You Shall Have No Other Gods:
The Book of Exodus

Lesson 23 Worship Instructions; God Chooses His Artisans
the book of Exodus 30:1—31:18

Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (RSVCE)*
New American Bible Revised Edition (NABRE)*
Catechism of the Catholic Church
ex libris (in our library)
glossary for the book of Exodus
cross references in the book of Exodus
next lesson: The Golden Calf

This material coordinates with Lesson 23 on pages 113–117 in the study book You Shall Have No Other Gods: The Book of Exodus.

And God spoke all these words, saying, ‘I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing mercy to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.”—the book of Exodus 20:1–6

welcome to our in-depth study of the book of Exodus
We invite interested groups and individuals to check out the sample first lesson from this 28-lesson Turning to God’s Word Catholic Bible study. These online study pages link to our free lesson video overviews, as well as to a glossary and cross references in the biblical text. Other study aids include maps, additional commentary, and prayers based on the primary Scripture in each lesson. You Shall Have No Other Gods: The Book of Exodus has been granted an imprimatur and can be purchased from our website shop. If you have a Bible-related question or comment, click on one of the “ask us your question” or “what do you think” buttons on any online study page.

open with prayer
It’s always wise to begin any Bible study with prayer, whether reading the Scriptures alone or meeting with others in a discussion group. You can pray using your own words or use one of the opening prayers on our website. We especially like the following:

Lord Jesus, you promised to send your Holy Spirit to teach us all things.
As we read and study your word today,
allow it to touch our hearts and change our lives. Amen.

let’s review—the book of Exodus 29:1–46
In Lesson 22 Consecration of Aaron & His Sons, the LORD gets down to the nitty-gritty of actually ordaining priests to perform sacrifices, and he mandates three basic types of sacrifices. The biblical text describes the differences between sin offerings, burnt offerings, and peace offerings. Since animal sacrifice no longer is practiced in rabbinical Judaism, the form of Judaism that prevailed after the Jewish Council of Jamnia around 90 A.D., or in Christianity, it can be difficult for present-day readers to keep these straight. (The commentary “Sin Offerings, Burnt Offerings & Peace Offerings” on page 112 in You Shall Have No Other Gods: The Book of Exodus may be helpful.) At least equally important as the priests performing the mandated sacrifices is the LORD’s stipulation that the people obey the law (the Ten Commandments). We know this because the most holy item connected to the tabernacle is the gold-covered ark, a box built to hold the law. It’s designated to be kept in the most holy area of the tabernacle, while the altar of sacrifice is to be set up outside. What isn’t emphasized about the priests is that they’re also supposed to mediate between God and the people. As long as Moses lives, he’s able to fulfill that role. Moses’ place in this hierarchy can be seen when he’s the person who not only institutes the covenant with God but who also ordains the first priests.

how the bronze laver enters our present-day church (44:17)
The laver in which the priests are to wash appears in the book of Exodus 30:17–21. One detail that’s frequently overlooked is the LORD’s revelation that if Aaron or one of his sons fail to wash up, the penalty to be imposed is death. Turning to God’s Word author Matthew Phelps discusses how Old Testament cleanliness rituals—including the baptisms performed by Jesus’ cousin John in New Testament—derive from this Old Testament instruction by God. What do you think is the main point of this section of the book of Exodus that the LORD is trying to get across to the people, and perhaps especially to Aaron and his sons? Consider how this Old Testament injunction to wash before entering the presence of God translates into Christian practice.


The Scripture ranges for the videos that accompany this Catholic Bible study from Turning to God’s Word match the Scripture ranges for the sets of questions in You Shall Have No Other Gods: The Book of Exodus. You can follow along as Turning to God’s Word author Matthew Phelps discusses Lesson 23, “Worship Instructions; God Chooses His Artisans,” on pages 113–117 in the study book.

the position of the golden altar of incense
While there are practical considerations around the placement of the altar of sacrifice, the relative position of it to the altar of incense matters a lot. It’s easy to focus on sacrifice, but based on where things are located, that’s not such a huge deal. Other things related to the tabernacle are much more important. What does the position of the altar of incense suggest about its importance. Consider which is more important based on descriptions in the book of Exodus—the altar of incense or the altar of sacrifice? Still based on descriptions in the book of Exodus, which is more important—the hereditary priesthood or the law of the covenant?

updated commentary
“Why the Altar Has Horns” on page 117 in the study book You Shall Have No Other Gods: The Book of Exodus will be updated in future printings. At the time of publication, that commentary box contained the best information we could locate about why ancient altars were built with horns on each corner. Since then, Turning to God’s Word author Matthew Phelps came up with what we believe to be a more satisfactory reason horns always were included on altars in the Old Testament but no longer are present on Christian altars. In the future, You Shall Have No Other Gods: The Book of Exodus will include the following updated version of “Why The Altar has Horns.” Since there is no official Church position on this issue, you may choose to agree or disagree with our interpretation.

