---
title: "Exodus 30 – Catholic Bible (CPDV) & Latin Vulgate · Bless"
url: https://blessbible.app/bible/exodus/30/
description: "The altar of incense: money to be gathered for the use of the tabernacle: the… Exodus 30 in the Catholic Public Domain Version, with the Latin Vulgate."
---

# Exodus 30

Exodus 30 is chapter 30 of 40 in the Book of Exodus. Here are all 38 verses in the Catholic Public Domain Version, with the Latin of the Clementine Vulgate beside them.

> The altar of incense: money to be gathered for the use of the tabernacle: the brazen laver: the holy oil of unction, and the composition of the perfume.
>
> — Bp. Richard Challoner, chapter summary

## Exodus 30 (Catholic Public Domain Version)

1. “You shall also make an altar, for the burning of incense, from setim wood,
2. having one cubit in length, and another in width, that is, four equal sides, and two cubits in height. Horns shall proceed from the same.
3. And you shall clothe it with the purest gold, both its grating and the walls around it, and also the horns. And you shall make for it a crown of gold in a circle,
4. and two gold rings under the crown on each side, so that the bars may be set in them and the altar may be carried.
5. Also, you shall make its bars of setim wood, and you shall overlay them with gold.
6. And you shall set the altar opposite the veil, which hangs in front of the ark of the testimony, before the propitiatory with which the testimony is covered, where I will speak to you.
7. And Aaron shall burn incense upon it, a sweet fragrance, in the morning. When he lights the lamps, he shall burn it.
8. And when he assembles them in the evening, he shall burn an everlasting incense before the Lord throughout your generations.
9. You shall not offer upon it incense of another composition, nor an oblation, nor a victim; neither shall you offer libations.
10. And Aaron shall pray over its horns once a year, with the blood of what was offered for sin. And he shall make atonement over it in your generations. It shall be the Holy of holies to the Lord.”
11. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:
12. “When you have taken the sum of the sons of Israel, according to their number, each shall give a price for their souls to the Lord, and there will be no scourge among them, when they will be reviewed.
13. Then all those who pass shall give by name: one half shekel, according to the measure at the temple. A shekel has twenty obols. The half part of a shekel shall be offered to the Lord.
14. He who has been numbered from twenty years and above shall give the price.
15. The rich shall not add to the half shekel, and the poor shall diminish nothing.
16. And the money received, which was collected from the sons of Israel, you shall deliver for the uses of the tabernacle of the testimony, so that it may be a memorial of them before the Lord, and he may act favorably toward their souls.”
17. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:
18. “You shall also make a bronze washtub with its base to wash in; and you shall place it between the tabernacle of the testimony and the altar. And when water has been added,
19. Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and feet in it:
20. when they enter the tabernacle of the testimony, and when they approach to the altar so as to offer incense to the Lord upon it,
21. otherwise, they may die. This shall be an everlasting law to him, and to his offspring, throughout their successions.”
22. And the Lord spoke to Moses,
23. saying: “Take for yourself aromatics: of the first and best myrrh, five hundred shekels, and of cinnamon half as much, that is, two hundred and fifty shekels; of sweet flag similarly two hundred and fifty,
24. but of cassia, five hundred shekels by the weight of the sanctuary, and of the oil of olives the measure of a hin.
25. And you shall make the holy oil of unction, an ointment composed with the skills of a perfumer,
26. and with it you shall anoint the tabernacle of the testimony, and the ark of the testament,
27. and the table with its vessels, and the lampstand and its utensils, the altars of incense
28. and of holocaust, and all the items that pertain to their rituals.
29. And you shall sanctify everything, and they shall be the Holy of holies. He who will touch them must be sanctified.
30. You shall anoint Aaron and his sons, and you shall sanctify them, so that they may exercise the priesthood for me.
31. Likewise, you shall say to the sons of Israel: ‘This oil of unction will be holy to me throughout your generations.
32. The flesh of man shall not be anointed from it, and you shall not make any similar compound, for it has been sanctified and it shall be holy to you.
33. Whatever man will have composed such a thing and have given it to a stranger, he shall be exterminated from his people.’”
34. And the Lord said to Moses: “Take to yourself aromatics: stacte, and onycha, galbanum of sweet odor, and the clearest frankincense, all these shall be of equal weight.
35. And you shall make incense composed with the skills of a perfumer, diligently mixed, and pure, and most worthy of sanctification.
36. And when you have crushed all these into a very fine powder, you shall place some of it before the tabernacle of the testimony, in the place where I will appear to you. The Holy of holies shall this incense be to you.
37. You shall not make such a compound for your own uses, because it is holy to the Lord.
38. Whatever man will have made anything similar, so as to thoroughly enjoy its smell, he shall perish from his people.”

