Oholiab and Bezalel

31 The Lord said to Moses, ² “See, I have called by name ^(A)Bezalel the son of Uri, son of ^(B)Hur, of the tribe of Judah, ³ and I have ^(C)filled him with the Spirit of God, with ability and intelligence, with knowledge and all craftsmanship, ⁴ to devise artistic designs, to work in gold, silver, and bronze, ⁵ in cutting stones for setting, and in carving wood, to work in every craft. ⁶ And behold, I have appointed with him ^(D)Oholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan. And I have given to all able men ^(E)ability, that they may make all that I have commanded you: ^7 (F)the tent of meeting, and ^(G)the ark of the testimony, and ^(H)the mercy seat that is on it, and all the furnishings of the tent, ^8 (I)the table and its utensils, and ^(J)the pure lampstand with all its utensils, and ^(K)the altar of incense, ⁹ and ^(L)the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils, and ^(M)the basin and its stand, ¹⁰ and ^(N)the finely worked garments,^[a] the holy garments for Aaron the priest and the garments of his sons, for their service as priests, ¹¹ and ^(O)the anointing oil and the fragrant ^(P)incense for the Holy Place. According to all that I have commanded you, they shall do.”

The Sabbath

¹² And the Lord said to Moses, ¹³ “You are to speak to the people of Israel and say, ‘Above all you shall keep my Sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I, the Lord, sanctify you. ¹⁴ You shall keep the Sabbath, because it is holy for you. Everyone who profanes it shall be put to death. ^(Q)Whoever does any work on it, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. ^15 (R)Six days shall work be done, but ^(S)the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the Lord. ^(T)Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day shall be put to death. ¹⁶ Therefore the people of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, observing the Sabbath throughout their generations, as a covenant forever. ^17 (U)It is a sign forever between me and the people of Israel that ^(V)in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and ^(W)on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.’”

¹⁸ And he gave to Moses, when he had finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, the ^(X)two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, written with ^(Y)the finger of God.

Solomon Anointed King

²⁸ Then King David answered, “Call Bathsheba to me.” So she came into the king's presence and stood before the king. ²⁹ And the king swore, saying, ^(A)“As the Lord lives, who has redeemed my soul out of every adversity, ^30 (B)as I swore to you by the Lord, the God of Israel, saying, ‘Solomon your son shall reign after me, and he shall sit on my throne in my place,’ even so will I do this day.” ³¹ Then Bathsheba bowed with her face to the ground and paid homage to the king and said, ^(C)“May my lord King David live forever!”

³² King David said, “Call to me Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada.” So they came before the king. ³³ And the king said to them, “Take with you ^(D)the servants of your lord and have Solomon my son ride on my own mule, and bring him down to ^(E)Gihon. ³⁴ And let Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet there ^(F)anoint him king over Israel. ^(G)Then blow the trumpet and say, ^(H)‘Long live King Solomon!’ ³⁵ You shall then come up after him, and he shall come and sit on my throne, for he shall be king in my place. And I have appointed him to be ruler over Israel and over Judah.” ³⁶ And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada answered the king, “Amen! May the Lord, the God of my lord the king, say so. ^37 (I)As the Lord has been with my lord the king, even so may he be with Solomon, ^(J)and make his throne greater than the throne of my lord King David.”

³⁸ So Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, ^(K)and the Cherethites and the Pelethites went down and had Solomon ride on King David's mule and brought him to Gihon. ³⁹ There Zadok the priest took the horn of ^(L)oil from the tent and ^(M)anointed Solomon. ^(N)Then they blew the trumpet, and all the people said, ^(O)“Long live King Solomon!” ⁴⁰ And all the people went up after him, playing on pipes, and rejoicing with great joy, so that the earth was split by their noise.

⁴¹ Adonijah and all the guests who were with him heard it as they finished feasting. And when Joab heard the sound of the trumpet, he said, “What does this uproar in the city mean?” ⁴² While he was still speaking, behold, ^(P)Jonathan the son of Abiathar the priest came. And Adonijah said, “Come in, ^(Q)for you are a worthy man and bring good news.” ⁴³ Jonathan answered Adonijah, “No, for our lord King David has made Solomon king, ⁴⁴ and the king has sent with him Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and the ^(R)Cherethites and the Pelethites. And they had him ride on the king's mule. ⁴⁵ And Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet have anointed him king at ^(S)Gihon, and they have gone up from there rejoicing, so that the city is in an uproar. This is the noise that you have heard. ^46 (T)Solomon sits on the royal throne. ⁴⁷ Moreover, the king's servants came to congratulate our lord King David, saying, ^(U)‘May your God make the name of Solomon more famous than yours, and make his throne greater than your throne.’ And the king ^(V)bowed himself on the bed. ⁴⁸ And the king also said, ‘Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, ^(W)who has granted someone^[a] to sit on my throne this day, my own eyes seeing it.’”