Why the Altar Has Horns
In the book of Exodus 30:1–3, the LORD specifies that the altar of incense is to include horns. The book of Exodus 30:10 mandates that the high priest is to make atonement on those horns once a year with the blood of the sin offering.

Almost all ancient altars had horns, but there are few satisfactory explanations for why. The horn may have been used on ancient altars to indicate the violence inherent in any sacrifice. The horns are patterned after animal horns; that they are bloodied suggests the altar stands in as the aggressor in the violent act of sacrifice. The priest does the actual killing of the animal victim. That animal stands in for the people who have sinned.

read the Catechism—learn the definition of dogma
The Church takes very few official positions about the meaning of particular passages in Scripture. In present-day Catholic theology, such official positions are called dogma. Paragraphs 88 and 89 in the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that there are elements of theology considered essential for Catholics to accept.

88    The Church’s Magisterium exercises the authority it holds from Christ to the fullest extent when it defines dogmas, that is, when it proposes, in a form obliging the Christian people to an irrevocable adherence of faith, truths contained in divine Revelation or also when it proposes, in a definitive way, truths having a necessary connection with these.

89    There is an organic connection between our spiritual life and the dogmas. Dogmas are lights along the path of faith; they illuminate it and make it secure. Conversely, if our life is upright, our intellect and heart will be open to welcome the light shed by the dogmas of faith.

ex libris—the connection between creativity & Christianity
A New Song for the Lord: Faith in Christ and Liturgy Today by Pope Benedict XVI looks at how liturgy involved human understanding of God and the world and the relationship of men and women to Christ, the Church, and themselves. Although the author takes the phrase “sing a new song to the Lord” that appears throughout the Psalms as instructional for worship, he applies biblical principles to all forms of creativity. He includes commentary about the section of the book of Exodus covered in this Lesson. At ex libris—main bookshelf, you can read more excerpts from other books by Pope Benedict XVI and learn about additional authors whose works are related to Catholic Bible study.

“… [A]rtistic creativeness in the book of Exodus is seeing together with God, participating in his creativity; it is exposing the beauty that is already waiting and concealed in creation. This does not diminish the worth of the artist, but is in fact its justification. For this reason it is also said that the Lord ‘has called by name’ Bezalel, the principal artist for construction of the sacred tabernacle (the book of Exodus 31:2 and 35:30): The same set phrase or formula is valid for the artist as well as for the prophet. Furthermore, artists are described as people to whom the Lord has given understanding and skill so that they can carry out what God has instructed them to do (the book of Exodus 36:1). Finally, the fact that every artist’s ‘heart was stirred (the book of Exodus 36:2) belongs here as a third component.”

Spirit—you could look it up in our archives
An extremely interesting example of the Holy Spirit at work in the Old Testament occurs in the book of Exodus 31:2–5, which describes Bezalel being filled with the Spirit of God in order to create the tabernacle and its furnishings. What might be unusual about this description? To learn more about God’s Holy Spirit and it’s connection to Christianity, read Lost in Translation, an online column in which Turning to God’s Word author Matthew Phelps helps readers connect with ideas expressed in the original languages of the Scriptures. New Lost in Translation entries are posted on Mondays, and past entries are archived on our website. Contact us if you’d like to receive Lost in Translation by email every week.

the best Catholic commentary about Scripture
To find out more about how Church teaching is supported by Scripture passages in You Shall Have No Other Gods: The Book of Exodus, check out the Index of Citations in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Links to the primary Scripture passages in the lesson (Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition [RSVCE*]) and relevant paragraphs in the Catechism are provided here. Not every passage in the biblical text for this Catholic study is referenced in a Catechism paragraph, however.

the book of Exodus 30:22–32—paragraph 695
the book of Exodus 31:15—paragraphs 2168, 2189
the book of Exodus 31:16—paragraph 2171
the book of Exodus 31:17—paragraph 2172
the book of Exodus 31:18—paragraphs 700, 2056, 2058

ways our glossary might prove helpful
In addition to providing extra information about geographical locations, our glossary also points out when a person or place is mentioned in the biblical text under more than one name or more than one spelling. If you can remember a name but aren’t sure in which lesson it shows up, you can find it in the glossary, which lists every proper noun that appears in the biblical text for every lesson in You Shall Have No Other Gods: The Book of Exodus.

to learn more, read more Scripture
If you’re having difficulty with a particular passage of Scripture, it can be helpful to read the relevant cross references—but looking these up can take time. To make that easier, we’ve compiled the cross references from the Revised Standard Version Second Catholic Edition (RSV2CE)—the translation that we reprint in our study books. That list can be found at the top of every online study page accompanying this study, and it includes links to each of the cross references in the primary biblical text for You Shall Have No Other Gods: The Book of Exodus.

don’t forget about our indexes & extra online material
If you’re trying to locate information about a specific Scripture passage, you can look it up in the index at the back of the study book or sample lesson. If you want to find a particular commentary, you can look up its title in the topics index. To learn more about another book of the Bible for which there’s a Turning to God’s Word study, visit the online study directories to read the commentaries and watch any accompanying videos. Finally, if you have a question or would like to make a comment about any of our studies, you can use one of the “ask us your question” or “what do you think” buttons to email our authors.

