The Blood of the Covenant

24 Then he said to Moses, “Come up to the Lord, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and worship at a distance.^{(A) 2} Moses alone shall come near the Lord, but the others shall not come near, and the people shall not come up with him.”

³ Moses went and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the ordinances, and all the people answered with one voice and said, “All the words that the Lord has spoken we will do.”^{(B) 4} And Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord. He rose early in the morning, built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and set up twelve pillars, corresponding to the twelve tribes of Israel.^{(C) 5} He sent young men of the Israelites, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed oxen as offerings of well-being to the Lord. ⁶ Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and half of the blood he dashed against the altar.^{(D) 7} Then he took the book of the covenant and read it in the hearing of the people, and they said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.”^{(E) 8} Moses took the blood and dashed it on the people, and said, “Here is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.”^(F)

On the Mountain with God

⁹ Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up,^{(G) 10} and they saw the God of Israel. Under his feet there was something like a pavement of sapphire stone, like the very heaven for clearness.^{(H) 11} God^[a] did not lay his hand on the chief men of the Israelites; they beheld God, and they ate and drank.

¹² The Lord said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain and wait there; I will give you the tablets of stone, with the law and the commandment, which I have written for their instruction.” ¹³ So Moses set out with his assistant Joshua, and Moses went up onto the mountain of God. ¹⁴ To the elders he had said, “Wait here for us, until we come back to you. Look, Aaron and Hur are with you; whoever has a dispute may go to them.”

¹⁵ Then Moses went up on the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain.^{(I) 16} The glory of the Lord settled on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days; on the seventh day he called to Moses out of the cloud.^{(J) 17} Now the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the Israelites.^{(K) 18} Moses entered the cloud and went up on the mountain. Moses was on the mountain for forty days and forty nights.^(L)

The Unbelief of Jesus’s Brothers

7 After this Jesus went about in Galilee. He did not wish to go about in Judea because the Jews were looking for an opportunity to kill him.^{(A) 2} Now the Jewish Festival of Booths^[a] was near.^{(B) 3} So his brothers said to him, “Leave here and go to Judea so that your disciples also may see the works you are doing,^{(C) 4} for no one who wants^[b] to be widely known acts in secret. If you do these things, show yourself to the world.” ⁵ (For not even his brothers believed in him.)^{(D) 6} Jesus said to them, “My time has not yet come, but your time is always here.^{(E) 7} The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify against it that its works are evil.^{(F) 8} Go to the festival yourselves. I am not^[c] going to this festival, for my time has not yet fully come.” ⁹ After saying this, he remained in Galilee.

Jesus at the Festival of Booths

¹⁰ But after his brothers had gone to the festival, then he also went, not publicly but, as it were,^[d] in secret. ¹¹ The Jews were looking for him at the festival and saying, “Where is he?” ¹² And there was considerable complaining about him among the crowds. While some were saying, “He is a good man,” others were saying, “No, he is deceiving the crowd.”^{(G) 13} Yet no one would speak openly about him for fear of the Jews.^(H)

¹⁴ About the middle of the festival Jesus went up into the temple and began to teach. ¹⁵ The Jews were astonished at it, saying, “How does this man have such learning, when he has never been taught?”^{(I) 16} Then Jesus answered them, “My teaching is not mine but his who sent me.^{(J) 17} Anyone who resolves to do the will of God will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own.^{(K) 18} Those who speak on their own seek their own glory, but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and there is nothing unjust in him.^(L)

¹⁹ “Did not Moses give you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law. Why are you looking for an opportunity to kill me?”^{(M) 20} The crowd answered, “You have a demon! Who is trying to kill you?”^{(N) 21} Jesus answered them, “I performed one work, and all of you are astonished. ²² Because of this Moses gave you circumcision (it is, of course, not from Moses but from the patriarchs), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath.^{(O) 23} If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath in order that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because I healed a man’s whole body on the Sabbath?^{(P) 24} Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.”^(Q)

Offerings for the Tabernacle

25 The Lord said to Moses, ² “Tell the Israelites to take for me an offering; from all whose hearts prompt them to give you shall receive the offering for me.^{(A) 3} This is the offering that you shall receive from them: gold, silver, and bronze, ⁴ blue, purple, and crimson yarns and fine linen, goats’ hair, ⁵ tanned rams’ skins, fine leather,^[a] acacia wood, ⁶ oil for the lamps, spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense,^{(B) 7} onyx stones and gems to be set in the ephod and for the breastpiece.^{(C) 8} And they shall make me a sanctuary so that I may dwell among them.^{(D) 9} In accordance with all that I show you concerning the pattern of the tabernacle and of all its furniture, so you shall make it.^(E)

The Ark of the Covenant

¹⁰ “They shall make an ark of acacia wood; it shall be two and a half cubits long, a cubit and a half wide, and a cubit and a half high.^{(F) 11} You shall overlay it with pure gold, inside and outside you shall overlay it, and you shall make a molding of gold upon it all around. ¹² You shall cast four rings of gold for it and put them on its four feet, two rings on one side of it and two rings on the other side. ¹³ You shall make poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold. ¹⁴ And you shall put the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark, for carrying the ark. ¹⁵ The poles shall remain in the rings of the ark; they shall not be removed. ¹⁶ You shall put the covenant that I am giving you into the ark.^(G)

¹⁷ “Then you shall make a cover of pure gold; two cubits and a half shall be its length and a cubit and a half its width.^{(H) 18} You shall make two cherubim of gold; you shall make them of hammered work at the two ends of the cover. ¹⁹ Make one cherub at one end and one cherub at the other; of one piece with the cover you shall make the cherubim at its two ends. ²⁰ The cherubim shall spread out their wings above, overshadowing the cover with their wings. They shall face one to another; the faces of the cherubim shall be turned toward the cover.^{(I) 21} You shall put the cover on the top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the covenant that I am giving you.^{(J) 22} There I will meet with you, and from above the cover, from between the two cherubim that are on the ark of the covenant, I will tell you all that I am commanding you for the Israelites.^(K)

Salutation

1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope,^(A)

² To Timothy, my true child^[a] in the faith:

Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.^(B)

Warning against False Teachers

³ I urge you, as I did when I was on my way to Macedonia, to remain in Ephesus so that you may instruct certain people not to teach different teachings^{(C) 4} and not to occupy themselves with myths and endless genealogies that promote speculations rather than the divine training^[b] that is known by faith.^{(D) 5} But the aim of such instruction is love that comes from a pure heart, a good conscience, and sincere faith.^{(E) 6} Some people have deviated from these and turned to meaningless talk, ⁷ desiring to be teachers of the law without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make assertions.

⁸ Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it legitimately; ⁹ this means understanding that the law is laid down not for the righteous but for the lawless and disobedient, for the godless and sinful, for the unholy and profane, for those who kill their father or mother, for murderers,^{(F) 10} the sexually immoral, men who engage in illicit sex,^[c] slave traders, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to the sound teaching^{(G) 11} that conforms to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, with which I was entrusted.

Gratitude for Mercy

¹² I am grateful to Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because he considered me faithful and appointed me to his service,^{(H) 13} even though I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a man of violence. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief,^{(I) 14} and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me^[d] with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.^{(J) 15} The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance: that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the foremost.^{(K) 16} But for that very reason I received mercy, so that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display the utmost patience as an example to those who would come to believe in him for eternal life. ¹⁷ To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible,^[e] the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever.^[f] Amen.^(L)