⁴⁹ Then all the guests of Adonijah trembled and rose, and each went his own way. ⁵⁰ And Adonijah feared Solomon. So he arose and went ^(X)and took hold of ^(Y)the horns of the altar. ⁵¹ Then it was told Solomon, “Behold, Adonijah fears King Solomon, for behold, he has laid hold of the horns of the altar, saying, ‘Let King Solomon swear to me first that he will not put his servant to death with the sword.’” ⁵² And Solomon said, “If he will show himself a worthy man, ^(Z)not one of his hairs shall fall to the earth, but if wickedness is found in him, he shall die.” ⁵³ So King Solomon sent, and they brought him down from the altar. And he came and paid homage to King Solomon, and Solomon said to him, “Go to your house.”

The Fall of Jerusalem

39 ^(A)In the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army came against Jerusalem and besieged it. ² In the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, on the ninth day of the month, a breach was made in the city. ³ Then all ^(B)the officials of the king of Babylon came ^(C)and sat in the middle gate: Nergal-sar-ezer of Samgar, Nebu-sar-sekim ^(D)the Rab-saris, Nergal-sar-ezer the Rab-mag, with all the rest of the officers of the king of Babylon. ⁴ When Zedekiah king of Judah and all the soldiers saw them, they fled, going out of the city at night by way of the king's garden through the gate between the two walls; and they went toward ^(E)the Arabah. ⁵ But the army of the Chaldeans pursued them and overtook Zedekiah in ^(F)the plains of Jericho. And when they had taken him, they brought him up to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, at ^(G)Riblah, in the land of Hamath; ^(H)and he passed sentence on him. ⁶ The king of Babylon ^(I)slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah at ^(J)Riblah before his eyes, and the king of Babylon ^(K)slaughtered all the nobles of Judah. ^7 (L)He put out the eyes of Zedekiah and bound him in chains to take him to Babylon. ^8 (M)The Chaldeans burned the king's house and the house of the people, ^(N)and broke down the walls of Jerusalem. ⁹ Then ^(O)Nebuzaradan, the ^(P)captain of the guard, carried into exile to Babylon the rest of the people who were left in the city, ^(Q)those who had deserted to him, and the people who remained. ¹⁰ Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, ^(R)left in the land of Judah some of the poor people who owned nothing, and gave them vineyards and fields at the same time.

The Lord Delivers Jeremiah

¹¹ Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon gave command concerning Jeremiah through Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, saying, ^12 (S)“Take him, look after him well, and do him no harm, but deal with him as he tells you.” ¹³ So ^(T)Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, Nebushazban the Rab-saris, Nergal-sar-ezer the Rab-mag, ^(U)and all the chief officers of the king of Babylon ¹⁴ sent and took Jeremiah from ^(V)the court of the guard. They entrusted him to ^(W)Gedaliah the son of ^(X)Ahikam, son of ^(Y)Shaphan, that he should take him home. So ^(Z)he lived among the people.

¹⁵ The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah ^(AA)while he was shut up in the court of the guard: ¹⁶ “Go, and say to ^(AB)Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ^(AC)Behold, I will fulfill my words against this city for harm and ^(AD)not for good, and they shall be accomplished before you on that day. ¹⁷ But I will deliver you on that day, declares the Lord, and you shall not be given into the hand of the men ^(AE)of whom you are afraid. ¹⁸ For I will surely save you, and you shall not fall by the sword, but you shall have your ^(AF)life as a prize of war, ^(AG)because you have put your trust in me, declares the Lord.’”

My Soul Waits for God Alone

To the choirmaster: according to ^(A)Jeduthun. A Psalm of David.

Beware of the Scribes

^38 (A)And in his teaching he said, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes and like greetings in the marketplaces ³⁹ and have the best seats in the synagogues and ^(B)the places of honor at feasts, ^40 (C)who devour widows' houses and ^(D)for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.”

The Widow's Offering

^41 (E)And he sat down opposite ^(F)the treasury and watched the people ^(G)putting money into the offering box. Many rich people put in large sums. ⁴² And a poor widow came and put in two ^(H)small copper coins, which make a penny.^{[a] 43} And he called his disciples to him and said to them, “Truly, I say to you, ^(I)this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. ⁴⁴ For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her ^(J)poverty has put in everything she had, all ^(K)she had to live on.”

Gentiles Grafted In

¹¹ So I ask, did they stumble in order that they might fall? By no means! Rather, through their trespass ^(A)salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous. ¹² Now if their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion^[a] mean!

¹³ Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch then as ^(B)I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry ¹⁴ in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous, and ^(C)thus save some of them. ¹⁵ For if their rejection means ^(D)the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead? ^16 (E)If the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, so is the whole lump, and if the root is holy, so are the branches.

¹⁷ But if ^(F)some of the branches were broken off, and you, ^(G)although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root^[b] of the olive tree, ¹⁸ do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you. ¹⁹ Then you will say, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” ²⁰ That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you ^(H)stand fast through faith. So ^(I)do not become proud, but ^(J)fear. ²¹ For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. ²² Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God's kindness to you, ^(K)provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise ^(L)you too will be cut off. ²³ And ^(M)even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again. ²⁴ For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree.