Old/New Testament

Builders of the Meeting Tent

31 The Lord said to Moses, ² “See, I have called by name Bezalel, the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the family of Judah. ³ I have filled him with the Spirit of God in wisdom, understanding, much learning, and all kinds of special work. ⁴ He will plan good work in gold, silver and brass, ⁵ in cutting stones to set, and in cutting wood, for all kinds of good work. ⁶ And see, I have given Aholiab the son of Ahisamach, of the family of Dan to help him. I have put wisdom in the hearts of all who are wise, so they may make all that I have told you: ⁷ the meeting tent, the box of the Law, the mercy-seat upon it, and all the objects of the tent, ⁸ the table and its objects, the pure gold lamp-stand with all its objects, the altar of special perfume, ⁹ the altar of burnt gifts with all its objects, the washing pot and its base, ¹⁰ the well-made clothing, the holy clothing for Aaron the religious leader, the clothing for his sons for their work as religious leaders, ¹¹ the oil for holy use, and the sweet-smelling perfume for the holy place. Have them do all I have told you.”

The Day of Rest

¹² The Lord said to Moses, ¹³ “Say to the people of Israel, ‘Keep My Days of Rest. For this is something special between Me and you for all your people forever. So you may know that I am the Lord Who sets you apart for Myself. ¹⁴ You will keep the Day of Rest, for it is holy to you. Every one who does what is sinful on this day will be put to death for sure. Whoever does any work on this day will be cut off from among his people. ¹⁵ Work may be done for six days. But the seventh day is a Day of Rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on the Day of Rest will be put to death for sure. ¹⁶ So the people of Israel will keep the Day of Rest as a special day for all their people for all time, as an agreement forever.’ ¹⁷ It is something special between Me and the people of Israel forever. For the Lord made heaven and earth in six days. But He stopped working and rested on the seventh day.”

¹⁸ When the Lord had finished speaking with Moses on Mount Sinai, He gave him the two stone writings of the Law, pieces of stone written on by the finger of God.

The Gold Calf

32 When the people saw that Moses was staying a long time before coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron, and said, “Come, make a god for us who will go in front of us. For we do not know what has become of Moses, the man who brought us out of the land of Egypt.” ² Aaron said to them, “Take the objects of gold from the ears of your wives, your sons and your daughters, and bring them to me.” ³ So all the people took the gold objects from their ears and brought them to Aaron. ⁴ He took the gold from their hands, worked on it with a sharp tool, and by melting it, made it into a calf. Then they said, “This is your god, O Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.” ⁵ When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of it. Aaron said to all the people, “Tomorrow will be a special supper to the Lord.” ⁶ So the next day they got up early and gave burnt gifts and peace gifts. The people sat down to eat and drink, and got up to play.

⁷ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go down. For your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt, have turned to sin. ⁸ They have been quick to turn aside from the way I have told them. They have melted gold and made a calf for themselves. They have worshiped it, have given gifts to it, and have said, ‘This is your god, O Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt!’” ⁹ The Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and see, they are a strong-willed people. ¹⁰ Now let Me alone, so My anger may be against them and I may destroy them. But I will make you into a great nation.”

¹¹ Then Moses begged the Lord his God, saying, “O Lord, why are you very angry against Your people whom You brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and a strong hand? ¹² Why should the Egyptians say, ‘He brought them out to kill them in the mountains and destroy them from the earth’? Turn from Your anger and change Your mind about destroying Your people. ¹³ Remember Abraham, Isaac and Israel, who were your servants. You promised them by Yourself, saying, ‘I will make your children become as many as the stars of the heavens. And I will give all this land I have spoken about to your children. It will be theirs forever.’” ¹⁴ So the Lord changed His mind about the things He said He would do to His people.

¹⁵ Then Moses turned and went down from the mountain with the two stone writings of the Law in his hand. The stones were written on both sides, on one side and the other. ¹⁶ The stone writings were God’s work. The writing was God’s writing cut into the stones. ¹⁷ When Joshua heard the sound of the people as they made noise, he said to Moses, “There is a sound of war at the tents.” ¹⁸ But Moses said, “It is not the sound of winning, or the sound of losing. It is the sound of singing I hear.” ¹⁹ As soon as Moses came near the tents, he saw the calf and the dancing. Moses became very angry. He threw the stone writings from his hands and broke them at the base of the mountain. ²⁰ And he took the calf they had made and burned it with fire, ground it to dust, spread it over the top of the water, and made the people of Israel drink it.

²¹ Then Moses said to Aaron, “What did this people do to you to make you bring such great sin upon them?” ²² Aaron said, “Do not let my lord be angry. You know the people yourself and how sinful they are.

²³ They said to me, ‘Make a god for us who will go in front of us. For we do not know what has become of Moses, the man who brought us out of the land of Egypt.’ ²⁴ And I said to them, ‘Whoever has any gold, let them take it off.’ So they gave it to me. I threw it into the fire and out came this calf.”

²⁵ Moses saw that Aaron had let the people go wild and become a shame to those who hated them. ²⁶ So Moses stood in the gate of the place where they had set up their tents and said, “Whoever is for the Lord, come to me!” And all the sons of Levi came together around him. ²⁷ He said to them, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Every man put his sword on his thigh. And go from one end of the tents to the other, and each one kill his brother, his friend, and his neighbor.’” ²⁸ So the sons of Levi did as Moses said. About 3,000 men fell that day. ²⁹ Then Moses said, “Today you have set yourselves apart for the Lord. For each man has been against his son and against his brother, so the Lord may bring good to you today.”

