M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
35 Moses had the entire community of Israel gather together so he could address them.
Moses: These are the instructions the Eternal One has commanded you to do: 2 “You are to work for six days; but when the seventh day arrives, you are to observe a day of solemn rest on the Sabbath. You are to regard this day as holy to the Eternal. Anyone who works on this sacred day must be executed. 3 Do not even start a fire in any of your houses on the Sabbath.”
4 These are the instructions The Eternal One has commanded you to do: 5 “Take up an offering to the Eternal One. Let those with willing hearts bring the following as an offering to the Eternal One: gold, silver, bronze; 6 blue, purple, and scarlet thread; fine linens; goat hair; 7 rams’ skins dyed red; sea-cow skins; acacia wood; 8 olive oil for lamps; spices for anointing oil and fragrant incense; 9 and onyx stones and other stones for the high priest’s vest and breast piece.
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.
Ultimately Peter is telling the truth. He is more than willing to lay down his life. But none of His disciples understand the magnitude of the persecution and hatred that is about to be unleashed.
Even Peter, Jesus’ dear Peter, is afraid. He protests any inference to Jesus’ impending departure. Each of the twelve would do the same. Jesus calms their fears over and over again with stories, metaphors, and outright promises, saying, “I will never abandon you like orphans; I will return to be with you” (14:18).
14 Jesus: Don’t get lost in despair; believe in God, and keep on believing in Me. 2 My Father’s home is designed to accommodate all of you. If there were not room for everyone, I would have told you that. I am going to make arrangements for your arrival. 3 I will be there to greet you personally and welcome you home, where we will be together. 4 You know where I am going and how to get there.
Thomas: 5 Lord, we don’t know where You are going, so how can we know the path?
Jesus: 6 I am the path, the truth, and the energy of life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. 7 If you know Me, you know the Father. Rest assured now; you know Him and have seen Him.
Philip: 8 Lord, all I am asking is that You show us the Father.
Jesus (to Philip): 9 I have lived with you all this time, and you still don’t know who I am? If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father. How can you keep asking to see the Father? 10 Don’t you believe Me when I say I abide in the Father and the Father dwells in Me? I’m not making this up as I go along. The Father has given Me these truths that I have been speaking to you, and He empowers all My actions. 11 Accept these truths: I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me. If you have trouble believing based on My words, believe because of the things I have done. 12 I tell you the truth: whoever believes in Me will be able to do what I have done, but they will do even greater things, because I will return to be with the Father. 13 Whatever you ask for in My name, I will do it so that the Father will get glory from the Son. 14 Let Me say it again: if you ask for anything in My name, I will do it. 15 If you love Me, obey the commandments I have given you. 16 I will ask the Father to send you another Helper, the Spirit of truth, who will remain constantly with you. 17 The world does not recognize the Spirit of truth, because it does not know the Spirit and is unable to receive Him. But you do know the Spirit because He lives with you, and He will dwell in you. 18 I will never abandon you like orphans; I will return to be with you. 19 In a little while, the world will not see Me; but I will not vanish completely from your sight. Because I live, you will also live. 20 At that time, you will know that I am in the Father, you are in Me, and I am in you. 21 The one who loves Me will do the things I have commanded. My Father loves everyone who loves Me; and I will love you and reveal My heart, will, and nature to you.
God becomes flesh and lives among humanity, not just to have a transaction with people and ultimately die, but to continue to be with them and to send His Spirit to be present with believers. So God calls His Spirit-indwelled people to something greater, something more significant: they are here as redeeming forces on this earth; their time here is about reclaiming the things He has created. Believing God has created the entire cosmos and that it is restored in Jesus, the believer’s work here through the Spirit is to say, “This belongs to God,” and to help point out the beauty of creation to everyone. And most of all, to live in it themselves by the power of the Holy Spirit who plants the teachings of the Lord in their hearts.
The Other Judas: 22 Lord, why will You reveal Yourself to us, but not to the world?
Jesus: 23 Anyone who loves Me will listen to My voice and obey. The Father will love him, and We will draw close to him and make a dwelling place within him. 24 The one who does not love Me ignores My message, which is not from Me, but from the Father who sent Me.
