Exodus 30:34
New International Version
Then the LORD said to Moses, “Take fragrant spices—gum resin, onycha and galbanum—and pure frankincense, all in equal amounts,

New Living Translation
Then the LORD said to Moses, “Gather fragrant spices—resin droplets, mollusk shell, and galbanum—and mix these fragrant spices with pure frankincense, weighed out in equal amounts.

English Standard Version
The LORD said to Moses, “Take sweet spices, stacte, and onycha, and galbanum, sweet spices with pure frankincense (of each shall there be an equal part),

Berean Standard Bible
The LORD also said to Moses, “Take fragrant spices—gum resin, onycha, galbanum, and pure frankincense—in equal measures,

King James Bible
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:

New King James Version
And the LORD said to Moses: “Take sweet spices, stacte and onycha and galbanum, and pure frankincense with these sweet spices; there shall be equal amounts of each.

New American Standard Bible
Then the LORD said to Moses, “Take for yourself spices—stacte, onycha, and galbanum, spices and pure frankincense; there shall be an equal part of each.

NASB 1995
Then the LORD said to Moses, “Take for yourself spices, stacte and onycha and galbanum, spices with pure frankincense; there shall be an equal part of each.

NASB 1977
Then the LORD said to Moses, “Take for yourself spices, stacte and onycha and galbanum, spices with pure frankincense; there shall be an equal part of each.

Legacy Standard Bible
Then Yahweh said to Moses, “Take for yourself fragrances, stacte and onycha and galbanum, fragrances with pure frankincense; there shall be an equal part of each.

Amplified Bible
Then the LORD said to Moses, “Take sweet and fragrant spices—stacte, onycha, and galbanum, sweet and fragrant spices with pure frankincense; there shall be an equal amount of each—

Christian Standard Bible
The LORD said to Moses, “Take fragrant spices: stacte, onycha, and galbanum; the spices and pure frankincense are to be in equal measures.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
The LORD said to Moses: “Take fragrant spices: stacte, onycha, and galbanum; the spices and pure frankincense are to be in equal measures.

American Standard Version
And Jehovah 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;

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
And a man who will make fragrance like it and he who will give of it to a foreigner will be destroyed from his people.’”

Brenton Septuagint Translation
And the Lord said to Moses, Take for thyself sweet herbs, stacte, onycha, sweet galbanum, and transparent frankincense; there shall be and equal weight of each.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And the Lord said to Moses: Take unto thee spices, stacte, and onycha, galbanum of sweet savour, and the clearest frankincense, all shall be of equal weight.

English Revised Version
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;

GOD'S WORD® Translation
The LORD said to Moses, "Take one part fragrant spices (two kinds of gum resin and aromatic mollusk shells), and mix them with one part pure frankincense.

Good News Translation
The LORD said to Moses, "Take an equal part of each of the following sweet spices--stacte, onycha, galbanum, and pure frankincense.

International Standard Version
The LORD told Moses, "Take for yourself spices: stacte, onycha, galbanum, and spices with pure frankincense, all in equal amounts.

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.

Literal Standard Version
And YHWH says to Moses, “Take to yourself spices—stacte, and onycha, and galbanum—spices and pure frankincense; they are part for part;

Majority Standard Bible
The LORD also said to Moses, “Take fragrant spices—gum resin, onycha, galbanum, and pure frankincense—in equal measures,

New American Bible
The LORD told Moses: Take these aromatic substances: storax and onycha and galbanum, these and pure frankincense in equal parts;

NET Bible
The LORD said to Moses: "Take spices, gum resin, onycha, galbanum, and pure frankincense of equal amounts

New Revised Standard Version
The LORD said to Moses: Take sweet spices, stacte, and onycha, and galbanum, sweet spices with pure frankincense (an equal part of each),

New Heart English Bible
The LORD said to Moses, "Take to yourself sweet spices, gum resin, and onycha, and galbanum; sweet spices with pure frankincense: of each shall there be an equal weight;

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

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.

Young's Literal Translation
And Jehovah saith unto Moses, 'Take to thee spices, stacte, and onycha, and galbanum, spices and pure frankincense; they are part for part;

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
The Incense
34The LORD also said to Moses, “Take fragrant spices— gum resin, onycha, galbanum, and pure frankincense— in equal measures, 35and make a fragrant blend of incense, the work of a perfumer, seasoned with salt, pure and holy.…

Cross References
Exodus 30:33
Anyone who mixes perfume like it or puts it on an outsider shall be cut off from his people.'"

