Construction Continues

37 ^(A)Now Bezalel made the ark of acacia wood; its length was ^[a]two and a half cubits, its width one and a half cubits, and its height one and a half cubits; ² and he overlaid it with pure gold inside and out, and made a gold molding for it all around. ³ He cast four rings of gold for it on its four feet; two rings on one side of it, and two rings on the ^[b]other side of it. ⁴ And he made poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with gold. ⁵ He put the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark, to carry ^[c]it. ⁶ He also made ^[d]an atoning cover of pure gold, two and a half cubits ^[e]long and one and a half cubits ^[f]wide. ⁷ And he made two cherubim of gold; he made them of hammered work ^[g]at the two ends of the atoning cover: ⁸ one cherub ^[h]at the one end and one cherub ^[i]at the other end; he made the cherubim of one piece with the atoning cover ^[j]at the two ends. ⁹ And the cherubim had their wings spread upward, covering the atoning cover with their wings, with their faces toward each other; the faces of the cherubim were toward the atoning cover.

^10 (B)Then he made the table of acacia wood, ^[k]two cubits ^[l]long, a cubit ^[m]wide, and one and a half cubits ^[n]high. ¹¹ He overlaid it with pure gold, and made a gold molding for it all around. ¹² And he made a rim for it of a ^[o]hand width all around, and made a gold molding for its rim all around. ¹³ He also cast four gold rings for it and put the rings on the four corners that were on its four legs. ¹⁴ Close by the rim were the rings, the holders for the poles to carry the table. ¹⁵ And he made the poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with gold, to carry the table. ¹⁶ He also made the utensils which were on the table, its dishes, its pans, its libation bowls, and its jars, with which to pour out drink offerings, of pure gold.

^17 (C)Then he made the lampstand of pure gold. He made the lampstand of hammered work, its base and its shaft; its cups, its ^[p]bulbs, and its flowers were of one piece with it. ¹⁸ There were six branches going out of its sides; three branches of the lampstand from the one side of it and three branches of the lampstand from the ^[q]other side of it; ¹⁹ three cups shaped like almond blossoms, a ^[r]bulb and a flower on one branch, and three cups shaped like almond blossoms, a ^[s]bulb and a flower on the other branch—so for the six branches going out of the lampstand. ²⁰ And on the lampstand there were four cups shaped like almond blossoms, its ^[t]bulbs and its flowers; ²¹ and a ^[u]bulb was under the first pair of branches coming out of it, and a ^[v]bulb under the second pair of branches coming out of it, and a ^[w]bulb under the third pair of branches coming out of it, for the six branches coming out of the lampstand. ²² Their ^[x]bulbs and their branches were of one piece with it; the whole of it was a single hammered work of pure gold. ²³ And he made its seven lamps with its tongs and its trays of pure gold. ²⁴ He made it and all its utensils from a ^[y]talent of pure gold.

^25 (D)Then he made the altar of incense of acacia wood: a cubit ^[z]long and a cubit ^[aa]wide, square, and two cubits ^[ab]high; its horns were of one piece with it. ²⁶ And he overlaid it with pure gold, its top and its ^[ac]sides all around, and its horns; and he made a gold molding for it all around. ²⁷ He also made two golden rings for it under its molding, on its two sides—on opposite sides—as holders for poles with which to carry it. ²⁸ And he made the poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with gold. ^29 (E)Then he made the holy anointing oil and the pure, fragrant incense of spices, the work of a perfumer.

The Tabernacle Completed

38 ^(F)Then he made the altar of burnt offering of acacia wood, ^[ad]five cubits ^[ae]long, and five cubits ^[af]wide, square, and three cubits ^[ag]high. ² And he made its horns on its four corners, its horns ^[ah]being of one piece with it, and he overlaid it with ^[ai]bronze. ³ He also made all the utensils of the altar, the pails, the shovels, the basins, the meat-forks, and the firepans; he made all its utensils of bronze. ⁴ And he made for the altar a grating of bronze netting beneath, under its ledge, reaching halfway up. ⁵ He also cast four rings on the four ends of the bronze grating as holders for the poles. ⁶ He made the poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with bronze. ⁷ Then he inserted the poles into the rings on the sides of the altar, with which to carry it. He made it hollow with planks.