25 I have spoken these words while I am here with you. 26 The Father is sending a great Helper, the Holy Spirit, in My name to teach you everything and to remind you of all I have said to you. 27 My peace is the legacy I leave to you. I don’t give gifts like those of this world. Do not let your heart be troubled or fearful. 28 You were listening when I said, “I will go away, but I will also return to be with you.” If you love Me, celebrate the fact that I am going to be with the Father because He is far greater than I am. 29 I have told you all these things in advance so that your faith will grow as these things come to pass. 30 I am almost finished speaking to you. The one who rules the world is stepping forward, and he has no part in Me; 31 but to demonstrate to the cosmos My love for the Father, I will do just as He commands. Stand up. It is time for us to leave this place.
11 Dishonesty in business disgusts the Eternal,
but fair dealing delights Him.
Business may well be the most common human activity, so God cares deeply about how we conduct our business. Many proverbs address honesty in all forms of business—buying, selling, negotiating, transacting, and working. All of these depend on trust. Deceit in business causes many people to suffer. In fact, world economies and all our livelihoods depend in large measure on truthfulness, honesty, and fair dealings in the market.
2 When pride comes, shame is not far behind,
but wisdom accompanies those who are humble.
3 The right-living are guided by integrity,
but the crooked ways of the faithless will lead to ruin.
4 Riches won’t matter on the day of wrath,
but right living will rescue from death.
5 The good deeds of the blameless pave a peaceful, productive path,
but wrongdoers trip over their own faults.
6 The good deeds of the upright will rescue them,
but the faithless will be conquered by their shallow desires.
7 When wrongdoers die, their hopes die with them.
Their great expectations vanish into nothing more than a dream.
8 Those who do right are pulled from trouble;
it falls on wrongdoers instead who are left to sink in their own problems.
9 The words of the godless ruin those close to them,
but through insight the right-living are spared.
10 When prosperity comes to those who do right, the whole city celebrates;
but when the wicked get their just punishment, there is joyous cheering.
11 A city thrives through the blessing of those living right,
but the words of a wrongdoer will bring it to ruin.
12 Whoever puts down another is not wise,
but one who knows better keeps quiet.
13 A gossip can’t keep anything confidential,
but a reliable person protects a secret.
14 Without wise guidance, a nation falls;
but victory is certain when there are plenty of wise counselors.
15 Trouble compounds when you guarantee a stranger’s debt,
but you’ll be safe if you refuse the pledge.
16 A gracious woman acquires honor,
but cruel people are only interested in acquiring money.
17 Kindness is its own reward,
but cruelty is a self-inflicted wound.
18 The wicked earn a living by deception,
but the one who plants righteousness gathers a true harvest.
19 Indeed, those who do what is right will live a good life,
but those who pursue evil will die.
20 The Eternal detests a crooked heart and a warped mind,
but He takes great pleasure in those who follow the right way.
21 Certainly those who do wrong will not escape punishment,
but those who do right will go free.
22 Much like a gold ring in the snout of a pig,
so is a beautiful woman who lacks good judgment.
23 Those who live right crave what is good,
but the prospect of wrongdoers is wrath.
24 One shares liberally and yet gains even more,
while another hoards more than is right and still has need.
25 A giving person will receive much in return,
and someone who gives water will also receive the water he needs.
Generosity places God’s gifts and blessings into circulation. The principle is simply stated: by giving we receive. This may seem counterintuitive, but it is how God’s economy works. As Jesus said, “Don’t hold back—give freely, and you’ll have plenty poured back into your lap—a good measure, pressed down, shaken together, brimming over. You’ll receive in the same measure you give” (Luke 6:38).
26 Curses fall upon those who hoard food,
but blessings come to those who sell food.
27 Those who seek good find the goodwill of others,
but those who look for evil are sure to find it.
28 Those who trust in their wealth are headed for great disappointment,
but those who do right will sprout like green leaves in the spring.
29 A person who stirs up trouble in his family will inherit stormy winds,
and foolish troublers will end up serving the wise.
