37 B’tzal’el made the ark of acacia-wood three-and-three-quarters feet long, two-and-a-quarter feet wide and two-and-a-quarter feet high. ² He overlaid it with pure gold inside and outside and put a molding of gold for it around the top. ³ He cast four gold rings for it at its four feet, two rings on each side. ⁴ He made poles of acacia-wood and overlaid them with gold. ⁵ He put the carrying-poles for the ark in the rings on the sides of the ark.

⁶ He made a cover for the ark of pure gold, three-and-three-quarters feet long and two-and-a-quarter feet wide. ⁷ He made two k’ruvim of gold; he made them of hammered work for the two ends of the ark-cover — ⁸ one keruv for one end and one keruv for the other end; he made the k’ruvim of one piece with the ark-cover at its two ends. ⁹ The k’ruvim had their wings spread out above, so that their wings covered the ark; their faces were toward each other and toward the ark-cover.

¹⁰ He made the table of acacia-wood, three feet long, eighteen inches wide and eighteen inches high. ¹¹ He overlaid it with pure gold and put a molding of gold around the top of it. ¹² He made around it a rim a handbreadth wide and put a molding of gold around the rim. ¹³ He cast for it four gold rings and attached the rings to the four corners, near its four legs. ¹⁴ The rings to hold the carrying-poles for the table were placed close to the rim. ¹⁵ He made the carrying-poles for the table of acacia-wood and overlaid them with gold. ¹⁶ He made the utensils to be put on the table — its dishes, pans, bowls and pitchers — of pure gold.

(RY: iii, LY: vi) ¹⁷ He made the menorah of pure gold. He made it of hammered work; its base, shaft, cups, rings of outer leaves and flowers were a single unit. ¹⁸ There were six branches extending from its sides, three branches of the menorah on one side of it and three on the other. ¹⁹ On one branch were three cups shaped like almond blossoms, a ring of outer leaves and petals; likewise on the opposite branch three cups shaped like almond blossoms, a ring of outer leaves and petals; and similarly for all six branches extending from the menorah. ²⁰ On the central shaft of the menorah were four cups shaped like almond blossoms, each with its ring of outer leaves and petals. ²¹ Where each pair of branches joined the central shaft was a ring of outer leaves of one piece with the pair of branches — thus for all six branches. ²² Their rings of outer leaves and their branches were of one piece with the shaft. Thus the whole menorah was one piece of hammered work made of pure gold. ²³ He made its seven lamps, its tongs and its trays of pure gold. ²⁴ The menorah and its utensils were made of sixty-six pounds of pure gold.

²⁵ He made the altar on which to burn incense of acacia-wood, eighteen inches square and three feet high; its horns were a single unit. ²⁶ He overlaid it with pure gold — its top, all around its sides and its horns; and he put around it a molding of gold. ²⁷ He made two gold rings for it under its molding at the two corners on both sides, to hold the carrying-poles. ²⁸ He made the poles of acacia-wood and overlaid them with gold.

²⁹ He made the holy anointing oil and the pure incense of aromatic plant substances as would an expert perfume-maker.

4 When Mordekhai learned everything that had been done, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes and went out through the city, lamenting and crying bitterly. ² He stopped before entering the King’s Gate, since no one was allowed to go inside the King’s Gate wearing sackcloth. ³ In every province reached by the king’s order and decree, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping and wailing, as many lay down on sackcloth and ashes.

⁴ When the girls and officials attending Ester came and informed her of this, the queen became deeply distressed. She sent clothes for Mordekhai to wear instead of his sackcloth, but he wouldn’t accept them. ⁵ So Ester summoned Hatakh, one of the king’s officials attending her, and instructed him to go to Mordekhai and find out what this was all about and why. ⁶ Hatakh went out to Mordekhai in the open space in front of the King’s Gate, ⁷ and Mordekhai told him everything that had happened to him and exactly how much silver Haman had promised to put in the royal treasury for the destruction of the Jews. ⁸ He also gave him a copy of the decree for their destruction issued in Shushan; so that he could show it to Ester, explain it to her, and then instruct her to approach the king, intercede with him and implore his favor on behalf of her people. ⁹ Hatakh returned and told Ester what Mordekhai had said.

¹⁰ Then Ester spoke to Hatakh and gave him this message for Mordekhai: ¹¹ “All the king’s officials, as well as the people in the royal provinces, know that if anyone, man or woman, approaches the king in the inner courtyard without being summoned, there is just one law — he must be put to death — unless the king holds out the gold scepter for him to remain alive; and I haven’t been summoned to the king for the past thirty days.”

