5. Make the poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold.
6. Place the incense altar just outside the inner curtain that shields the Ark of the Covenant, in front of the Ark’s cover—the place of atonement—that covers the tablets inscribed with the terms of the covenant. I will meet with you there.
7. “Every morning when Aaron maintains the lamps, he must burn fragrant incense on the altar.
8. And each evening when he lights the lamps, he must again burn incense in the lord’s presence. This must be done from generation to generation.
9. Do not offer any unholy incense on this altar, or any burnt offerings, grain offerings, or liquid offerings.
10. “Once a year Aaron must purify the altar by smearing its horns with blood from the offering made to purify the people from their sin. This will be a regular, annual event from generation to generation, for this is the lord’s most holy altar.”
11. Then the lord said to Moses,
12. “Whenever you take a census of the people of Israel, each man who is counted must pay a ransom for himself to the lord. Then no plague will strike the people as you count them.