^8 (G)Moreover, he made the basin of bronze with its base of bronze, ^[aj]from the mirrors of the serving women who served at the doorway of the tent of meeting.

^9 (H)Then he made the courtyard: ^[ak]for the south side the hangings of the courtyard were of fine twisted linen, a hundred cubits; ¹⁰ their twenty pillars, and their twenty bases, were made of bronze; the hooks of the pillars and their ^[al]bands were of silver. ¹¹ For the north side there were a hundred cubits; their twenty pillars and their twenty bases were of bronze, the hooks of the pillars and their ^[am]bands were of silver. ¹² For the west side there were hangings of fifty cubits with their ten pillars and their ten bases; the hooks of the pillars and their ^[an]bands were of silver. ¹³ For the ^[ao]east side, fifty cubits. ¹⁴ The hangings for the one ^[ap]side of the gate were fifteen cubits, with their three pillars and their three bases, ¹⁵ and so for the ^[aq]other ^[ar]side. ^[as]On both sides of the gate of the courtyard were hangings of fifteen cubits, with their three pillars and their three bases. ¹⁶ All the hangings of the courtyard all around were of fine twisted linen. ¹⁷ And the bases for the pillars were of bronze, the hooks of the pillars and their ^[at]bands, of silver; and the overlaying of their tops, of silver, and all the pillars of the courtyard were furnished with silver ^[au]bands. ¹⁸ Now the curtain of the gate of the courtyard was the work of the ^[av]weaver, of ^[aw]violet, purple, and scarlet material and fine twisted linen. And the length was twenty cubits and the ^[ax]height was five cubits, corresponding to the hangings of the courtyard. ¹⁹ Their four pillars and their four bases were of bronze; their hooks were of silver, and the overlaying of their tops and their ^[ay]bands were of silver. ²⁰ All the pegs of the ^[az]tabernacle and of the courtyard all around were of bronze.

The Cost of the Tabernacle

^21 [ba]This is the number of the things for the ^[bb]tabernacle, the ^[bc]tabernacle of the testimony, as they were ^[bd]counted according to the ^[be]command of Moses, for the service of the Levites, by the hand of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest. ²² Now ^(I)Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, made everything that the Lord had commanded Moses. ²³ With him was ^(J)Oholiab the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, an engraver and a skilled embroiderer, and a ^[bf]weaver in violet, in purple, and in scarlet material, and fine linen.

²⁴ All the gold that was used for the work, in all the work of the sanctuary, ^[bg]which was the gold of the wave offering, was twenty-nine ^[bh]talents and 730 ^[bi]shekels, according to ^(K)the shekel of the sanctuary. ²⁵ And ^(L)the silver of those of the congregation who were ^[bj]counted was a hundred talents and 1,775 shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary; ^26 (M)a beka a head (that is, half a shekel according to the shekel of the sanctuary), assessed to each one who passed over to those who were ^[bk]counted, from twenty years old and upward, for ^(N)603,550 men. ²⁷ The hundred talents of silver were used for casting the bases of the sanctuary and the bases of the veil; a hundred bases for the hundred talents, a talent for a base. ²⁸ And of the 1,775 shekels, he made hooks for the pillars, and overlaid their tops and made ^[bl]bands for them. ²⁹ And the bronze of the wave offering was seventy talents and 2,400 shekels. ³⁰ With it he made the bases to the doorway of the tent of meeting, and the bronze altar and its bronze grating, and all the utensils of the altar, ³¹ and the bases of the courtyard all around and the bases of the gate of the courtyard, and all the pegs of the ^[bm]tabernacle and all the pegs of the courtyard all around.

Blessedness of Forgiveness and of Trust in God.

A Psalm of David. A ^[a]Maskil.

