Old/New Testament

Gifts Given in Worship

25 The Lord said to Moses, ² “Tell the people of Israel to take a gift for Me. Receive the gift for Me from every person whose heart makes him willing. ³ This is the gift you are to receive from them: Gold, silver and brass, ⁴ blue, purple and red cloth, fine linen, goat hair, ⁵ rams’ skins made red, badgers’ skins, acacia wood, ⁶ lamp oil, spices for the oil used in worship and for perfumes, ⁷ onyx stones, and stones to be set in the clothing of the religious leaders. ⁸ Let them make a holy place for Me, so I may live among them. ⁹ Make the meeting tent and all that is in it like the plans I am going to show you.

The Special Box of the Agreement

¹⁰ “They will make a special box of acacia wood, two and a half cubits long, one and a half cubits wide, and one and a half cubits tall. ¹¹ Cover it inside and out with pure gold. And make a piece of gold to put on it all around. ¹² Make four gold rings for it and put them on its four feet. Put two rings on one side of it and two rings on the other side. ¹³ Cut long pieces of acacia wood for carrying and cover them with gold. ¹⁴ Then put the pieces of wood through the rings on the sides of the box, for carrying the box. ¹⁵ The long pieces will stay in the rings of the box. They must not be taken out. ¹⁶ Put into the special box the Law which I will give you. ¹⁷ Then make a mercy-seat from pure gold, two and a half cubits long and one and a half cubits wide. ¹⁸ Make two cherubim out of beaten gold. Make them at the two ends of the mercy-seat. ¹⁹ Make one cherub on one end and one cherub on the other end. Make the top of the mercy-seat, with the cherubim at each end, of one piece. ²⁰ The wings of the cherubim should spread up over the mercy-seat. Their faces should be toward each other, and toward the mercy-seat. ²¹ Put the mercy-seat on top of the box. Put the Law which I will give you into the box. ²² I will meet with you there. Between the two cherubim which are upon the special box of the Law, I will speak to you about all the Laws I will give you for the people of Israel.

The Table for the Holy Bread

²³ “Make a table of acacia wood, two cubits long, one cubit wide, and one and a half cubits tall. ²⁴ Cover it with pure gold and make a gold piece around it. ²⁵ Make a piece around it as wide as a hand and put gold on the side of this piece all around. ²⁶ Make four rings of gold for it. Put them on the four corners that are on the table’s four legs. ²⁷ The rings will be close to the sides, to hold the long pieces of wood used to carry the table. ²⁸ Cut the long, straight pieces of acacia wood and cover them with gold. The table will be carried with these. ²⁹ Make its plates, its pots and its jars, for pouring your gifts of drink. Make them of pure gold. ³⁰ And set the holy bread on the table before Me all the time.

³¹ “Then make a lamp-stand of pure gold. The lamp-stand and its base are to be made of beaten gold. Its cups, its buds, and its flowers will be of one piece with it. ³² Six branches will go out of its sides, three branches of the lamp-stand out of one side, and three branches out of its other side. ³³ Three cups will be made to look like almond flowers, each with bud and flower on one branch, and three on the next branch. This is to be done for all six branches going out of the lamp-stand. ³⁴ Four cups made to look like almond flowers, with their buds and flowers, will be put on the lamp-stand’s base. ³⁵ Make a bud under each of the six branches going out from the place where the lamp-stand is put. ³⁶ Their buds and their branches will all be one piece with the lamp-stand of pure, beaten gold. ³⁷ Then make the seven lamps and put them where they will give light to the space in front of it. ³⁸ The objects for putting out the light and their dishes will be of pure gold. ³⁹ Make it and all the objects for it out of a piece of gold about half the weight of a man. ⁴⁰ See that you make them by following the plan for them that was shown to you on the mountain.

The Meeting Tent

26 “Make the meeting tent with ten curtains of fine linen, blue and purple and red. Make them with cherubim sewed into them by an able workman. ² Each curtain will be as long as fourteen long steps, and as wide as two long steps, all of them the same. ³ Five curtains will be joined to one another. And the other five curtains will be joined to one another. ⁴ Take small pieces of blue cloth, longer than they are wide. Sew both ends to the side of the last curtain in the first group. Then do the same on the side of the last curtain in the second group. ⁵ Put fifty of these pieces on the one curtain. And put fifty on the side of the other curtain, so that the pieces meet each other. ⁶ Make fifty hooks of gold and join the curtains together with the hooks so the meeting tent will be as one.

⁷ “Make curtains of goat hair for a covering over the meeting tent. Make eleven curtains in all. ⁸ Each curtain will be as long as fifteen long steps, and as wide as two long steps, all of them the same. ⁹ Join five curtains by themselves and six curtains by themselves. Lay the sixth curtain over the front of the meeting tent twice. ¹⁰ Take fifty small pieces of cloth, longer than they are wide. Sew both ends of each to the side of the last curtain in the first group. Then sew fifty pieces onto the side of the last curtain in the second group. ¹¹ Make fifty hooks of brass. Put the hooks through the sewed pieces of cloth and join the tent together as one. ¹² The part that is left of the tent’s curtains, the half curtain, will lie over the back of the meeting tent. ¹³ There will be parts of the tent’s curtains left over on each side, about a cubit. These will hang over each side of the meeting tent to cover it. ¹⁴ Make a covering for the tent of rams’ skins made red, and a covering over that of badgers’ skins.

