The Daily Audio Bible

The Craftsmen for the Tent^(A)

¹⁰ “Have all the skilled craftsmen among you come and make everything the Lord has commanded: ¹¹ the inner tent, the outer tent, and cover, along with the fasteners, frames, crossbars, posts, and sockets, ¹² the ark with its poles, the throne of mercy and the canopy over it, ¹³ the table with its poles, all the dishes, the bread of the presence, ¹⁴ the lamp stand used for the light with its utensils, its lamps and the olive oil for the lamps, ¹⁵ the altar for incense with its poles, the anointing oil, the sweet-smelling incense, the screen for the entrance to the tent, ¹⁶ the altar for burnt offerings with its bronze grate, its poles, and all its accessories, the basin with its stand, ¹⁷ the curtains for the courtyard, the posts, bases, and the screen for the entrance to the courtyard, ¹⁸ the pegs for the tent and the courtyard with their ropes, ¹⁹ the special clothes worn for official duties in the holy place—both the holy clothes for Aaron the priest and the clothes for his sons when they serve as priests.”

²⁰ Then the whole Israelite community left Moses. ²¹ Those who were willing and whose hearts moved them came and brought their contributions to the Lord. The gifts were used to construct the tent of meeting, to pay other expenses, and to make the holy clothes. ²² All who were willing—men and women alike—came and brought all kinds of gold jewelry: pins, earrings, signet rings, and pendants. They took these gifts of gold and offered them to the Lord. ²³ Those who had violet, purple, or bright red yarn, fine linen, goats’ hair, rams’ skins dyed red, or fine leather brought them. ²⁴ Those who could give silver or bronze brought it as their contribution to the Lord. Those who had acacia wood that could be used in the construction brought it. ²⁵ All the women who were skilled in spinning yarn brought violet, purple, and bright red yarn, and fine linen, which they had made by hand. ²⁶ All the women who were willing and had the skill spun the goats’ hair. ²⁷ The leaders brought onyx stones and other precious stones to be set in the ⌞chief priest’s⌟ ephod and breastplate. ²⁸ They also brought the spices and the olive oil for the lamps, the anointing oil, and the sweet-smelling incense. ²⁹ Every Israelite man and woman who was willing brought all these items to the Lord as a freewill offering. They brought these items to be used to make everything the Lord had commanded through Moses.

³⁰ Then Moses said to the Israelites, “The Lord has chosen Bezalel, son of Uri and grandson of Hur, from the tribe of Judah. ³¹ The Lord has filled Bezalel with the Spirit of God, making him highly skilled, resourceful, and knowledgeable in all trades. ³² He’s a master artist familiar with gold, silver, and bronze. ³³ He knows how to cut and set stones and how to work with wood. He’s an expert in all trades. ³⁴ Also, the Lord has given Bezalel and Oholiab, son of Ahisamach, from the tribe of Dan the ability to teach others. ³⁵ The Lord has made these men highly skilled in all trades. They can do the work of jewelers, carpenters, and designers. They know how to embroider violet, purple and bright red yarn on fine linen. They know how to weave yarn on a loom. They can do all kinds of trades. They are master artists.”

36 ⌞Moses continued,⌟ “So Bezalel and Oholiab will do the work as the Lord has commanded. They will do this with the help of every other craftsman to whom the Lord has given the necessary skills and talents. They will know how to do all the work for constructing the holy place.”

² Moses called Bezalel and Oholiab and every other craftsman to whom the Lord had given these skills and who was willing to come and do the work.

Excess Contributions

³ Moses turned over to them all the contributions the Israelites had brought for the work of constructing the holy place. But the people still kept bringing him freewill offerings every morning. ⁴ Finally, all the skilled craftsmen who were working on the holy place stopped what they were doing. They all came to Moses. ⁵ They said, “The people are bringing much more than we need for doing the work the Lord commanded us to do.”

⁶ So Moses gave instructions to have the following message announced all over camp: “No man or woman needs to make anything more to give as their special contribution to the holy place.” Then the people stopped bringing gifts. ⁷ The material they had was more than enough to do the job.

The Tent^(B)

⁸ All the skilled craftsmen among the workers made the inner tent with ten sheets made from fine linen yarn and violet, purple, and bright red yarn. An angel ^[a] design was creatively worked into the fabric. ⁹ Each sheet was 42 feet long and 6 feet wide—all the same size. ¹⁰ Five of the sheets were sewn together, and the other five were also sewn together. ¹¹ Then they made 50 violet loops along the edge of the end sheet in each set, ¹² placing the loops opposite each other. ¹³ They also made 50 gold fasteners. They used them to link the ⌞two sets of⌟ sheets together so that the inner tent was a single unit.

¹⁴ They made 11 sheets of goats’ hair to form an outer tent over the inner tent. ¹⁵ Each of the 11 sheets was 45 feet long and 6 feet wide. ¹⁶ Five of the sheets were sewn together into one set, and the remaining six into another set. ¹⁷ Then they made 50 loops along the edge of the end sheet in each set. ¹⁸ They also made 50 bronze fasteners to link the inner tent together as a single unit. ¹⁹ They made a cover out of rams’ skins that had been dyed red for the outer tent, and over that they put a cover made of fine leather.