Exodus 30:35
and make a fragrant blend of incense, the work of a perfumer, seasoned with salt, pure and holy.

Exodus 31:11
in addition to the anointing oil and fragrant incense for the Holy Place. They are to make them according to all that I have commanded you."

Exodus 35:15
the altar of incense with its poles; the anointing oil and fragrant incense; the curtain for the doorway at the entrance to the tabernacle;

Exodus 37:29
He also made the sacred anointing oil and the pure, fragrant incense, the work of a perfumer.

Leviticus 16:12
Then he must take a censer full of burning coals from the altar before the LORD, and two handfuls of finely ground fragrant incense, and take them inside the veil.

Numbers 4:16
Eleazar son of Aaron the priest shall oversee the oil for the light, the fragrant incense, the daily grain offering, and the anointing oil. He has oversight of the entire tabernacle and everything in it, including the holy objects and their utensils."


Treasury of Scripture

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

unto thee

Exodus 30:23
Take thou also unto thee principal spices, of pure myrrh five hundred shekels, and of sweet cinnamon half so much, even two hundred and fifty shekels, and of sweet calamus two hundred and fifty shekels,

Exodus 25:6
Oil for the light, spices for anointing oil, and for sweet incense,

Exodus 37:29
And he made the holy anointing oil, and the pure incense of sweet spices, according to the work of the apothecary.

stacte.

Leviticus 2:1,15
And when any will offer a meat offering unto the LORD, his offering shall be of fine flour; and he shall pour oil upon it, and put frankincense thereon: …

Leviticus 5:11
But if he be not able to bring two turtledoves, or two young pigeons, then he that sinned shall bring for his offering the tenth part of an ephah of fine flour for a sin offering; he shall put no oil upon it, neither shall he put any frankincense thereon: for it is a sin offering.

Leviticus 24:7
And thou shalt put pure frankincense upon each row, that it may be on the bread for a memorial, even an offering made by fire unto the LORD.

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Exodus 30
1. The altar of incense
11. The ransom of souls
17. The bronze basin
22. The holy anointing oil
34. The composition of the incense














THE COMPOSITION OF THE HOLY INCENSE.

(34) Take unto thee sweet spices.--Rather, Take unto thee spices. The word translated "spices" has no epithet. Incense, as commonly used in the ancient world, was not a composition, but some single spice, most frequently frankincense. That, however, employed by the Hebrews was always a compound. According to Josephus (Bell. Jud., v. 5, ? 5), the incense burnt in the later temple contained thirteen ingredients.

Stacte is probably the gum storax, which is the produce of the styrax officinalis, a tree common in Syria and Palestine. It burns readily, and emits much smoke (Herod. iii. 107).

Onycha is thought to be the "claw" or operculum of the unguis odoratus, or blatta Byzantina, a sort of shell-fish common in the Red Sea. This "claw" produces, when burnt, a strong odour.

Galbanum is a gum well known to modern chemists. It may be procured from various plants, as the opoidia galbanifera, the galbanum Persicum, and others. When burnt, this gum has a strong pungent odour, which is said to be disagreeable in itself, but to bring out and prolong the scent of other spices (Plin. H. N., xii. 54).

Frankincense was probably the main element of the "holy incense," as it is of such incense as is burnt in modern times. It is a gum or resin obtained from incisions in the bark of the arbor thuris, or frankincense-tree, which grows abundantly in India, and in the islands of the Indian archipelago. Anciently, the tree appears to have grown also in Arabia, whence the Egyptians (Records of the Past, vol. x., pp. 14-17), the Ph?nicians, the Hebrews (Isaiah 60:6; Jeremiah 6:20), and the Greeks obtained it in large quantities. The odour is very peculiar, and to most persons very agreeable. In England it is best known as the scent given out by the pastilles which are burnt in sick rooms.

