Parashah 22: Vayak’hel (He assembled) 35:1–38:20

[In regular years read with Parashah 23, in leap years read separately]

35 Moshe assembled the whole community of the people of Isra’el and said to them, “These are the things which Adonai has ordered you to do. ² On six days work is to be done, but the seventh day is to be a holy day for you, a Shabbat of complete rest in honor of Adonai. Whoever does any work on it is to be put to death. ³ You are not to kindle a fire in any of your homes on Shabbat.”

⁴ Moshe said to the whole community of the people of Isra’el, “Here is what Adonai has ordered: ⁵ ‘Take up a collection for Adonai from among yourselves — anyone whose heart makes him willing is to bring the offering for Adonai: gold, silver and bronze; ⁶ blue, purple and scarlet yarn; fine linen, goat’s hair, ⁷ tanned ram skins and fine leather; acacia-wood; ⁸ oil for the light, spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense; ⁹ onyx stones and stones to be set, for the ritual vest and the breastplate.

¹⁰ “‘Then let all the craftsmen among you come and make everything Adonai has ordered: ¹¹ the tabernacle with its tent, covering, fasteners, planks, crossbars, posts and sockets; ¹² the ark with its poles, ark-cover and the curtain to screen it; ¹³ the table with its poles, all its utensils and the showbread; ¹⁴ the menorah for the light, with its utensils and lamps, and the oil for the light; ¹⁵ the incense altar with its poles; the anointing oil; the fragrant incense; the screen for the entranceway at the entrance to the tabernacle; ¹⁶ the altar for burnt offerings, with its poles and all its utensils; the basin with its base; ¹⁷ the tapestries for the courtyard, with their posts and sockets; the screen for the gateway of the courtyard; ¹⁸ the tent pegs for the tabernacle; the tent pegs for the courtyard, with their ropes; ¹⁹ the garments for officiating, for serving in the Holy Place; and the holy garments for Aharon the cohen and the garments for his sons, so that they can serve in the office of cohen.’”

²⁰ Then the whole community of the people of Isra’el withdrew from Moshe’s presence; (LY: ii) ²¹ and they came, everyone whose heart stirred him and everyone whose spirit made him willing, and brought Adonai’s offering for the work on the tent of meeting, for the service in it and for the holy garments. ²² Both men and women came, as many as had willing hearts; they brought nose-rings, earrings, signet-rings, belts, all kinds of gold jewelry — everyone bringing an offering of gold to Adonai. ²³ Everyone who had blue, purple or scarlet yarn; fine linen; tanned ram skins or fine leather brought them. ²⁴ Everyone contributing silver or bronze brought his offering for Adonai, and everyone who had acacia-wood suitable for any of the work brought it. ²⁵ All the women who were skilled at spinning got to work and brought what they had spun, the blue, purple and scarlet yarn and the fine linen. ²⁶ Likewise the women whose heart stirred them to use their skill spun the goat’s hair. ²⁷ The leaders brought the onyx stones and the stones to be set, for the ritual vest and the breasplate; ²⁸ the spices; and the oil for the light, for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense. ²⁹ Thus every man and woman of the people of Isra’el whose heart impelled him to contribute to any of the work Adonai had ordered through Moshe brought it to Adonai as a voluntary offering.

(RY: ii, LY: iii) ³⁰ Moshe said to the people of Isra’el, “See, Adonai has singled out B’tzal’el the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Y’hudah. ³¹ He has filled him with the Spirit of God — with wisdom, understanding and knowledge concerning every kind of artisanry. ³² He is a master of design in gold, silver, bronze, ³³ cutting precious stones to be set, woodcarving and every other craft. ³⁴ [Adonai] has also given him and Oholi’av the son of Achisamakh, of the tribe of Dan, the ability to teach others. ³⁵ He has filled them with the skill needed for every kind of work, whether done by an artisan, a designer, an embroiderer using blue, purple and scarlet yarn, and fine linen, or a weaver — they have the skill for every kind of work and design.

36 “B’tzal’el and Oholi’av, along with all the craftsmen whom Adonai has endowed with the wisdom and skill necessary to carry out the work needed for the sanctuary, are to do exactly according to everything Adonai has ordered.”

