Passage results

Listen to this passage
View commentary related to this passage

Exodus 31

The LORD Chooses Bezalel and Oholiab

(Exodus 35.30--36.1)

    ²I have chosen Bezalel ^[a] from the Judah tribe to make the sacred tent and its furnishings. ^3-5Not only have I filled him with my Spirit, but I have given him wisdom and made him a skilled craftsman who can create objects of art with gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood. ⁶I have appointed Oholiab ^[b] from the tribe of Dan to work with him, and I have also given skills to those who will help them make everything exactly as I have commanded you: ^7-11the sacred tent with its furnishings, the sacred chest with its place of mercy, the table with all that is on it, the lamp with its equipment, the incense altar, the altar for sacrifices with its equipment, the bronze bowl with its stand, the beautiful priestly clothes for Aaron and his sons, the oil for dedication and ordination services, and the sweet-smelling incense for the holy place.

Laws for the Sabbath

   The Sabbath belongs to me. Now I command you and your descendants to always obey the laws of the Sabbath. By doing this, you will know that I have chosen you as my own. ^14-15Keep the Sabbath holy. You have six days to do your work, but the Sabbath is mine, and it must remain a day of rest. If you work on the Sabbath, you will no longer be part of my people, and you will be put to death.

    ¹⁶Every generation of Israelites must respect the Sabbath. ¹⁷This day will always serve as a reminder, both to me and to the Israelites, that I made the heavens and the earth in six days, then on the seventh day I rested and relaxed.

    ¹⁸When God had finished speaking to Moses on Mount Sinai, he gave him the two flat stones on which he had written all of his laws with his own hand.

Exodus 32

The People Make an Idol To Worship

(Deuteronomy 9.6-29)

    ²Aaron told them, " Bring me the gold earrings that your wives and sons and daughters are wearing." ³Everybody took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron, ⁴then he melted them and made an idol in the shape of a young bull.

   All the people said to one another, " This is the god who brought us out of Egypt!"

    ⁵When Aaron saw what was happening, he built an altar in front of the idol and said, " Tomorrow we will celebrate in honor of the LORD." ⁶The people got up early the next morning and killed some animals to be used for sacrifices and others to be eaten. Then everyone ate and drank so much that they began to carry on like wild people.

    ⁷The LORD said to Moses:

   Hurry back down! Those people you led out of Egypt are acting like fools. ⁸They have already stopped obeying me and have made themselves an idol in the shape of a young bull. They have bowed down to it, offered sacrifices, and said that it is the god who brought them out of Egypt. ⁹Moses, I have seen how stubborn these people are, ¹⁰and I'm angry enough to destroy them, so don't try to stop me. But I will make your descendants into a great nation.

    ¹¹Moses tried to get the LORD God to change his mind:

   Our LORD, you used your mighty power to bring these people out of Egypt. Now don't become angry and destroy them. ¹²If you do, the Egyptians will say that you brought your people out here into the mountains just to get rid of them. Please don't be angry with your people. Don't destroy them!

    ¹³Remember the solemn promise you made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. You promised that someday they would have as many descendants as there are stars in the sky and that you would give them land.

    ¹⁴So even though the LORD had threatened to destroy the people, he changed his mind and let them live.

    ^15-16Moses went back down the mountain with the two flat stones on which God had written all of his laws with his own hand, and he had used both sides of the stones.

    ¹⁷When Joshua heard the noisy shouts of the people, he said to Moses, " A battle must be going on down in the camp."

    ¹⁸But Moses replied, " It doesn't sound like they are shouting because they have won or lost a battle. They are singing wildly!"

    ¹⁹As Moses got closer to the camp, he saw the idol, and he also saw the people dancing around. This made him so angry that he threw down the stones and broke them to pieces at the foot of the mountain. ²⁰He melted the idol the people had made, and he ground it into powder. He scattered it in their water and made them drink it. ²¹Moses asked Aaron, " What did these people do to harm you? Why did you make them sin in this terrible way?"

    ²²Aaron answered:

   Don't be angry with me. You know as well as I do that they are determined to do evil. ²³They even told me, " That man Moses led us out of Egypt, but now we don't know what has happened to him. Make us a god to lead us." ²⁴Then I asked them to bring me their gold earrings. They took them off and gave them to me. I threw the gold into a fire, and out came this bull.

    ²⁵Moses knew that the people were out of control and that it was Aaron's fault. And now they had made fools of themselves in front of their enemies. ²⁶So Moses stood at the gate of the camp and shouted, " Everyone who is on the LORD's side come over here!"

