The Daily Audio Bible
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10 “Let all who are gifted with wisdom and skill come and make these things the Eternal One has instructed: 11 the congregation tent, including the tent itself, its covering, all its hooks, panels, crossbars, posts, bases, and sockets; 12 the covenant chest and its poles for carrying it, including the seat of mercy that covers the chest and the veil shrouding the most holy place; 13 the table and its poles for carrying it, all the utensils, and the bread of the Presence; 14 the lampstand that illuminates the tent, its tools, its lamps, and the oil for the light; 15 the altar of incense and its poles for carrying it; the anointing oil and the fragrant incense; the curtain at the entrance to the congregation tent; 16 the altar of burnt offering, including the bronze grate, its carrying poles, and various tools; the basin for washing and its stand; 17 the panels that hang around the perimeter of the courtyard, its posts and bases; and the curtain for the entrance to the courtyard; 18 the tent pegs and ropes for the congregation tent and its courtyard; 19 the finely woven clothing for priests serving in the holy place, the sacred garments for Aaron the priest, and the clothes for his sons to wear when they serve as priests.”
20 After Moses completed these instructions, the entire community of Israel filed out of his presence. 21 Then all those whose hearts and minds moved them came back, bringing their valuables as a contribution to the Eternal One for the congregation tent, all its service, and the sacred garments. 22 Everyone with a willing heart, both men and women, came back with brooches, earrings, signet rings, bracelets, and all sorts of other gold items, and presented them as an offering of gold to the Eternal One. 23 Those who possessed blue, purple, and scarlet thread, fine linens, goats’ hair, rams’ skins dyed red, and sea-cow skins brought them as well. 24 And those who were able to give items of silver and bronze brought their offering to the Eternal One. Those who had acacia wood brought it to be used in the project.
25-26 All the skilled and creative women who were able to spin made the blue, purple, and scarlet thread. All the women who were willing came forward to use their skills in spinning the goat hair. 27 The leaders brought the onyx stones and the stones for setting in the high priest’s vest and the breast piece. 28 They also brought the spices and oils for the light, the anointing oil, and the fragrant incense.
29 All the Israelites, both men and women, who felt moved to provide the material needed to do this work, brought these offerings willingly and set them before the Eternal One exactly as He had instructed Moses.
Moses (to the Israelites): 30 Look, the Eternal One has called Bezalel (the son of Uri, son of Hur the Judahite) by name. 31 He has filled him with God’s Spirit, gifted him with wisdom, understanding, knowledge, and skills with a variety of crafts. 32 He is an expert designer and works well with gold, silver, and bronze. 33 He is able to cut and set gems, work with wood, and skillfully perform any work needed to help construct the congregation tent and its furnishings. 34 Also, God has placed within both Bezalel and Oholiab (son of Ahisamach the Danite) the ability to teach. 35 He has gifted them and made them expert engravers, designers, and embroiderers using blue, purple, and scarlet thread on fine linen. They are master weavers, skilled craftsmen, and expert designers.
Two skilled craftsmen are given special mention in this work of the people. They are called to transform the abundant gifts the people freely provide into the congregation tent and its furnishings. It is God who gifts the hearts and hands of these two individuals and further inspires them to teach others. Of all the women and men who lend their expertise to this project, only Bezalel and Oholiab are recorded. Until Solomon’s temple is built in Jerusalem, their handiwork will be admired by all of Israel as the house of the Eternal One.
36 Moses: Bezalel, Oholiab, and every skilled person whom the Eternal One has gifted with expertise and wisdom in order to build the sanctuary shall use these gifts as the Eternal One has directed.
2 Moses called together Bezalel, Oholiab, and every skilled person whom the Eternal had gifted with special skills—everyone whose heart moved them to work—to help out and contribute to the construction work.
This project is nothing like the forced labor the people endured back in Egypt. All the creativity and work put into the building and furnishing of the congregation tent comes from the heart. People with various skills—skills honed in slavery—step forward as free men and women to create a home on earth for God. Ultimately all talent and skill comes from God. Used properly they all point back to God.
3 Moses handed over to the workers all the materials the Israelites donated to build the congregation tent. Every morning new contributions continued to come in. 4 Eventually the craftsmen who were working on every aspect of the sanctuary project interrupted their particular jobs 5 and reported to Moses.