ex libris—Church documents & books about religious topics
Link to magisterial documents referred to in our Bible studies at ex libris—magisterial documents. This listing includes significant recent encyclicals as well as a number of historical Church documents. Recommended books related to Scripture study can be found at ex libris—main bookshelf.

wondering how to pronounce some of these words?
The following link is to a reading from the New International Version (NIV) Bible. To listen, open the link and click on the audio icon above the printed text. Although not taken from the translations used in our study materials, the NIV reading provides an audio guide to pronunciation of words in this lesson’s primary biblical text. A close online version of the translation of the Bible used in Catholic liturgy in the United States as well as an audio guide for daily Mass readings for the current month can be found on the website of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).

the book of Exodus 30:1—31:18 (NIV)

round black doveclose with Bible-based prayer related to this lesson
Many of our Catholic study groups like to conclude their discussions with a prayer based on the scriptural focus of their lesson, and some participants include Scripture-specific prayer in their individual study. If you’re uncomfortable composing your own Bible-based prayers, you can follow our four easy steps. If you prefer, you can use the following short prayer based on this lesson’s text from the book of Exodus.

O God, you exercise divine creativity in all your actions.
Help us to respond to all the varied forms of creativity
you provide for us in our own lives.
Enable us to respond to the promptings
of your Spirit to embrace holy and creative solutions
to the problems we face in our world.
We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ,
who never hesitated to do what was necessary
to bring about the possibility of redemption for humanity. Amen.

Lesson 24 The Golden Calf, the book of Exodus 32:1–35
Lesson 22 Consecration of Aaron & His Sons, the book of Exodus 29:1–46

you also may like our free Lenten study of Jesus’ Passion (digital only)
Jesus’ Passion: The Story of Redemptive Suffering is a five-lesson Catholic Bible study offering an in-depth look at the biblical foundations of the movie The Passion of the Christ. This revised study, which has been granted an imprimatur, contains all of the original material of the 2004 edition as well as many new features in an improved, reader-friendly format. Click on the book’s cover to view the introduction. Free digital lessons of Jesus’ Passion: The Story of Redemptive Suffering are available on the website during Lent.

start a Turning to God’s Word Bible study
Thank you for your interest in You Shall Have No Other Gods: The Book of Exodus. Information about beginning a Turning to God’s Word Bible study can be found at start a Bible study. Tami, Matthew, and I are available to answer your questions and to offer support. You may use this email to contact us directly if you’re interested in starting a Turning to God study or in having your study schedule listed with other TtGW study groups on our website. —Jennifer

*There are seven deuterocanonical books in the Old Testament—the Books of Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch, and First and Second Maccabees, as well as some passages in the Books of Esther and Daniel. Protestants usually refer to these works as “apocryphal,” a word that means “outside the (Protestant) canon” because they’re excluded from most Protestant Bibles. The word “deuterocanonical” means “second canon”; Catholics use that word to refer to any section of the Catholic Old Testament for which there are no extant, or existing, Hebrew manuscripts. All of the deuterocanonical books appear in the Septuagint, the earliest remaining versions of which date to the 1st century B.C. This Greek translation of the Old Testament was in common use by Jews at the time of Jesus. Learn more by reading How Do Catholic & Protestant Bibles Differ?

Turning to God’s Word printed Bible studies use the 2006 Revised Standard Version Second Catholic Edition (RSV2CE) translation for all Scripture references except those to the Psalms, which are taken from The Abbey Psalms and Canticles, prepared by the Benedictine monks of Conception Abbey and published in 2020 by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). All Scripture links for the online study pages for You Shall Have No Other Gods: The Book of Exodus are to the 1966 Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (RSVCE) translation. The New International Version (NIV) audio recordings follow the same chapter and verse numbering as the RSV Catholic translations, but the NIV translation doesn’t include the deuterocanonical books and passages.

The 1966 RSVCE uses archaic pronouns and verb forms such as “thee,” “thou,” “didst” in the Psalms and in direct quotations attributed to God. The 2006 RSV2CE replaces those with more accessible English. The few significant translation changes in the RSV2CE include rendering almah as “virgin” in the Book of Isaiah 7:14 and restoring the term “begotten” in the Gospel According to John 3:16.

Numbering varies for some passages in this Bible study. Turning to God’s Word studies (print and digital) follow the numbering in the Revised Standard Version Catholic translations (RSV2CE and RSVCE). Discrepancies in the New American Bible Revised Edition (NABRE) are noted in the Index of Scripture Citations in the study book and the online sample.

You can learn more about the Psalms by viewing a sample lesson from the Turning to God’s Word Catholic Bible study Sing a New Psalm: Communicating with God Through the Prayers of the Church—Volume I: Lauds & Vespers. The second part of that study, Sing a New Psalm: Communicating with God Through the Prayers of the Church—Volume II: Vigils, Day Prayer & Compline, is scheduled for publication in 2025. Some verse numbers may vary in different translations of the Psalms.