Treasures in Heaven

(Luke 12.33,34)

^19 (A) Don't store up treasures on earth! Moths and rust can destroy them, and thieves can break in and steal them. ^20 (B) Instead, store up your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy them, and thieves cannot break in and steal them. ²¹ Your heart will always be where your treasure is.

Light

(Luke 11.34-36)

²² Your eyes are a window for your body. When they are good, you have all the light you need. ²³ But when your eyes are bad, everything is dark. If the light inside you is dark, you surely are in the dark.

Money

(Luke 16.13)

²⁴ You cannot be the slave of two masters! You will like one more than the other or be more loyal to one than the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

Worry

(Luke 12.22-31)

²⁵ I tell you not to worry about your life. Don't worry about having something to eat, drink, or wear. Isn't life more than food or clothing? ²⁶ Look at the birds in the sky! They don't plant or harvest. They don't even store grain in barns. Yet your Father in heaven takes care of them. Aren't you worth much more than birds?

²⁷ Can worry make you live longer?^{[a] 28} Why worry about clothes? Look how the wild flowers grow. They don't work hard to make their clothes. ^29 (C) But I tell you that Solomon with all his wealth^[b] wasn't as well clothed as one of them. ³⁰ God gives such beauty to everything that grows in the fields, even though it is here today and thrown into a fire tomorrow. God will surely do even more for you! Why do you have such little faith?

³¹ Don't worry and ask yourselves, “Will we have anything to eat? Will we have anything to drink? Will we have any clothes to wear?” ³² Only people who don't know God are always worrying about such things. Your Father in heaven knows you need all of these. ³³ But more than anything else, put God's work first and do what he wants. Then the other things will be yours as well.

³⁴ Don't worry about tomorrow. It will take care of itself. You have enough to worry about today.

Laws for the Sabbath

35 Moses called together the people of Israel and told them that the Lord had said:

^2 (A) You have six days in which to do your work. But the seventh day must be dedicated to me, your Lord, as a day of rest. Whoever works on the Sabbath will be put to death. ³ Don't even build a cooking fire at home on the Sabbath.

Offerings for the Sacred Tent

(Exodus 25.1-9; 35.10-19)

⁴ Moses told the people of Israel that the Lord had said:

⁵ I will welcome an offering from anyone who wants to give something. You may bring gold, silver, or bronze; ⁶ blue, purple, or red wool; fine linen; goat hair; ⁷ tanned ram skin or fine leather; acacia wood; ⁸ olive oil for the lamp; sweet-smelling spices for the oil of dedication and for the incense; or ⁹ onyx^[a] stones or other gems for the sacred vest and breastpiece.

¹⁰ If you have any skills, you should use them to help make what I have commanded: ¹¹ the sacred tent with its covering and hooks, its framework and crossbars, and its post and stands; ¹² the sacred chest with its carrying poles, its place of mercy, and the curtain in front of it; ¹³ the table with its carrying poles and all that goes on it, including the sacred bread; ¹⁴ the lamp with its equipment and oil; ¹⁵ the incense altar with its carrying poles and sweet-smelling incense; the ordination oil; the curtain for the entrance to the sacred tent; ¹⁶ the altar for sacrifices with its bronze grating, its carrying poles, and its equipment; the large bronze bowl with its stand; ¹⁷ the curtains with the posts and stands that go around the courtyard and the curtain at the entrance; ¹⁸ the pegs and ropes for the tent and the courtyard; ¹⁹ and the finely woven priestly clothes for Aaron and his sons.

Gifts for the Lord

²⁰ Moses finished speaking, and everyone left. ²¹ Then those who wanted to bring gifts to the Lord, brought them to be used for the sacred tent, the worship services, and the priestly clothes. ²² Men and women came willingly and gave all kinds of gold jewelry such as pins, earrings, rings, and necklaces. ²³ Everyone brought their blue, purple, and red wool, their fine linen, and their cloth made of goat hair, as well as their ram skins dyed red and their fine leather. ²⁴ Anyone who had silver or bronze or acacia wood brought it as a gift to the Lord.

