The second aliyah contains instructions for making the cover for the ark. It should be made of one beaten piece of pure gold including two cherubim (each of which had the form of the face of a child). The two cherubim are to face each other and have spreading wings, screening the ark cover.

Instructions are also given for making the Shulchan (the table) for the lechem panim (Showbread), and also its pans and jars and bowls.

Instructions for placing the Showbread on this table are given elsewhere in the Torah, but are seen in the siddur at the end of the Shabbat Morning Prayer on page 201 of the Siddur Tehillat Hashem. The twelve loaves described there are one reason we use two loaves of challah on Shabbat, each made with six braids, for a total of twelve pieces.