Workers: The people are bringing far more than we need to complete the work which the Eternal One has instructed us to do.
6 So Moses issued a new directive, and it spread quickly throughout the camp.
Moses: We do not need any more contributions to complete the congregation tent. We have more than enough.
With that the people stopped bringing contributions, 7 for the material already on hand was more than enough to construct, furnish, and decorate the sanctuary.
8 All the craftsmen made 10 curtains out of finely woven linen for the congregation tent. Using blue, purple, and scarlet thread, Bezalel had skilled workers embroider images of the winged guardians on the curtains.[a] 9 Each curtain was 42 feet long and 6 feet wide. All 10 curtains were identical in size and shape. 10 Bezalel had his craftsmen connect five curtains together to make one large panel; then they connected the other five curtains to make a second. 11-12 He had 50 blue loops made and attached along the edge of the outer curtain of the first panel, and then did the same thing on the edge of the outer curtain of the second. He made sure the loops matched up with each other. 13 He also had 50 clasps fashioned from gold and used them to join the curtains together, so that the interior of the congregation tent formed one continuous piece.
14 He then had 11 panels of tent fabric made out of goat hair to use as a covering for the interior of the congregation tent. 15 Each panel was 45 feet long and 6 feet wide. All 11 of the panels were identical in size and shape. 16 He joined five panels together to form one large panel and then did the same with the remaining six to form a second large panel. 17 He had 50 loops made and attached along the edge of the outer panel of each set. 18 Then he had 50 clasps fashioned from bronze and used them to connect the panels together, so that they formed one continuous piece. 19 He then covered the goat hair panels with a layer of red-dyed rams’ skins and covered that with a layer made from sea-cow hides.
20 Bezalel then had his workers construct the supporting frame panels for the congregation tent out of acacia wood. 21 Each panel was 15 feet high and 27 inches wide. 22 He had them carve two tenons on each panel to fit into the next. They made all the panels this way. 23 This is how they made all the panels for the congregation tent: he made 20 panels for the southern end 24 and set them into 40 bases made of silver—two bases beneath each panel. 25 He made 20 panels for the northern end as well 26 and set them into 40 silver bases beneath the 20 panels—two bases beneath each framing panel.
27 At the back wall of the congregation tent (the side that faces west), he made six panels. 28 He also made two special panels to support each corner on the back of the tent. 29 They came together with the side panels at the bottom to make a strong corner and attached at the top of the first ring. He did the same thing at both corners. 30 On the back wall, there were eight frame panels with silver bases—16 bases in all—two beneath each panel.
31 He then made crossbars of acacia wood, five to connect the frame panels on one side of the congregation tent, 32 five more to connect the panels on the other side, and five more to connect the panels at the back, the side that faces west. 33 He ran one bar in the center from corner to corner, halfway up the panels. 34 He overlaid the panels with gold and fashioned gold rings to hold the crossbars, and he overlaid the crossbars with gold as well.
35 Bezalel had his skilled workers make the veil by embroidering finely woven linen with images of winged guardians in blue, purple, and scarlet thread. 36 To hold up the veil, he erected four acacia wood posts that were overlaid with gold onto four silver bases. He fashioned gold hooks for them. 37 For the entrance to the tent, he made a fabric screen out of finely woven linen richly embroidered with blue, purple, and scarlet thread. 38 He hung it on five posts using hooks overlaid with gold. The posts were set into four bases made of bronze.
32 As they were walking, they found a man called Simon of Cyrene and forced him to carry the cross. 33 Eventually they came to a place called Golgotha, which means “Place of the Skull.” 34 There they gave Him a drink—wine mixed with bitter herbs. He tasted it but refused to drink it.
35 And so they had Him crucified. They divided the clothes off His back by drawing lots,[a] 36 and they sat on the ground and watched Him hang. 37 They placed a sign over His head: “This is Jesus, King of the Jews.” 38 And then they crucified two thieves next to Him, one at His right hand and one at His left hand.
39 Passersby shouted curses and blasphemies at Jesus. They wagged their heads at Him and hissed.
Passersby: 40 You’re going to destroy the temple and then rebuild it in three days? Why don’t You start with saving Yourself? Come down from the cross if You can, if You’re God’s Son.
