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.

The Golden Calf

32 When the people saw that Moses ^(Z)delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, ^(AA)“Up, make us gods who shall ^(AB)go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” ² So Aaron said to them, “Take off the ^(AC)rings of gold that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” ³ So all the people took off the rings of gold that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. ^4 (AD)And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden^[b] calf. And they said, ^(AE)“These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” ⁵ When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it. And Aaron ^(AF)made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord.” ⁶ And they rose up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. And ^(AG)the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up ^(AH)to play.

⁷ And the Lord said to Moses, ^(AI)“Go down, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have ^(AJ)corrupted themselves. ⁸ They have turned aside quickly out of the way that ^(AK)I commanded them. They have made for themselves a golden calf and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it and said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!’” ⁹ And the Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, ^(AL)it is a stiff-necked people. ¹⁰ Now therefore ^(AM)let me alone, that ^(AN)my wrath may burn hot against them and ^(AO)I may consume them, in order that ^(AP)I may make a great nation of you.”

¹¹ But ^(AQ)Moses implored the Lord his God and said, “O Lord, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? ^12 (AR)Why should the Egyptians say, ‘With evil intent did he bring them out, to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from your burning anger and ^(AS)relent from this disaster against your people. ¹³ Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you ^(AT)swore by your own self, and said to them, ^(AU)‘I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.’” ¹⁴ And the Lord ^(AV)relented from the disaster that he had spoken of bringing on his people.

¹⁵ Then ^(AW)Moses turned and went down from the mountain with the ^(AX)two tablets of the testimony in his hand, tablets that were written on both sides; on the front and on the back they were written. ^16 (AY)The tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets. ¹⁷ When ^(AZ)Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, “There is a noise of war in the camp.” ¹⁸ But he said, “It is not the sound of ^(BA)shouting for victory, or the sound of the cry of defeat, but the sound of singing that I hear.” ¹⁹ And as soon as he came near the camp and ^(BB)saw the calf and the dancing, Moses' anger burned hot, and he threw the tablets out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain. ²⁰ He took the calf that they had made and burned it with fire and ground it to powder and scattered it on the water and made the people of Israel drink it.

²¹ And Moses said to Aaron, ^(BC)“What did this people do to you that you have brought such a great sin upon them?” ²² And Aaron said, “Let not the anger of my lord burn hot. ^(BD)You know the people, that they are set on evil. ²³ For ^(BE)they said to me, ‘Make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ ²⁴ So ^(BF)I said to them, ‘Let any who have gold take it off.’ So they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf.”

²⁵ And when Moses saw that the people had broken loose (for Aaron had let them break loose, ^(BG)to the derision of their enemies), ²⁶ then Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said, “Who is on the Lord's side? Come to me.” And all the sons of Levi gathered around him. ²⁷ And he said to them, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘Put your sword on your side each of you, and go to and fro from gate to gate throughout the camp, and each of you ^(BH)kill his brother and his companion and his neighbor.’” ²⁸ And the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses. And that day about three thousand men of the people fell. ²⁹ And Moses said, “Today you have been ^(BI)ordained for the service of the Lord, each one at the cost of his son and of his brother, so that he might bestow a blessing upon you this day.”

³⁰ The next day Moses said to the people, ^(BJ)“You have sinned a great sin. And now I will go up to the Lord; ^(BK)perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.” ³¹ So Moses returned to the Lord and said, “Alas, ^(BL)this people has sinned a great sin. They have ^(BM)made for themselves gods of gold. ³² But now, if ^(BN)you will forgive their sin—but if not, please ^(BO)blot me out of ^(BP)your book that you have written.” ³³ But the Lord said to Moses, ^(BQ)“Whoever has sinned against me, I will blot out of my book. ^34 (BR)But now go, lead the people to the place about which I have spoken to you; ^(BS)behold, my angel shall go before you. Nevertheless, in the day when I visit, I will visit their sin upon them.”

³⁵ Then the Lord sent a plague on the people, because they made the calf, the one that Aaron made.

Joy Comes with the Morning

A Psalm of David. A song at the dedication of ^(A)the temple.

Jesus Heals a Paralytic

2 And when he returned to ^(A)Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. ² And many were gathered together, so that there was no more room, not even at the door. And he was preaching the word to them. ^3 (B)And they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men. ⁴ And when they could not get near him because of the crowd, ^(C)they removed the roof above him, and when they had made an opening, they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay. ⁵ And when Jesus ^(D)saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, ^(E)your sins are forgiven.” ⁶ Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, ⁷ “Why does this man speak like that? ^(F)He is blaspheming! ^(G)Who can forgive sins but God alone?” ⁸ And immediately Jesus, ^(H)perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them, “Why do you question these things in your hearts? ⁹ Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise, take up your bed and walk’? ¹⁰ But that you may know that ^(I)the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the paralytic— ¹¹ “I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home.” ¹² And he rose and immediately picked up his bed and went out before them all, so that they were all amazed and ^(J)glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!”

Jesus Calls Levi

¹³ He went out again beside the sea, and ^(K)all the crowd was coming to him, and he was teaching them. ^14 (L)And as he passed by, he saw ^(M)Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him.

¹⁵ And as he reclined at table in his house, many ^(N)tax collectors and sinners were reclining with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. ¹⁶ And ^(O)the scribes of^[a] the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, ^(P)“Why does he eat^[b] with tax collectors and sinners?” ¹⁷ And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. ^(Q)I came not to call the righteous, ^(R)but sinners.”

A Question About Fasting

¹⁸ Now ^(S)John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. And people came and said to him, ^(T)“Why do John's disciples and ^(U)the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” ¹⁹ And Jesus said to them, ^(V)“Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. ^20 (W)The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and ^(X)then they will fast in that day. ²¹ No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. ²² And no one puts new wine into old ^(Y)wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins—and the wine is destroyed, and so are the skins. But new wine is for fresh wineskins.”^[c]

Jesus Is Lord of the Sabbath

^23 (Z)One Sabbath he was going through the grainfields, and as they made their way, his disciples ^(AA)began to pluck heads of grain. ²⁴ And the Pharisees were saying to him, “Look, ^(AB)why are they doing ^(AC)what is not lawful on the Sabbath?” ²⁵ And he said to them, ^(AD)“Have you never read ^(AE)what David did, when he was in need and was hungry, he and those who were with him: ²⁶ how he entered the house of God, in the time of^{[d] (AF)}Abiathar the high priest, and ate ^(AG)the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those who were with him?” ²⁷ And he said to them, ^(AH)“The Sabbath was made for man, ^(AI)not man for the Sabbath. ²⁸ So ^(AJ)the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.”