² Moshe summoned B’tzal’el, Oholi’av and every craftsman to whom Adonai had given wisdom, everyone whose heart stirred him, to come and take part in the work. ³ They received from Moshe all the offering which the people of Isra’el had brought for the work of building the sanctuary. But they still kept bringing voluntary offerings every morning, ⁴ until all the craftsmen doing the work for the sanctuary left the work they were involved with ⁵ to tell Moshe, “The people are bringing far more than is needed to do the work Adonai has ordered done.” ⁶ So Moshe gave an order which was proclaimed throughout the camp: “Neither men nor women are to make any further efforts for the sanctuary offering.” In this way, the people were restrained from making additional contributions. ⁷ For what they had already was not only sufficient for doing all the work, but too much!

(LY: iv) ⁸ All the skilled men among them who did the work made the tabernacle, using ten sheets of finely woven linen and of blue, purple and scarlet yarn. He made them with k’ruvim worked in that had been crafted by a skilled artisan. ⁹ Each sheet was forty-two feet long and six feet wide; all the sheets were the same size. ¹⁰ He joined five sheets one to another, and the other five sheets he joined one to another. ¹¹ He made loops of blue on the edge of the outermost sheet in the first set and did the same on the edge of the outermost sheet in the second set. ¹² He made fifty loops on the one sheet, and he made fifty loops on the edge of the sheet in the second set; the loops were opposite one another. ¹³ He made fifty fasteners of gold and coupled the sheets to each other with the fasteners, so that the tabernacle formed a single unit.

¹⁴ He made sheets of goat’s hair to be used as a tent covering the tabernacle; he made eleven sheets. ¹⁵ Each sheet was forty-five feet long and six feet wide; all eleven sheets were the same size. ¹⁶ He joined five sheets together and six sheets together. ¹⁷ He made fifty loops on the edge of the outermost sheet in the first set and fifty loops on the outermost sheet in the second set. ¹⁸ He made fifty fasteners of bronze to join the tent together, so that it would be a single unit.

¹⁹ He made a covering for the tent of tanned ram skins and an outer covering of fine leather.

(LY: v) ²⁰ He made the upright planks of acacia-wood for the tabernacle. ²¹ Each plank was fifteen feet long and two-and-a-quarter feet wide. ²² There were two projections on each plank, and the planks were joined one to another. This is how he made all the planks for the tabernacle.

²³ He made the planks for the tabernacle as follows: twenty planks for the south side, facing southward. ²⁴ He made forty silver sockets under the twenty planks, two sockets under one plank for its two projections and two sockets under another plank for its two projections. ²⁵ For the second side of the tabernacle, to the north, he made twenty planks ²⁶ and their forty silver sockets, two sockets under one plank and two under another. ²⁷ For the rear part of the tabernacle, toward the west, he made six planks. ²⁸ For the corners of the tabernacle in the rear he made two planks, ²⁹ double from the bottom all the way to the top but joined at a single ring. He did the same with both of them at the two corners. ³⁰ Thus there were eight planks with their silver sockets, sixteen sockets, two sockets under each plank.

³¹ He made crossbars of acacia-wood, five for the planks of the one side of the tabernacle, ³² five crossbars for the planks of the other side of the tabernacle, and five crossbars for the planks at the side of the tabernacle at the rear toward the west. ³³ He made the middle crossbar so that it extended from one end of the planks to the other, halfway up. ³⁴ He overlaid the planks with gold, made gold rings for them through which the crossbars could pass and overlaid the crossbars with gold.

³⁵ He made the curtain of blue, purple and scarlet yarn and finely woven linen. He made them with k’ruvim worked in that had been crafted by a skilled artisan. ³⁶ He made for it four posts of acacia-wood and overlaid them with gold, and gold hooks; and cast for them four silver sockets.

³⁷ For the entrance to the tent he made a screen of blue, purple and scarlet yarn and finely woven linen, in colors, the work of a weaver; ³⁸ with its five posts and their hooks. He overlaid their capitals and their attached rings for hanging with gold, while their five sockets were of bronze.

10 There was a man in Caesarea named Cornelius, a Roman army officer in what was called the Italian Regiment. ² He was a devout man, a “God-fearer,” as was his whole household; he gave generously to help the Jewish poor and prayed regularly to God. ³ One afternoon around three o’clock he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God coming in and saying to him, “Cornelius!” ⁴ Cornelius stared at the angel, terrified. “What is it, sir?” he asked. “Your prayers,” replied the angel, “and your acts of charity have gone up into God’s presence, so that he has you on his mind. ⁵ Now send some men to Yafo to bring back a man named Shim‘on, also called Kefa. ⁶ He’s staying with Shim‘on the leather-tanner, who has a house by the sea.” ⁷ As the angel that had spoken to him went away, Cornelius called two of his household slaves and one of his military aides, who was a godly man; ⁸ he explained everything to them and sent them to Yafo.