²⁰ They made a framework out of acacia wood for the inner tent. ²¹ Each frame was 15 feet long and 27 inches wide, ²² with two identical pegs. They made all the frames for the inner tent this same way. ²³ They made 20 frames for the south side of the inner tent. ²⁴ Then they made 40 silver sockets at the bottom of the 20 frames, two sockets at the bottom of each frame for the two pegs. ²⁵ For the north side of the inner tent ⌞they made⌟ 20 frames ²⁶ and 40 silver sockets, two at the bottom of each frame. ²⁷ They made six frames for the far end, the west side. ²⁸ They made two frames for ⌞each of⌟ the corners at the far end of the inner tent. ²⁹ They were held together at the bottom and held tightly at the top by a single ring.^[b] Both corner frames were made this way. ³⁰ There were eight frames with 16 silver sockets, two at the bottom of each frame.

³¹ They also made crossbars out of acacia wood. Five were for the frames on one side of the inner tent, ³² five were for those on the other side, and five were for the frames on the far side of the inner tent, the west side. ³³ They made the middle crossbar so that it ran from one end to the other, halfway up the frames. ³⁴ They covered the frames with gold and made gold rings to hold the crossbars. They also covered the crossbars with gold.

³⁵ They made the canopy out of violet, purple, and bright red yarn and fine linen yarn. An angel design was creatively worked into the fabric. ³⁶ They made four posts of acacia wood for it and covered them with gold. They made gold hooks for the posts, and they cast four silver bases for them.

³⁷ They made a screen out of fine linen yarn for the entrance to the outer tent. It was embroidered with violet, purple, and bright red yarn. ³⁸ They also made five posts with hooks for ⌞hanging⌟ the screen. They covered the tops of the posts and the bands with gold, but the five bases for the posts were made of bronze.

³² On the way they found a man named Simon. He was from the city of Cyrene. The soldiers forced him to carry Jesus’ cross.

³³ They came to a place called Golgotha (which means “the place of the skull”). ³⁴ They gave him a drink of wine mixed with a drug called gall. When he tasted it, he refused to drink it. ³⁵ After they had crucified him, they divided his clothes among themselves by throwing dice. ³⁶ Then they sat there and kept watch over him. ³⁷ They placed a written accusation above his head. It read, “This is Jesus, the king of the Jews.”

³⁸ At that time they crucified two criminals with him, one on his right and the other on his left.

³⁹ Those who passed by insulted him. They shook their heads ⁴⁰ and said, “You were going to tear down God’s temple and build it again in three days. Save yourself! If you’re the Son of God, come down from the cross.” ⁴¹ The chief priests together with the experts in Moses’ Teachings and the leaders made fun of him in the same way. They said, ⁴² “He saved others, but he can’t save himself. So he’s Israel’s king! Let him come down from the cross now, and we’ll believe him. ⁴³ He trusted God. Let God rescue him now if he wants. After all, this man said, ‘I am the Son of God.’ ” ⁴⁴ Even the criminals crucified with him were insulting him the same way.

Jesus Dies on the Cross^(A)

⁴⁵ At noon darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. ⁴⁶ About three o’clock Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” ⁴⁷ When some of the people standing there heard him say that, they said, “He’s calling Elijah.” ⁴⁸ One of the men ran at once, took a sponge, and soaked it in some vinegar. Then he put it on a stick and offered Jesus a drink. ⁴⁹ The others said, “Leave him alone! Let’s see if Elijah comes to save him.”

⁵⁰ Then Jesus loudly cried out once again and gave up his life.

⁵¹ Suddenly, the curtain in the temple was split in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, and the rocks were split open. ⁵² The tombs were opened, and the bodies of many holy people who had died came back to life. ⁵³ They came out of the tombs after he had come back to life, and they went into the holy city where they appeared to many people.

⁵⁴ An army officer and those watching Jesus with him saw the earthquake and the other things happening. They were terrified and said, “Certainly, this was the Son of God!”

⁵⁵ Many women were there watching from a distance. They had followed Jesus from Galilee and had always supported him. ⁵⁶ Among them were Mary from Magdala, Mary (the mother of James and Joseph), and the mother of Zebedee’s sons.

Jesus Is Placed in a Tomb^(B)

⁵⁷ In the evening a rich man named Joseph arrived. He was from the city of Arimathea and had become a disciple of Jesus. ⁵⁸ He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Pilate ordered that it be given to him.

⁵⁹ Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth. ⁶⁰ Then he laid it in his own new tomb, which had been cut in a rock. After rolling a large stone against the door of the tomb, he went away. ⁶¹ Mary from Magdala and the other Mary were sitting there, facing the tomb.

The Chief Priests and Pharisees Secure Jesus’ Tomb

⁶² The next day, which was the day of rest—a holy day, the chief priests and Pharisees gathered together and went to Pilate. ⁶³ They said, “Sir, we remember how that deceiver said while he was still alive, ‘After three days I will be brought back to life.’ ⁶⁴ Therefore, give the order to make the tomb secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may steal him and say to the people, ‘He has been brought back to life.’ Then the last deception will be worse than the first.”

⁶⁵ Pilate told them, “You have the soldiers you want for guard duty. Go and make the tomb as secure as you know how.”

⁶⁶ So they went to secure the tomb. They placed a seal on the stone and posted the soldiers on guard duty.

By David when he pretended to be insane in the presence of Abimelech; Abimelech threw him out, so David left.

Wisdom Prolongs Life