   Then the men of the Levi tribe gathered around Moses, ²⁷and he said to them, " The LORD God of Israel commands you to strap on your swords and go through the camp, killing your relatives, your friends, and your neighbors."

    ²⁸The men of the Levi tribe followed his orders, and that day they killed about three thousand men. ²⁹Moses said to them, " You obeyed the LORD and did what was right, and so you will serve as his priests for the people of Israel. It was hard for you to kill your own sons and brothers, but the LORD has blessed you and made you his priests today."

    ³⁰The next day Moses told the people, " This is a terrible thing you have done. But I will go back to the LORD to see if I can do something to keep this sin from being held against you."

    ³¹Moses returned to the LORD and said, " The people have committed a terrible sin. They have made a gold idol to be their god. ³²But I beg you to forgive them. If you don't, please wipe my name out of your book." ^{[c] 33}The LORD replied, " I will wipe out of my book the name of everyone who has sinned against me. ³⁴Now take my people to the place I told you about, and my angel will lead you. But when the time comes, I will punish them for this sin."

    ³⁵So the LORD punished the people of Israel with a terrible disease for talking Aaron into making the gold idol.

Exodus 33

The LORD Tells Israel To Leave Mount Sinai

   You led the people of Israel out of Egypt. Now get ready to lead them to the land I promised their ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. ^2-3It is a land rich with milk and honey, and I will send an angel to force out those people who live there--the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. I would go with my people, but they are so rebellious that I would destroy them before they get there.

    ^4-5Even before the LORD said these harsh things, he had told Moses, " These people really are rebellious, and I would kill them at once, if I went with them. But tell them to take off their fancy jewelry, then I'll decide what to do with them." So the people started mourning, ⁶and after leaving Mount Sinai, ^[d] they stopped wearing fancy jewelry.

The LORD Is with His People

The LORD Promises To Be with His People

    ¹⁴The LORD said, " I will go with you and give you peace."

    ¹⁵Then Moses replied, " If you aren't going with us, please don't make us leave this place. ¹⁶But if you do go with us, everyone will know that you are pleased with your people and with me. That way, we will be different from the rest of the people on earth."

    ¹⁷So the LORD told him, " I will do what you have asked, because I am your friend and I am pleased with you."

    ¹⁸Then Moses said, " I pray that you will let me see you in all of your glory."

    ¹⁹The LORD answered:

   All right. I am the LORD, and I show mercy and kindness to anyone I choose. I will let you see my glory and hear my holy name, ²⁰but I won't let you see my face, because anyone who sees my face will die. ²¹There is a rock not far from me. Stand beside it, ²²and before I pass by in all of my shining glory, I will put you in a large crack in the rock. I will cover your eyes with my hand until I have passed by. ²³Then I will take my hand away, and you will see my back. You will not see my face.

Listen to this passage
View commentary related to this passage

Matthew 22

The Great Banquet

(Luke 14.15-24)

    ²The kingdom of heaven is like what happened when a king gave a wedding banquet for his son. ³The king sent some servants to tell the invited guests to come to the banquet, but the guests refused. ⁴He sent other servants to say to the guests, "The banquet is ready! My cattle and prize calves have all been prepared. Everything is ready. Come to the banquet!"

    ⁵But the guests did not pay any attention. Some of them left for their farms, and some went to their places of business. ⁶Others grabbed the servants, then beat them up and killed them.

    ⁷This made the king so furious that he sent an army to kill those murderers and burn down their city. ⁸Then he said to the servants, "It is time for the wedding banquet, and the invited guests don't deserve to come. ⁹Go out to the street corners and tell everyone you meet to come to the banquet." ¹⁰They went out on the streets and brought in everyone they could find, good and bad alike. And the banquet room was filled with guests.

    ¹¹When the king went in to meet the guests, he found that one of them wasn't wearing the right kind of clothes for the wedding. ¹²The king asked, "Friend, why didn't you wear proper clothes for the wedding?" But the guest had no excuse. ¹³So the king gave orders for that person to be tied hand and foot and to be thrown outside into the dark. That's where people will cry and grit their teeth in pain. ¹⁴Many are invited, but only a few are chosen.

Paying Taxes

(Mark 12.13-17; Luke 20.20-26)

    ²¹"The Emperor's," they answered.

   Then Jesus told them, "Give the Emperor what belongs to him and give God what belongs to God." ²²His answer surprised them so much that they walked away.