: ''Bible record: {{Bible ref|book=Exodus|chap=26}}''
The Tabernacle proper was a tent of [[acacia]] wood (a symbol of [[human|man]], hard to work with and prone to have many knots<ref name=Brown>Brown, Alan B., MDiv, ThM; personal interview with [[User:TerryH]] on 8 December 2008</ref>) overlaid with [[gold]] (a metal of royalty or deity<ref name=Brown/>), standing 10 cubits high, 30 cubits long, and 10 cubits broad, covered with curtains of [[goat]] hair, [[sheep|ram]]'s skins dyed red and [[porpoise]]00 skins. (Indeed the English word ''skin'' derives from the [[Greek language|Greek]] ''σκείν'' or ''skein'', which itself derives from the Hebrew ''shekan'' to dwell, of which ''mishkan'' is the present participle.<ref name=Brown/>) The sides of the tabernacle were not whole, but were composed of acacia boards, each ten cubits long and 1.5 cubits broad. Each board had five rings of gold spaced at regular intervals; five bars of acacia wood overlaid with gold and thrust through the rings held each of the three sides of the Tabernacle together. Each board had two protuberances, or tenons, at its base, and sockets of [[silver]] (a metal of redemption<ref name=Brown/>) held the boards together by their tenons. The tent used twenty boards on the south side, twenty on the north side, and six boards on the west side, with two corner boards added to finish the west side. The east side of the tent was open, and five pillars of acacia wood overlaid with gold guarded that entrance. A screen of blue and purple and scarlet formed the east "wall" and hung on hooks of gold. Each pillar rested on a socket of brass (a metal of judgment<ref name=Brown/>).
The tent was covered first with ten curtains of blue, purple, and scarlet, decorated with cherubim. Each curtain was 28 cubits long and 4 cubits broad. Five curtains were joined together in each of two sets, and then the two sets were joined by fifty blue loops on each edge, with clasps of gold holding the loops. Next came a covering of goat hair, consisting of eleven curtains, each thirty cubits long and four cubits broad. The curtains were joined in sets of five and six, and the sixth curtain was doubled. The two sets were joined by fifty clasps of [[brass]] joining fifty pairs of loops. Last of all came a covering of red ram skins and a covering of porpoise skins.