⁹ The next day about noon, while they were still on their way and approaching the city, Kefa went up onto the roof of the house to pray. ¹⁰ He began to feel hungry and wanted something to eat; but while they were preparing the meal, he fell into a trance ¹¹ in which he saw heaven opened, and something that looked like a large sheet being lowered to the ground by its four corners. ¹² In it were all kinds of four-footed animals, crawling creatures and wild birds. ¹³ Then a voice came to him, “Get up, Kefa, slaughter and eat!” ¹⁴ But Kefa said, “No, sir! Absolutely not! I have never eaten food that was unclean or treif.” ¹⁵ The voice spoke to him a second time: “Stop treating as unclean what God has made clean.” ¹⁶ This happened three times, and then the sheet was immediately taken back up into heaven.

¹⁷ Kefa was still puzzling over the meaning of the vision he had seen, when the men Cornelius had sent, having inquired for Shim‘on’s house, stood at the gate ¹⁸ and called out to ask if the Shim‘on known as Kefa was staying there. ¹⁹ While Kefa’s mind was still on the vision, the Spirit said, “Three men are looking for you. ²⁰ Get up, go downstairs, and have no misgivings about going with them, because I myself have sent them.”

²¹ So Kefa went down and said to the men, “You were looking for me? Here I am. What brings you here?” ²² They answered, “Cornelius. He’s a Roman army officer, an upright man and a God-fearer, a man highly regarded by the whole Jewish nation; and he was told by a holy angel to have you come to his house and listen to what you have to say.” ²³ So Kefa invited them to be his guests.

The next day, he got up and went with them, accompanied by some of the brothers from Yafo; ²⁴ and he arrived at Caesarea the day after that. Cornelius was expecting them — he had already called together his relatives and close friends. ²⁵ As Kefa entered the house, Cornelius met him and fell prostrate at his feet. ²⁶ But Kefa pulled him to his feet and said, “Stand up! I myself am just a man.”

²⁷ As he talked with him, Kefa went inside and found many people gathered. ²⁸ He said to them, “You are well aware that for a man who is a Jew to have close association with someone who belongs to another people, or to come and visit him, is something that just isn’t done. But God has shown me not to call any person common or unclean; ²⁹ so when I was summoned, I came without raising any questions. Tell me, then, why did you send for me?”

³⁰ Cornelius answered, “Three days ago around this time, I was at minchah prayers in my house, when suddenly a man in shining clothes stood in front of me ³¹ and said, ‘God has heard your prayer and remembered your acts of charity. ³² Now send to Yafo and ask for Shim‘on, known as Kefa; he is staying in the house of Shim‘on, a leather-tanner, by the sea.’ ³³ So I sent for you immediately, and you have been kind enough to come. Now all of us are here in the presence of God to hear everything the Lord has ordered you to say.”

³⁴ Then Kefa addressed them: “I now understand that God does not play favorites, ³⁵ but that whoever fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him, no matter what people he belongs to.

³⁶ “Here is the message that he sent to the sons of Isra’el announcing shalom through Yeshua the Messiah, who is Lord of everything. ³⁷ You know what has been going on throughout Y’hudah, starting from the Galil after the immersion that Yochanan proclaimed; ³⁸ how God anointed Yeshua from Natzeret with the Ruach HaKodesh and with power; how Yeshua went about doing good and healing all the people oppressed by the Adversary, because God was with him.

³⁹ “As for us, we are witnesses of everything he did, both in the Judean countryside and in Yerushalayim. They did away with him by hanging him on a stake;^{[a] 40} but God raised him up on the third day and let him be seen, ⁴¹ not by all the people, but by witnesses God had previously chosen, that is, by us, who ate and drank with him after he had risen again from the dead.

⁴² “Then he commanded us to proclaim and attest to the Jewish people that this man has been appointed by God to judge the living and the dead. ⁴³ All the prophets bear witness to him, that everyone who puts his trust in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”

⁴⁴ Kefa was still saying these things when the Ruach HaKodesh fell on all who were hearing the message. ⁴⁵ All the believers from the Circumcision faction who had accompanied Kefa were amazed that the gift of the Ruach HaKodesh was also being poured out ⁴⁶ on the Goyim, for they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God. Kefa’s response was, ⁴⁷ “Is anyone prepared to prohibit these people from being immersed in water? After all, they have received the Ruach HaKodesh, just as we did.” ⁴⁸ And he ordered that they be immersed in the name of Yeshua the Messiah. Then they asked Kefa to stay on with them for a few days.