²⁵ The women who were good at weaving cloth brought the blue, purple, and red wool and the fine linen they had made. ²⁶ And the women who knew how to make cloth from goat hair were glad to do so.

²⁷ The leaders brought different kinds of jewels to be sewn on the special clothes and the breastpiece for the high priest. ²⁸ They also brought sweet-smelling spices to be mixed with the incense and olive oil that were for the lamps and for ordaining the priests. ²⁹ Moses had told the people what the Lord wanted them to do, and many of them decided to bring their gifts.

Bezalel and Oholiab

(Exodus 31.1-11)

³⁰ Moses said to the people of Israel:

The Lord has chosen Bezalel^[b] of the Judah tribe. ^31-33 Not only has the Lord filled him with his Spirit, but he has given him wisdom and made him a skilled craftsman who can create objects of art with gold, silver, bronze, precious stones, and wood. ³⁴ The Lord is urging him and Oholiab^[c] from the tribe of Dan to teach others. ³⁵ And he has given them all kinds of artistic skills, including the ability to design and embroider with blue, purple, and red wool and to weave fine linen.

36 The Lord has given to Bezalel, Oholiab, and others the skills needed for building a place of worship, and they will follow the Lord's instructions.

² Then Moses brought together these workers who were eager to work, ³ and he gave them the gifts that the people of Israel had donated for building the place of worship. In fact, so much was being given each morning, ⁴ that finally everyone stopped working ⁵ and said, “Moses, there is already more than we need for what the Lord has assigned us to do.” ⁶ So Moses sent word for the people to stop giving, and they did. ⁷ But there was already more than enough to do what needed to be done.

The Curtains and Coverings for the Sacred Tent

(Exodus 26.1-14)

^8-9 The skilled workers got together to make the sacred tent and its linen curtains that were woven with blue, purple, and red wool and embroidered with figures of winged creatures. Each of the ten panels was twelve meters long and two meters wide, ¹⁰ and they were sewn together to make two curtains with five panels each. ^11-13 Then 50 loops of blue cloth were put along one of the wider sides of each curtain, and the two curtains were fastened together at the loops with 50 gold hooks.

^14-15 As the material for protecting the tent, goat hair was used to weave eleven sections 13 meters by 2 meters each. ¹⁶ These eleven sections were joined to make two panels, one with five and the other with six sections. ¹⁷ Fifty loops were put along one of the wider sides of each panel, ¹⁸ and the two panels were fastened at the loops with 50 bronze hooks. ¹⁹ Two other coverings were made—one with fine leather and the other with ram skins dyed red.

The Framework for the Sacred Tent

(Exodus 26.15-30)

²⁰ Acacia wood was used to build the framework for the walls of the sacred tent. ²¹ Each frame was 4 meters high and 66 centimeters wide ^22-26 with two wooden pegs near the bottom. Then two silver stands were placed under each frame with sockets for the pegs, so they could be joined together. Twenty of these frames were used along the south side and 20 more along the north. ²⁷ Six frames were used for the back wall along the west side ^28-29 with two more at the southwest and northwest corners. These corner frames were joined from top to bottom. ³⁰ Altogether, along the back wall there were eight frames with two silver stands under each of them.

^31-33 Five crossbars were made for each of the wooden frames, with the center crossbar running the full length of the wall. ³⁴ The frames and crossbars were covered with gold, and gold rings were attached to the frames to run the crossbars through.

The Inside Curtain for the Sacred Tent

(Exodus 26.31-37)

³⁵ They made the inside curtain^[d] of fine linen woven with blue, purple, and red wool, and embroidered with figures of winged creatures. ³⁶ They also made four acacia wood posts and covered them with gold. Then gold rings were fastened to the posts, which were set on silver stands.

³⁷ For the entrance to the tent, they used a curtain of fine linen woven with blue, purple, and red wool and embroidered with fancy needlework. ³⁸ They made five posts, covered them completely with gold, and set each of them on a gold-covered bronze stand. Finally, they attached hooks for the curtain.

The Lord Has the Final Word