Chief Priests, Scribes, and Elders (mocking Him): 41-42 He saved others, but He can’t save Himself. If He’s really the King of Israel, then let Him climb down from the cross—then we’ll believe Him. 43 He claimed communion with God—well, let God save Him, if He’s God’s beloved Son.
44 Even the thieves hanging to His right and left poured insults upon Him. 45 And then, starting at noon, the entire land became dark. It was dark for three hours. 46 In the middle of the dark afternoon, Jesus cried out in a loud voice.
Jesus: Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani—My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?[b]
Bystanders: 47 He’s calling on Elijah.
48 One bystander grabbed a sponge, steeped it in vinegar, stuck it on a reed, and gave Jesus the vinegar to drink.
Others: 49 We’ll see—we’ll see if Elijah is going to come and rescue Him.
50 And then Jesus cried out once more, loudly, and then He breathed His last breath. 51 At that instant, the temple curtain was torn in half, from top to bottom. The earth shook; rocks split in two; 52 tombs burst open, and bodies of many sleeping holy women and men were raised up. 53 After Jesus’ resurrection, they came out of their tombs, went into the holy city of Jerusalem, and showed themselves to people.
54 When the Centurion and soldiers who had been charged with guarding Jesus felt the earthquake and saw the rocks splitting and the tombs opening, they were, of course, terrified.
Soldiers: He really was God’s Son.
55 A number of women, who had been devoted to Jesus and followed Him from Galilee, were present, too, watching from a distance. 56 Mary Magdalene was there, and Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee.
57 At evening time, a rich man from Arimathea arrived. His name was Joseph, and he had become a disciple of Jesus. 58 He went to Pilate and asked to be given Jesus’ body; Pilate assented and ordered his servants to turn Jesus’ body over to Joseph. 59 So Joseph took the body, wrapped Jesus in a clean sheath of white linen, 60 and laid Jesus in his own new tomb, which he had carved from a rock. Then he rolled a great stone in front of the tomb’s opening, and he went away. 61 Mary Magdalene was there, and so was the other Mary. They sat across from the tomb, watching, remembering.
62 The next day, which is the day after the Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went together to Pilate. 63 They reminded him that when Jesus was alive He had claimed that He would be raised from the dead after three days.
Chief Priests and Pharisees: 64 So please order someone to secure the tomb for at least three days. Otherwise His disciples might sneak in and steal His body away, and then claim that He has been raised from the dead. If that happens, then we would have been better off just leaving Him alive.
Pilate: 65 You have a guard. Go and secure the grave.
66 So they went to the tomb, sealed the stone in its mouth, and left the guard to keep watch.
Psalm 34
A song of David as he pretended to be insane to escape from Abimelech.
While there is nothing specific to tie this Davidic psalm to the events in 1 Samuel 21:10–15, the superscription recalls a time when David pretended to be insane to protect himself from the Philistines.
1 I will praise the Eternal in every moment through every situation.
Whenever I speak, my words will always praise Him.
2 Everything within me wants to pay tribute to Him.
Whenever the poor and humble hear of His greatness, they will celebrate too!
3 Come and lift up the Eternal with me;
let’s praise His name together!
4 When I needed the Lord, I looked for Him;
I called out to Him, and He heard me and responded.
He came and rescued me from everything that made me so afraid.
5 Look to Him and shine,
so shame will never contort your faces.
6 This poor soul cried, and the Eternal heard me.
He rescued me from my troubles.
7 The messenger of the Eternal God surrounds
everyone who walks with Him and is always there to protect and rescue us.
8 Taste of His goodness; see how wonderful the Eternal truly is.
Anyone who puts trust in Him will be blessed and comforted.
9 Revere the Eternal, you His saints,
for those who worship Him will possess everything important in life.
10 Young lions may grow tired and hungry,
but those intent on knowing the Eternal God will have everything they need.
7 Whoever tries to discipline a scoffer should expect a hail of insults in return.
Whoever tries to correct an evildoer is likely to get hurt in the process.
8 So do not correct a scoffer unless you are ready to be hated,
but correct the wise and you will be loved.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.