¹⁵ “Then make the standing pieces of wood for the meeting tent out of acacia wood. ¹⁶ Each piece of wood will be as long as five long steps, and as wide as one step. ¹⁷ Make two joint-pieces in each piece of wood for joining them together. Do this for all the pieces of wood of the meeting tent. ¹⁸ Set up twenty pieces of wood for the south side of the meeting tent. ¹⁹ Make forty silver bases under the twenty pieces of wood, with two holes in each one for joining the two joint-pieces on each piece of wood. ²⁰ Cut twenty pieces of wood for the north side of the meeting tent. ²¹ And make forty silver bases, two under each piece of wood. ²² Then cut six pieces of wood for the back or west side of the meeting tent. ²³ Cut two pieces of wood for the back corners. ²⁴ They will be apart at the bottom, and joined at the top with one ring. They will both be made the same and will make the two corners. ²⁵ There will be eight special pieces of wood and their silver bases with sixteen holes, two holes under each piece of wood.

²⁶ “Then make cross-pieces of acacia wood, five for the pieces of wood on one side of the meeting tent, ²⁷ and five for the pieces of wood on the other side of the meeting tent. Then make five for the pieces of wood at the back of the meeting tent to the west side. ²⁸ The long, cross-piece for the center of the standing pieces of wood will go through from end to end. ²⁹ Cover the standing pieces of wood with gold. Make rings of gold to hold the cross-pieces and cover these pieces with gold. ³⁰ Build the meeting tent by following the plan for it that was shown to you on the mountain.

³¹ “Make a curtain of blue and purple and red cloth and fine linen. It will be made with cherubim sewed into it by an able workman. ³² Hang it on four strong pillars of acacia wood covered with gold. Their hooks will be made of gold also. And the pillars will stand on four silver bases. ³³ Hang the top of the curtain from the hooks. Then bring the box of the Law within the curtain. This curtain will divide the holy place from the Holiest Place of All. ³⁴ Put the mercy-seat on the box of the Law in the Holiest Place of All. ³⁵ Set the table outside the curtain. Put the lamp-stand on the south side of the meeting tent. And put the table on the north side.

³⁶ “Make another curtain of fine linen for the door of the tent. It will be made of blue and purple and red cloth by an able workman. ³⁷ Hang it on five pillars of acacia wood covered with gold. Make their hooks of gold. And make five brass bases for them.

Jesus Tells of His Death the Third Time ^(A)

¹⁷ As Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, He talked also to the twelve followers by the side of the road. He said, ¹⁸  “Listen! We are going up to Jerusalem. The Son of Man will be handed over to the religious leaders and to the teachers of the Law. They will say that He must be put to death. ¹⁹ They will hand Him over to the people who do not know God. They will make fun of Him and will beat Him. They will nail Him to a cross. Three days later He will be raised to life.”

The Mother of James and John Asks Jesus Something Hard ^(B)

²⁰ The mother of Zebedee’s children (James and John) came to Jesus with her sons. She got down on her knees before Jesus to ask something of Him. ²¹ He said to her, “What do you want?” She said, “Say that my two sons may sit, one at Your right side and one at Your left side, when You are King.” ²² Jesus said to her, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to take the suffering that I am about to take? (*Are you able to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?)” They said, “Yes, we are able.” ²³ He said to them, “You will suffer as I will suffer. But the places at My right side and at My left side are not Mine to give. Whoever My Father says will have those places.”

²⁴ The other ten followers heard this. They were angry with the two brothers. ²⁵ Jesus called them to Him and said, “You know how the kings of the nations show their power to the people. Important leaders use their power over the people. ²⁶ It must not be that way with you. But whoever wants to be great among you, let him care for you. ²⁷ Whoever wants to be first among you, let him be your servant. ²⁸ For the Son of Man came not to be cared for. He came to care for others. He came to give His life so that many could be bought by His blood and made free from the punishment of sin.”

The Healing of the Blind Men ^(C)

²⁹ As they went away from the city of Jericho, many people followed Him. ³⁰ Two blind men were sitting by the side of the road. They called out when they heard that Jesus was going by. They said, “Lord, take pity on us, Son of David!” ³¹ Many people spoke sharp words to them. They told the blind men not to call out. But they called all the more, “Lord! Take pity on us, Son of David!” ³² Jesus stopped and called them. He asked, “What do you want Me to do for you?” ³³ The blind men said to Jesus, “Lord, we want our eyes opened!” ³⁴ Jesus had loving-pity on them and put His hands on their eyes. At once they could see, and they followed Jesus.