The Daily Audio Bible

Articles for the Tent of the Lord's Presence^(A)

¹⁰ “All the skilled workers among you are to come and make everything that the Lord commanded: ¹¹ the Tent, its covering and its outer covering, its hooks and its frames, its crossbars, its posts, and its bases; ¹² the Covenant Box, its poles, its lid, and the curtain to screen it off; ¹³ the table, its poles, and all its equipment; the bread offered to God; ¹⁴ the lampstand for the light and its equipment; the lamps with their oil; ¹⁵ the altar for burning incense and its poles; the anointing oil; the sweet-smelling incense; the curtain for the entrance of the Tent; ¹⁶ the altar on which to burn offerings, with its bronze grating attached, its poles, and all its equipment; the washbasin and its base; ¹⁷ the curtains for the enclosure, its posts and bases; the curtain for the entrance of the enclosure; ¹⁸ the Tent pegs and ropes for the Tent and the enclosure; ¹⁹ and the magnificent garments the priests are to wear when they serve in the Holy Place—the sacred clothes for Aaron the priest and for his sons.”

The People Bring Their Offerings

²⁰ All the people of Israel left, ²¹ and everyone who wished to do so brought an offering to the Lord for making the Tent of the Lord's presence. They brought everything needed for use in worship and for making the priestly garments. ²² All who wanted to, both men and women, brought decorative pins, earrings, rings, necklaces, and all kinds of gold jewelry and dedicated them to the Lord. ²³ Everyone who had fine linen; blue, purple, or red wool; cloth of goats' hair; rams' skin dyed red; or fine leather, brought it. ²⁴ All who were able to contribute silver or bronze brought their offering for the Lord, and all who had acacia wood which could be used for any of the work brought it. ²⁵ All the skilled women brought fine linen thread and thread of blue, purple, and red wool, which they had made. ²⁶ They also made thread of goats' hair. ²⁷ The leaders brought carnelians and other jewels to be set in the ephod and the breastpiece ²⁸ and spices and oil for the lamps, for the anointing oil, and for the sweet-smelling incense. ²⁹ All the people of Israel who wanted to brought their offering to the Lord for the work which he had commanded Moses to do.

Workers to Make the Tent of the Lord's Presence^(B)

³⁰ Moses said to the Israelites, “The Lord has chosen Bezalel, the son of Uri and grandson of Hur from the tribe of Judah. ³¹ God has filled him with his power^[a] and given him skill, ability, and understanding for every kind of artistic work, ³² for planning skillful designs and working them in gold, silver, and bronze; ³³ for cutting jewels to be set; for carving wood; and for every other kind of artistic work. ³⁴ The Lord has given to him and to Oholiab son of Ahisamach, from the tribe of Dan, the ability to teach their crafts to others. ³⁵ He has given them skill in all kinds of work done by engravers, designers, and weavers of fine linen; blue, purple, and red wool; and other cloth. They are able to do all kinds of work and are skillful designers.

36 “Bezalel, Oholiab, and all the other workers to whom the Lord has given skill and understanding, who know how to make everything needed to build the sacred Tent, are to make everything just as the Lord has commanded.”

The People Bring Many Gifts

² Moses called Bezalel, Oholiab, and all the other skilled men to whom the Lord had given ability and who were willing to help, and Moses told them to start working. ³ They received from him all the offerings which the Israelites had brought for constructing the sacred Tent. But the people of Israel continued to bring Moses their offerings every morning. ⁴ Then the skilled men who were doing the work went ⁵ and told Moses, “The people are bringing more than is needed for the work which the Lord commanded to be done.”

⁶ So Moses sent a command throughout the camp that no one was to make any further contribution for the sacred Tent; so the people did not bring any more. ⁷ What had already been brought was more than enough to finish all the work.

Making the Tent of the Lord's Presence^(C)

⁸ The most skilled men among those doing the work made the Tent of the Lord's presence. They made it out of ten pieces of fine linen woven with blue, purple, and red wool and embroidered with figures of winged creatures. ⁹ Each piece was the same size, 14 yards long and 2 yards wide. ¹⁰ They sewed five of them together in one set and did the same with the other five. ¹¹ They made loops of blue cloth on the edge of the outside piece in each set. ¹² They put fifty loops on the first piece of the first set and fifty loops matching them on the last piece of the second set. ¹³ They made fifty gold hooks, with which to join the two sets into one piece.

¹⁴ Then they made a cover for the Tent out of eleven pieces of cloth made of goats' hair. ¹⁵ They made them all the same size, 15 yards long and 2 yards wide. ¹⁶ They sewed five of them together in one set and the other six in another set. ¹⁷ They put fifty loops on the edge of the last piece of one set and fifty loops on the edge of the other set. ¹⁸ They made fifty bronze hooks to join the two sets, so as to form one cover. ¹⁹ They made two more coverings, one of rams' skin dyed red and the other of fine leather, to serve as an outer cover.