¹² Upon being told what Ester had said, Mordekhai ¹³ asked them to give Ester this answer: “Don’t suppose that merely because you happen to be in the royal palace you will escape any more than the other Jews. ¹⁴ For if you fail to speak up now, relief and deliverance will come to the Jews from a different direction; but you and your father’s family will perish. Who knows whether you didn’t come into your royal position precisely for such a time as this.”

¹⁵ Ester had them return this answer to Mordekhai: ¹⁶ “Go, assemble all the Jews to be found in Shushan, and have them fast for me, neither eating nor drinking for three days, night and day; also I and the girls attending me will fast the same way. Then I will go in to the king, which is against the law; and if I perish, I perish.” ¹⁷ Then Mordekhai went his way and did everything Ester had ordered him to do.

9 Am I not a free man? Am I not an emissary of the Messiah? Haven’t I seen Yeshua our Lord? And aren’t you yourselves the result of my work for the Lord? ² Even if to others I am not an emissary, at least I am to you; for you are living proof that I am the Lord’s emissary. ³ That is my defense when people put me under examination.

⁴ Don’t we have the right to be given food and drink? ⁵ Don’t we have the right to take along with us a believing wife, as do the other emissaries, also the Lord’s brothers and Kefa? ⁶ Or are Bar-Nabba and I the only ones required to go on working for our living? ⁷ Did you ever hear of a soldier paying his own expenses? or of a farmer planting a vineyard without eating its grapes? Who shepherds a flock without drinking some of the milk? ⁸ What I am saying is not based merely on human authority, because the Torah says the same thing — ⁹ for in the Torah of Moshe it is written, “You are not to put a muzzle on an ox when it is treading out the grain.”^[a] If God is concerned about cattle, ¹⁰ all the more does he say this for our sakes. Yes, it was written for us, meaning that he who plows and he who threshes should work expecting to get a share of the crop. ¹¹ If we have sown spiritual seed among you, is it too much if we reap a material harvest from you? ¹² If others are sharing in this right to be supported by you, don’t we have a greater claim to it?

But we don’t make use of this right. Rather, we put up with all kinds of things so as not to impede in any way the Good News about the Messiah. ¹³ Don’t you know that those who work in the Temple get their food from the Temple, and those who serve at the altar get a share of the sacrifices offered there? ¹⁴ In the same way, the Lord directed that those who proclaim the Good News should get their living from the Good News.

¹⁵ But I have not made use of any of these rights. Nor am I writing now to secure them for myself, for I would rather die than be deprived of my ground for boasting! ¹⁶ For I can’t boast merely because I proclaim the Good News — this I do from inner compulsion: woe is me if I don’t proclaim the Good News! ¹⁷ For if I do this willingly, I have a reward; but if I do it unwillingly, I still do it, simply because I’ve been entrusted with a job. ¹⁸ So then, what is my reward? Just this: that in proclaiming the Good News I can make it available free of charge, without making use of the rights to which it entitles me.

¹⁹ For although I am a free man, not bound to do anyone’s bidding, I have made myself a slave to all in order to win as many people as possible. ²⁰ That is, with Jews, what I did was put myself in the position of a Jew, in order to win Jews. With people in subjection to a legalistic perversion of the Torah, I put myself in the position of someone under such legalism, in order to win those under this legalism, even though I myself am not in subjection to a legalistic perversion of the Torah. ²¹ With those who live outside the framework of Torah, I put myself in the position of someone outside the Torah in order to win those outside the Torah — although I myself am not outside the framework of God’s Torah but within the framework of Torah as upheld by the Messiah. ²² With the “weak” I became “weak,” in order to win the “weak.” With all kinds of people I have become all kinds of things, so that in all kinds of circumstances I might save at least some of them.

²³ But I do it all because of the rewards promised by the Good News, so that I may share in them along with the others who come to trust. ²⁴ Don’t you know that in a race all the runners compete, but only one wins the prize? So then, run to win! ²⁵ Now every athlete in training submits himself to strict discipline, and he does it just to win a laurel wreath that will soon wither away. But we do it to win a crown that will last forever. ²⁶ Accordingly, I don’t run aimlessly but straight for the finish line; I don’t shadow-box but try to make every punch count. ²⁷ I treat my body hard and make it my slave so that, after proclaiming the Good News to others, I myself will not be disqualified.