to be lacking…
  • Song of Solomon 3:6 (vv34–35) Who is this who comes up from the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all spices of the merchant?
  • Exodus 16:34 (v36) As Yahweh commanded Moses, so Aaron laid it up before the Testimony, to be kept.
  • Exodus 29:37 (v37) Seven days you shall make atonement for the altar, and sanctify it; and the altar shall be most holy. Whatever touches the altar shall be…
  • Exodus 29:42-43 (v36) It shall be a continual burnt offering throughout your generations at the door of the Tent of Meeting before Yahweh, where I will meet with…
  • Exodus 30:6 (v36) You shall put it before the veil that is by the ark of the covenant, before the mercy seat that is over the covenant, where I will meet…
  • Exodus 30:32-33 (v37) It shall not be poured on man’s flesh, and do not make any like it, according to its composition. It is holy. It shall be holy to you.…
  • Leviticus 2:1 (v34) “ ‘When anyone offers an offering of a meal offering to Yahweh, his offering shall be of fine flour. He shall pour oil on it, and put…
  • Leviticus 2:3 (v37) That which is left of the meal offering shall be Aaron’s and his sons’. It is a most holy part of the offerings of Yahweh made by fire.
  • Leviticus 5:11 (v34) “ ‘But if he can’t afford two turtledoves or two young pigeons, then he shall bring as his offering for that in which he has sinned, one…
  • Leviticus 16:2 (v36) and Yahweh said to Moses, “Tell Aaron your brother not to come at just any time into the Most Holy Place within the veil, before the mercy…
  • Leviticus 24:7 (v34) You shall put pure frankincense on each row, that it may be to the bread for a memorial, even an offering made by fire to Yahweh.
  • Nehemiah 13:5 (v34) had prepared for him a great room, where before they laid the meal offerings, the frankincense, the vessels, and the tithes of the grain,…
  • Proverbs 27:9 (v35) Perfume and incense bring joy to the heart; so does earnest counsel from a man’s friend.
  • Song of Solomon 1:3 (v35) Your oils have a pleasing fragrance. Your name is oil poured out, therefore the virgins love you.
  • Matthew 2:11 (v34) They came into the house and saw the young child with Mary, his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Opening their treasures, they…
  • John 12:3 (v35) Therefore Mary took a pound of ointment of pure nard, very precious, and anointed Jesus’s feet and wiped his feet with her hair. The house…
  • 1 Chronicles 9:29-30 (v34) Some of them also were appointed over the furniture, and over all the vessels of the sanctuary, over the fine flour, the wine, the oil, the…

25 distinct cross-references across this passage (26 total citations).

Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)

Explain this passage (19 sources)

Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.

Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv34, 37 In Hebrew, Sheheleth: which is a sweet kind of…

In Hebrew, Sheheleth: which is a sweet kind of gum and shineth as the nail.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.

John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On v36 Exo 30:36 And thou shalt beat [some] of it…
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv34–36 Stacte, and onycha, and galbanum: the Jews themselves are…
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv34–38 And the Lord said unto Moses,.... In a continued…
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On v34 The incense which was burned upon the golden altar…
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On v34 Verse 34. Take unto thee sweet spices] The holy…
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On v34 Exo 30:34. The incense which was burned upon the…
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On v34 Exo 37:29. The incense, like the anointing oil, consisted…
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv34–36 Onycha. An aromatic root, shining like "the nail," or…
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On v34 the Lord said unto Moses, Take unto thee sweet…
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv34–35 COMPOUNDING OF INCENSE, Exo_30:34-38.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv34–38 34. sweet spices] In the Heb. one word, sammim…
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv34–37 (34) Take unto thee sweet spices.—Rather, Take unto thee…
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv34–37 Vers. 34-38. THE HOLY INCENSE. It remained to give…
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v34 Sweet spices.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v34 MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Exo_30:34-38
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On vv34, 38 Frankincense is not to be confounded with incense (to…
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v34 The Holy Incense
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv34, 37 General Information:
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