²⁰ They made upright frames of acacia wood for the Tent. ²¹ Each frame was 15 feet tall and 27 inches wide, ²² with two matching projections, so that the frames could be joined together. All the frames had these projections. ²³ They made twenty frames for the south side ²⁴ and forty silver bases to go under them, two bases under each frame to hold its two projections. ²⁵ They made twenty frames for the north side of the Tent ²⁶ and forty silver bases, two under each frame. ²⁷ For the back of the Tent, on the west, they made six frames ²⁸ and two frames for the corners. ²⁹ These corner frames were joined at the bottom and connected all the way to the top. The two frames that formed the two corners were made in this way. ³⁰ So there were eight frames and sixteen silver bases, two under each frame.

³¹ They made fifteen crossbars of acacia wood, five for the frames on one side of the Tent, ³² five for the frames on the other side, and five for the frames on the west end, at the back. ³³ The middle crossbar, set halfway up the frames, extended from one end of the Tent to the other. ³⁴ They covered the frames with gold and fitted them with gold rings to hold the crossbars, which were also covered with gold.

³⁵ They made a curtain of fine linen, woven with blue, purple, and red wool and embroidered it with figures of winged creatures. ³⁶ They made four posts of acacia wood to hold the curtain, covered them with gold, and fitted them with gold hooks. Then they made four silver bases to hold the posts. ³⁷ For the entrance of the Tent they made a curtain of fine linen woven with blue, purple, and red wool and decorated with embroidery. ³⁸ For this curtain they made five posts fitted with hooks, covered their tops and their rods with gold, and made five bronze bases for the posts.

Jesus Is Crucified^(A)

³² As they were going out, they met a man from Cyrene named Simon, and the soldiers forced him to carry Jesus' cross. ³³ They came to a place called Golgotha, which means, “The Place of the Skull.” ^34 (B)There they offered Jesus wine mixed with a bitter substance; but after tasting it, he would not drink it.

^35 (C)They crucified him and then divided his clothes among them by throwing dice. ³⁶ After that they sat there and watched him. ³⁷ Above his head they put the written notice of the accusation against him: “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.” ³⁸ Then they crucified two bandits with Jesus, one on his right and the other on his left.

^39 (D)People passing by shook their heads and hurled insults at Jesus: ^40 (E)“You were going to tear down the Temple and build it back up in three days! Save yourself if you are God's Son! Come on down from the cross!”

⁴¹ In the same way the chief priests and the teachers of the Law and the elders made fun of him: ⁴² “He saved others, but he cannot save himself! Isn't he the king of Israel? If he will come down off the cross now, we will believe in him! ^43 (F)He trusts in God and claims to be God's Son. Well, then, let us see if God wants to save him now!”

⁴⁴ Even the bandits who had been crucified with him insulted him in the same way.

The Death of Jesus^(G)

⁴⁵ At noon the whole country was covered with darkness, which lasted for three hours. ^46 (H)At about three o'clock Jesus cried out with a loud shout, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why did you abandon me?”

⁴⁷ Some of the people standing there heard him and said, “He is calling for Elijah!” ^48 (I)One of them ran up at once, took a sponge, soaked it in cheap wine, put it on the end of a stick, and tried to make him drink it.

⁴⁹ But the others said, “Wait, let us see if Elijah is coming to save him!”

⁵⁰ Jesus again gave a loud cry and breathed his last.

^51 (J)Then the curtain hanging in the Temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split apart, ⁵² the graves broke open, and many of God's people who had died were raised to life. ⁵³ They left the graves, and after Jesus rose from death, they went into the Holy City, where many people saw them.

⁵⁴ When the army officer and the soldiers with him who were watching Jesus saw the earthquake and everything else that happened, they were terrified and said, “He really was the Son of God!”

^55 (K)There were many women there, looking on from a distance, who had followed Jesus from Galilee and helped him. ⁵⁶ Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the wife of Zebedee.

The Burial of Jesus^(L)

⁵⁷ When it was evening, a rich man from Arimathea arrived; his name was Joseph, and he also was a disciple of Jesus. ⁵⁸ He went into the presence of Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Pilate gave orders for the body to be given to Joseph. ⁵⁹ So Joseph took it, wrapped it in a new linen sheet, ⁶⁰ and placed it in his own tomb, which he had just recently dug out of solid rock. Then he rolled a large stone across the entrance to the tomb and went away. ⁶¹ Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting there, facing the tomb.

The Guard at the Tomb

⁶² The next day, which was a Sabbath, the chief priests and the Pharisees met with Pilate ^63 (M)and said, “Sir, we remember that while that liar was still alive he said, ‘I will be raised to life three days later.’ ⁶⁴ Give orders, then, for his tomb to be carefully guarded until the third day, so that his disciples will not be able to go and steal the body, and then tell the people that he was raised from death. This last lie would be even worse than the first one.”

⁶⁵ “Take a guard,” Pilate told them; “go and make the tomb as secure as you can.”

⁶⁶ So they left and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and leaving the guard on watch.

^(A)In Praise of God's Goodness^[a]

⁷ If you correct conceited people, you will only be insulted. If you reprimand evil people, you will only get hurt. ⁸ Never correct conceited people; they will hate you for it. But if you correct the wise, they will respect you.