## Exodus 30 in Latin (Clementine Vulgate, 1592)

1. Facies quoque altare ad adolendum thymiama, de lignis setim,
2. habens cubitum longitudinis, et alterum latitudinis, id est, quadrangulum, et duos cubitos in altitudine. Cornua ex ipso procedent.
3. Vestiesque illud auro purissimo, tam craticulam ejus, quam parietes per circuitum, et cornua. Faciesque ei coronam aureolam per gyrum,
4. et duos annulos aureos sub corona per singula latera, ut mittantur in eos vectes, et altare portetur.
5. Ipsos quoque vectes facies de lignis setim, et inaurabis.
6. Ponesque altare contra velum, quod ante arcum pendet testimonii coram propitiatorio quo tegitur testimonium, ubi loquar tibi.
7. Et adolebit incensum super eo Aaron, suave fragrans, mane. Quando componet lucernas, incendet illud:
8. et quando collocabit eas ad vesperum, uret thymiama sempiternum coram Domino in generationes vestras.
9. Non offeretis super eo thymiama compositionis alterius, nec oblationem, et victimam, nec libabitis libamina.
10. Et deprecabitur Aaron super cornua ejus semel per annum, in sanguine quod oblatum est pro peccato, et placabit super eo in generationibus vestris. Sanctum sanctorum erit Domino.
11. Locutusque est Dominus ad Moysen, dicens:
12. Quando tuleris summam filiorum Israël juxta numerum, dabunt singuli pretium pro animabus suis Domino, et non erit plaga in eis, cum fuerint recensiti.
13. Hoc autem dabit omnis qui transit ad nomen, dimidium sicli juxta mensuram templi (siclus viginti obolos habet); media pars sicli offeretur Domino.
14. Qui habetur in numero, a viginti annis et supra, dabit pretium.
15. Dives non addet ad medium sicli, et pauper nihil minuet.
16. Susceptamque pecuniam, quæ collata est a filiis Israël, trades in usus tabernaculi testimonii, ut sit monimentum eorum coram Domino, et propitietur animabus eorum.
17. Locutusque est Dominus ad Moysen, dicens:
18. Facies et labrum æneum cum basi sua ad lavandum: ponesque illud inter tabernaculum testimonii et altare. Et missa aqua,
19. lavabunt in ea Aaron et filii ejus manus suas ac pedes,
20. quando ingressuri sunt tabernaculum testimonii, et quando accessuri sunt ad altare, ut offerant in eo thymiama Domino,
21. ne forte moriantur; legitimum sempiternum erit ipsi, et semini ejus per successiones.
22. Locutusque est Dominus ad Moysen,
23. dicens: Sume tibi aromata, primæ myrrhæ et electæ quingentos siclos, et cinnamomi medium, id est, ducentos quinquaginta siclos, calami similiter ducentos quinquaginta,
24. casiæ autem quingentos siclos, in pondere sanctuarii, olei de olivetis mensuram hin:
25. faciesque unctionis oleum sanctum, unguentum compositum opere unguentarii,
26. et unges ex eo tabernaculum testimonii, et arcam testamenti,
27. mensamque cum vasis suis, et candelabrum, et utensilia ejus, altaria thymiamatis,
28. et holocausti, et universam supellectilem quæ ad cultum eorum pertinet.
29. Sanctificabisque omnia, et erunt Sancta sanctorum; qui tetigerit ea, sanctificabitur.
30. Aaron et filios ejus unges, sanctificabisque eos, ut sacerdotio fungantur mihi.
31. Filiis quoque Israël dices: Hoc oleum unctionis sanctum erit mihi in generationes vestras.
32. Caro hominis non ungetur ex eo, et juxta compositionem ejus non facietis aliud, quia sanctificatum est, et sanctum erit vobis.
33. Homo quicumque tale composuerit, et dederit ex eo alieno, exterminabitur de populo suo.
34. Dixitque Dominus ad Moysen: Sume tibi aromata, stacten et onycha, galbanum boni odoris, et thus lucidissimum; æqualis ponderis erunt omnia:
35. faciesque thymiama compositum opere unguentarii, mistum diligenter, et purum, et sanctificatione dignissimum.
36. Cumque in tenuissimum pulverem universa contuderis, pones ex eo coram tabernaculo testimonii, in quo loco apparebo tibi. Sanctum sanctorum erit vobis thymiama.
37. Talem compositionem non facietis in usus vestros, quia sanctum est Domino.
38. Homo quicumque fecerit simile, ut odore illius perfruatur, peribit de populis suis.

## Catechism of the Catholic Church

Paragraph numbers and the Catechism's own section headings (never quoted); text at vatican.va.
- cf. CCC ¶ 695: The Name, Titles, and Symbols of the Holy Spirit ([vatican.va index](https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM))

## Bishop Challoner's notes

Bp. Richard Challoner, notes on the Douay-Rheims (1750); they comment on its older wording.
- Verse 1: This burning of incense was an emblem of prayer, ascending to God from an inflamed heart. See Ps. 140. 2; Apoc. 5. 8, and 8. 4.
- Verse 13: A sicle or shekel of silver, (which was also called a stater,) according to the standard or weight of the sanctuary, which was the most just and exact, was half an ounce of silver, that is, about half a crown of English money. The obol, or gerah, was about three halfpence.

Source: Catholic Public Domain Version (Ronald L. Conte Jr., 2009), public domain; Latin: Clementine Vulgate (1592).