30 The tree of life grows where the fruit of right-living falls,
and whoever wins souls is wise.
31 If the righteous can expect to be repaid on earth,
how much more can the ungodly and the sinners?
4 As a prisoner of the Lord, I urge you: Live a life that is worthy of the calling He has graciously extended to you. 2 Be humble. Be gentle. Be patient. Tolerate one another in an atmosphere thick with love. 3 Make every effort to preserve the unity the Spirit has already created, with peace binding you together.
Now that Paul has described the new world as God would have it, he urges believers to live out their callings with humility, patience, and love: to walk as Jesus walked. These are the ways of Jesus. Paul encourages them to do whatever it takes to hold onto the unity that binds people together in peace. He does not ask them to create that unity; this has already been accomplished through the work of the Rescuer and His Spirit. Rather, he calls believers to guard that unity—a more modest but no less significant task—because that unity is founded on God’s oneness and work in the world.
4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were all called to pursue one hope. 5 There is one Lord Jesus, one living faith, one ceremonial washing through baptism,[a] and 6 one God—the Father over all who is above all, through all, and in all. 7 This God has given to each of us grace in full measure according to the Anointed’s gift 8 as the Scripture says,
When He ascended to the heights,
He put captivity in chains;
And in His triumph, He gave gifts to the people.[b]
9 (Well, when it says “He ascended,” then that must mean that He had descended earlier to the lower levels, that is, to the earth. 10 The One who descended is the same One who rose from the dead to ascend far above all the heavens so that He could fill all things.)
11 It was the risen One who handed down to us such gifted leaders—some emissaries,[c] some prophets, some evangelists, as well as some pastor-teachers— 12 so that God’s people would be thoroughly equipped to minister and build up the body of the Anointed One. 13 These ministries will continue until we are unified in faith and filled with the knowledge of the Son of God, until we stand mature in His teachings and fully formed in the likeness of the Anointed, our Liberating King. 14 Then we will no longer be like children, tossed around here and there upon ocean waves, picked up by every gust of religious teaching spoken by liars or swindlers or deceivers. 15 Instead, by truth spoken in love, we are to grow in every way into Him—the Anointed One, the head. 16 He joins and holds together the whole body with its ligaments providing the support needed so each part works to its proper design to form a healthy, growing, and mature body that builds itself up in love.
17 Therefore, as a witness of the Lord, I insist on this: that you no longer walk in the outsiders’ ways—with minds devoted to worthless pursuits. 18 They are blind to true understanding. They are strangers and aliens to the kind of life God has for them because they live in ignorance and immorality and because their hearts are cold, hard stones. 19 And now, since they’ve lost all natural feelings, they have given themselves over to sensual, greedy, and reckless living. They stop at nothing to satisfy their impure appetites.
20 But this is not the path of the Anointed One, which you have learned. 21 If you have heard Jesus and have been taught by Him according to the truth that is in Him, 22 then you know to take off your former way of life, your crumpled old self—that dark blot of a soul corrupted by deceitful desire and lust— 23 to take a fresh breath and to let God renew your attitude and spirit. 24 Then you are ready to put on your new self, modeled after the very likeness of God: truthful, righteous, and holy.
25 So put away your lies and speak the truth to one another because we are all part of one another. 26 When you are angry, don’t let it carry you into sin.[d] Don’t let the sun set with anger in your heart or 27 give the devil room to work. 28 If you have been stealing, stop. Thieves must go to work like everyone else and work honestly with their hands so that they can share with anyone who has a need. 29 Don’t let even one rotten word seep out of your mouths. Instead, offer only fresh words that build others up when they need it most. That way your good words will communicate grace to those who hear them. 30 It’s time to stop bringing grief to God’s Holy Spirit; you have been sealed with the Spirit, marked as His own for the day of rescue. 31 Banish bitterness, rage and anger, shouting and slander, and any and all malicious thoughts—these are poison. 32 Instead, be kind and compassionate. Graciously forgive one another just as God has forgiven you through the Anointed, our Liberating King.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.