³⁰ The next day Moses said to the people, “You have sinned. Now I am going up to the Lord. It might be that I can have your sin forgiven.” ³¹ Then Moses returned to the Lord and said, “O, this people have sinned. They have made a god of gold for themselves. ³² But now, if You will, forgive their sin. If not, then take my name out of Your book which You have written.” ³³ The Lord said to Moses, “I will put out of My book whoever has sinned against Me. ³⁴ But go now. Lead the people where I told you. See, My angel will go before you. But in the day when I punish, I will punish them for their sin.” ³⁵ Then the Lord sent trouble upon the people, because of what they did with the calf Aaron had made.

Israel Leaves Mount Sinai

33 The Lord said to Moses, “Go away from this place, you and the people you have brought out of the land of Egypt. Go to the land that I promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your children.’ ² I will send an angel before you. And I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite. ³ Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey. But I will not go with you, because you are a strong-willed people and I might destroy you on the way.” ⁴ When the people heard this bad news, they were filled with sorrow. None of them wore his objects of gold or silver. ⁵ For the Lord had said to Moses, “Say to the people of Israel, ‘You are a strong-willed people. If I go with you even for just a little time, I would destroy you. So take off your objects of gold and silver that I may know what to do with you.’” ⁶ So the people of Israel took off all their objects of gold and silver at Mount Horeb.

Moses Meets with the Lord

⁷ Now Moses used to take the tent and set it up far away from the other tents. He called it the meeting tent. Anyone who wanted to meet with the Lord would go away from the other tents to the meeting tent. ⁸ When Moses went out to the tent, all the people would get up and stand at the doors of their tents. And they would watch Moses until he went into the meeting tent. ⁹ Whenever Moses went into the meeting tent, the cloud would come down and stand at the door of the tent. And the Lord would speak with Moses. ¹⁰ When all the people saw the cloud standing at the door of the meeting tent, they would stand up and worship, each at his tent door. ¹¹ The Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. When Moses returned to the other tents, his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, would not leave the meeting tent.

God’s Promise to Be with His People

¹² Moses said to the Lord, “See, You say to me, ‘Lead this people!’ But You have not let me know whom You will send with me. Yet You said, ‘I have known you by name. You have found favor in My eyes.’ ¹³ So I pray to You, if I have found favor in Your eyes, let me know Your ways. Then I may know You and find favor in Your eyes. And keep in mind that this nation is Your people.” ¹⁴ The Lord said, “I Myself will go with you. I will give you rest.” ¹⁵ Then Moses said to Him, “If You Yourself do not go with us, do not have us leave this place. ¹⁶ For how will it be known that I and Your people have found favor in Your eyes, unless You go with us? Then I and Your people will be different from all the other people on the earth.”

¹⁷ The Lord said to Moses, “I will do what you have said. For you have found favor in My eyes, and I have known you by name.” ¹⁸ Moses said, “I pray to You, show me Your shining-greatness!” ¹⁹ And God said, “I will have My goodness pass in front of you. I will make the name of the Lord known in front of you. I will have loving-kindness and loving-pity for anyone I want to.” ²⁰ But He said, “You cannot see My face. For no man can see Me and live!” ²¹ Then the Lord said, “See, there is a place beside Me. You stand there on the rock. ²² While My shining-greatness is passing by, I will put you in the large crack of the rock. And I will cover you with My hand until I have passed by. ²³ Then I will take My hand away and you will see My back. But My face will not be seen.”

The Picture-Story of the Marriage Supper

22 Again Jesus spoke to them in picture-stories. He said, ² “The holy nation of heaven is like a king who gave a wedding supper for his son. ³ He sent his servants to tell the people, who had been asked, to come to the supper. But the people did not want to come.

⁴ “He sent other servants, saying to them, ‘Tell those who have been asked to come, “See! My supper is ready. My cows and fat calves are killed. Everything is ready. Come to the wedding supper!”’ ⁵ But they did not listen and went on working. One went to his farm. Another went to his store. ⁶ The others took hold of his servants, and hurt them and killed them.

⁷ “When the king heard this, he was very angry. He sent his soldiers to put those to death who had killed his servants. He burned their city. ⁸ Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding supper is ready. Those who were asked to come to the supper were not good enough. ⁹ Go out into the roads and as many people as you can find, ask them to come to the wedding supper.’

¹⁰ “The servants went out into the roads and brought all they could find, both bad and good. The wedding supper room was full of people. ¹¹ The king came in to see those who had come. He saw one man who did not have on wedding supper clothes. ¹² He said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without wedding supper clothes?’ The man could not speak! ¹³ Then the king said to his servants, ‘Tie his hands and feet, and throw him out into the darkness. In that place there will be loud crying and grinding of teeth.’ ¹⁴ For many are called but few are chosen.”

The Proud Religious Law-Keepers Try to Trap Jesus ^(A)

¹⁵ Then the proud religious law-keepers got together to think how they could trap Jesus in His talk. ¹⁶ They sent their followers to Jesus with some of King Herod’s men. They asked, “Teacher, we know that You are true. We know that You are teaching the truth about God. We know You are not afraid of what men think or say about You. ¹⁷ Tell us what You think of this. Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” ¹⁸ Jesus knew their sinful thoughts and said, “You pretend to be someone you are not! Why do you try to trap Me? ¹⁹ Show Me a piece of money.” They brought Him a piece. ²⁰ Jesus said to them, “Whose picture is this? Whose name is on it?” ²¹ They said to Him, “Caesar’s.” Then He said to them, “Pay to Caesar the things that belong to Caesar. Pay to God the things that belong to God.” ²² When they heard this, they were surprised and wondered about it. Then they went away from Him.