Verses 34-38. - THE HOLY INCENSE. It remained to give directions concerning the composition of the incense, which, according to verse 7, was to be burnt upon the altar of gold. That it was to be of one and one only peculiar kind had been already implied in the prohibition to burn "strange incense" (ver. 9). Moses is now told exactly how it was to be composed. As the oil was to contain four spices, so was the incense to be made of a like number - stacte, onycha, galbanum, and frankincense - of each the same quantity (ver. 34). The art of the apothecary was to be called in for making it up (ver. 35). A portion of it was to be "beaten very small," and placed in front of the ark of the covenant, probably on the golden altar outside the vail (ver. 36). A prohibition is added, similar to that given with respect to the holy oil: no one is to make any like it for private use, under pain of being "cut off from his people" (vers. 37, 38). Verse 34. - Take unto thee sweet spices. Rather, "Take unto thee spices," or "perfumes." The word has no epithet. Stacte. The Hebrew word used means simply "a drop" (Job 32:27), and might be applied to any gum or resin which exuded from a tree. We have no clue to the gum here intended but that which is furnished by the rendering of the LXX., στακτή, which our translators have followed. Now the Greeks seem to have called two gums by this name - one, the natural exudation from the myrrh tree, called above (ver. 23) "pure myrrh," or "the myrrh that flows freely;" and the other gum storax. As it is not likely that the same substance has been given two names within the space of ten verses, we must suppose the latter to be meant. Gum storax is the produce of a tree allied to the poplar, and known as Styrax officinalis, which grows abundantly in Syria and Palestine. It was frequently used as a perfume by the ancients (Herod. 3:107; Plin. H. N. 12:17, §40). Onycha. The Hebrew word, she-kheleth, seems to mean a "shell" of some kind or other. The Greek ὄνυξ, Lat. onycha, was applied to the operculum - the "nail" or "claw" - of certain shell-fish of the genus Strombidae, which were common in the lied Sea, and elsewhere. The particular strombus which furnishes the onycha of the ancients is thought to have been the Unguis odoratus or Blatta Byzantina. The opercula of these shell-fish have, when burnt, a strong odour, "something like castoreum." The onycha is, again coupled with galbanum and gum storax in Ecclesiates 24:15. Galbanum. The Hebrew word khelb'nah, is so near the Greek χαλβάιη and the Latin galbanum that it has with good reason been assumed to designate the same substance. Galbanum is a gum well known both to ancients and moderns. It is admitted into the pharmacopeia. Several plants seem to produce it, as the Opoidia galbanifera, the Galbanum Persicum, and a plant which grows in Northern Persia, very like the Ferula erubeseens. When burnt, galbanum has a strong pungent odour, which is said to be disagreeable by itself, but to improve and preserve other odours (Plin. H. N. 12:54). Frankincense. On the wide use of frankincense, see the comment on ver. 1. It was the produce of a tree which anciently flourished in Arabia, but which appears to have degenerated, and now produces only an inferior quality. The best frankincense comes now from the high lands of India. It exudes from a tree called salai (the Boswellia setrata or thurifera of botanists). Some think that the frankincense exported largely from Arabia to the neighbouring nations was in part the produce of this tree imported by the Arab merchants from Hindustan.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
Then the LORD
יְהוָ֨ה (Yah·weh)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 3068: LORD -- the proper name of the God of Israel

said
וַיֹּאמֶר֩ (way·yō·mer)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 559: To utter, say

to
אֶל־ (’el-)
Preposition
Strong's 413: Near, with, among, to

Moses,
מֹשֶׁ֜ה (mō·šeh)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 4872: Moses -- a great Israelite leader, prophet and lawgiver

“Take
קַח־ (qaḥ-)
Verb - Qal - Imperative - masculine singular
Strong's 3947: To take

fragrant spices—
סַמִּ֗ים (sam·mîm)
Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 5561: Spice (used in incense)

gum resin,
נָטָ֤ף ׀ (nā·ṭāp̄)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 5198: A drop, an aromatic gum

onycha,
וּשְׁחֵ֙לֶת֙ (ū·šə·ḥê·leṯ)
Conjunctive waw | Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 7827: (an ingredient of the holy incense) perhaps onycha

galbanum,
וְחֶלְבְּנָ֔ה (wə·ḥel·bə·nāh)
Conjunctive waw | Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 2464: Gum (a type used in incense)

and pure
זַכָּ֑ה (zak·kāh)
Adjective - feminine singular
Strong's 2134: Pure, clean

frankincense—
וּלְבֹנָ֣ה (ū·lə·ḇō·nāh)
Conjunctive waw | Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 3828: Frankincense

in equal measures,
בַּ֥ד (baḏ)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 905: Separation, a part of the body, branch of a, tree, bar for, carrying, chief of


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Exodus 30:33
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