Parable of the Sower and Soils

4 Again ^(A)He began to teach ^(B)by the sea. And such a very large crowd gathered to Him that ^(C)He got into a boat on the sea and sat down; and the whole crowd was by the sea on the land. ² And He was teaching them many things in ^(D)parables, and was saying to them in His teaching, ³ “Listen to this! Behold, the sower went out to sow; ⁴ as he was sowing, some seed fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate it up. ⁵ Other seed fell on the rocky ground where it did not have much soil; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of soil. ⁶ And when the sun had risen, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away. ⁷ Other seed fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it, and it yielded no crop. ⁸ Other seeds fell into the good soil, and as they grew up and increased, they yielded a crop and produced thirty, sixty, and a hundred times as much.” ⁹ And He was saying, “^(E)He who has ears to hear, ^[a]let him hear.”

¹⁰ As soon as He was alone, ^[b]His followers, along with the twelve disciples, began asking Him about the parables. ¹¹ And He was saying to them, “To you has been given the mystery of the kingdom of God, but for ^(F)those who are outside, everything comes ^(G)in parables, ¹² so that ^(H)while seeing they may see, and not perceive, and while hearing, they may hear, and not understand, otherwise they might return and it would be forgiven them.”

Explanation of the Parable

^13 (I)And He *said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How will you understand all the parables? ¹⁴ The sower sows the word. ¹⁵ These are the ones who are beside the road where the word is sown; and when they hear, immediately ^(J)Satan comes and takes away the word which has been sown in them. ¹⁶ And in a similar way these are the ones sown with seed on the rocky places, who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy; ¹⁷ and yet they have no firm root in themselves, but are only temporary; then, when affliction or persecution occurs because of the word, immediately they ^[c]fall away. ¹⁸ And others are the ones sown with seed among the thorns; these are the ones who have heard the word, ¹⁹ but the worries of ^(K)the ^[d]world, and the ^(L)deceitfulness of wealth, and the desires for other things enter and choke the word, and it ^[e]becomes unfruitful. ²⁰ And those are the ones sown with seed on the good soil; and they hear the word and accept it and ^(M)bear fruit, thirty, sixty, and a hundred times as much.”

²¹ And He was saying to them, “^(N)A lamp is not brought to be put under a ^[f]basket, or under a bed, is it? Is it not brought to be put on the lampstand? ^22 (O)For nothing is hidden, except to be revealed; nor has anything been secret, but that it would come to light. ^23 (P)If anyone has ears to hear, ^[g]let him hear.” ²⁴ And He was saying to them, “Take care what you listen to. ^[h](Q)By your standard of measure it will be measured to you; and more will be given you besides. ^25 (R)For whoever has, to him more will be given; and whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.”

Parable of the Seed

²⁶ And He was saying, “The kingdom of God is like a man who casts seed upon the soil; ²⁷ and he goes to bed at night and gets up daily, and the seed sprouts and grows—how, he himself does not know. ²⁸ The soil produces crops by itself; first the stalk, then the head, then the mature grain in the head. ²⁹ Now when the crop permits, he immediately ^[i](S)puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

Parable of the Mustard Seed

^30 (T)And He was saying, “How shall we ^[j](U)picture the kingdom of God, or by what parable shall we present it? ³¹ It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the soil, though it is the smallest of all the seeds that are upon the soil, ³² yet when it is sown, it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants, and forms large branches, with the result that ^(V)the birds of the sky can nest under its shade.”

³³ And with many such parables He was speaking the word to them, so far as they were able to ^[k]understand it; ³⁴ and He did not speak to them ^(W)without a parable; but He was ^(X)explaining everything privately to His own disciples.

Jesus Stills the Sea

^35 (Y)On that day, when evening came, He *said to them, “Let’s go over to the other side.” ³⁶ After dismissing the crowd, they *took Him along with them ^(Z)in the boat, just as He was; and other boats were with Him. ³⁷ And a fierce gale of wind *developed, and the waves were breaking over the boat so much that the boat was already filling with water. ³⁸ And yet Jesus Himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they *woke Him and *said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?” ³⁹ And He got up and ^(AA)rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Hush, be still.” And the wind died down and ^[l]it became perfectly calm. ⁴⁰ And He said to them, “Why are you ^[m]afraid? ^(AB)Do you still have no faith?” ⁴¹ They became very much afraid and said to one another, “Who, then, is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?”