Exodus 35-37
1 Now Moses gathered all the congregation of the children of Israel together and said to them, “These are the words the Lord said for you to do. 2 Work shall be done for six days, but the seventh day shall be a holy day for you, a Sabbath of rest to the Lord. Whoever does work on it shall be put to death. 3 You shall kindle no fire throughout your dwellings on the Sabbath Day; I am the Lord.”
4 Again Moses spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying, “This is the thing the Lord commanded, saying, 5 ‘Take from among you an offering to the Lord. Whoever is of a willing heart, let him bring his first fruits to the Lord: gold, silver, and bronze; 6 blue, purple, and scarlet fabric, fine linen, and female goats’ hair; 7 ram skins dyed red, skins dyed blue, and incorruptible wood; 8 sardius stones and stones to be set in the ephod and the full-length robe.
9 ‘Every man wise in heart among you, let him come and do all the Lord has commanded: 10 the tabernacle, its cords, coverings, rings, bars, and posts; 11 the ark of the testimony, its poles, mercy seat, and veil; 12 and the curtains of the court and its posts; 13 and the emerald stones; 14 and the incense and the anointing oil; 15 and the table and all its utensils; 16 and the illuminating lampstand and all its utensils; 17 and the altar and all its utensils; 18 and the holy vestments of Aaron the priest and the garments in which they shall do service; 19 and the priestly robes for the sons of Aaron and the compounded incense.’ ”
20 So all the congregation of the children of Israel departed from the presence of Moses. 21 Then everyone came whose heart was stirred and whose soul was willing; and they brought the Lord’s offering for the work of the tabernacle of testimony, for all its service and the garments of the holy place. 22 They came, both men and women, as many as had a willing mind, and brought signets, earrings, rings, and necklaces, all jewelry of gold to the Lord. 23 Also every man with whom was found blue fabric and skins dyed blue and skins dyed red brought them. 24 Everyone who offered an offering of silver or bronze also brought these to the Lord; and everyone with whom was found incorruptible wood for any work of the service brought it. 25 All the women who were gifted artisans spun yarn with their hands and brought what they spun—of blue, purple, scarlet, and fine linen. 26 Also all the women whose heart stirred with wisdom spun yarn of female goats’ hair. 27 The rulers brought emerald stones, and the stones to be set in the ephod and in the oracle, 28 and the compounds for the anointing oil, and the compounds for the incense. 29 Thus the children of Israel brought a freewill offering to the Lord, all the men and women whose minds were willing to bring material for all kinds of work, which the Lord, by the hand of Moses, commanded to be done.
Artisans for the Tabernacle
30 Then Moses said to the children of Israel, “Behold, God has called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah; 31 and He has filled him with a divine Spirit of wisdom, understanding, and knowledge in all things 32 to design artistic works, to work in gold and silver and bronze, 33 in cutting jewels for setting, in carving wood, and to work in all manner of artistic workmanship. 34 He has put in his mind and in that of Aholiab the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, the ability to teach. 35 He filled them with wisdom, understanding, and skill to do all manner of work of the holy place, and to weave the woven and embroidered work with scarlet and fine linen, and to do all work of curious workmanship and embroidery.”
1 Now Bezalel and Aholiab, and every gifted artisan in whom the Lord put wisdom and knowledge to know how to do all manner of work for the service of the holy place, did according to all the Lord commanded.
The Gifts of the People
2 Then Moses called Bezalel and Aholiab, and every gifted artisan in whose heart the Lord put wisdom, everyone whose heart willed freely to come and do the work. 3 They received from Moses all the offerings the children of Israel brought for all the works for making the holy place, and they continued bringing him freewill offerings every morning. 4 Then all the wise men who were doing all the work of the holy place came, each according to the work he was doing, 5 and they spoke to Moses, saying, “The people bring much more than enough for the work the Lord commanded us to do.” 6 So Moses gave a commandment and proclaimed it throughout the camp, saying, “Let neither man nor woman do any more work for the offering of the holy place.” Thus the people were restrained from bringing more, 7 for the material was sufficient for all the work to be done—indeed, too much.
Articles for the Tabernacle
8 Then all the gifted artisans among them who worked on Aaron’s garments for the holy places did as the Lord commanded Moses. 9 He made the ephod of gold, blue, purple, spun scarlet, and fine twined linen. 10 Thin plates of gold were then cut into threads to be woven into the blue, purple, spun scarlet, and fine twined linen; and they formed it as a woven piece. 11 He then coupled the ephod together from its two sides, a work woven by a mutual twisting of the parts into one another. 12 They constructed it according to the same workmanship of gold, blue, purple, spun scarlet, and fine twined linen, as the Lord commanded Moses. 13 Then they made two emerald stones, clasped together and set in gold, carved and engraved as signets are engraved with the names of the sons of Israel. 14 He attached these as memorial stones to the shoulders of the ephod for the children of Israel, as the Lord commanded Moses.
15 Then they made the oracle, a woven work of embroidery like the workmanship of the ephod, of gold, blue, purple, spun scarlet, and fine twined linen. 16 They made the oracle square by doubling it; a span was its length and a span its width when doubled. 17 Interwoven into this texture was a setting of four rows of stones: the first row, a sardius, a topaz, and an emerald; 18 and the second row, a carbuncle, a sapphire, and a jasper; 19 and the third row, a jacinth, an agate, and an amethyst; 20 and the fourth row, a chrysolite, a beryl, and an onyx, set around with gold and fastened with gold. 21 The twelve stones bore the names of the sons of Israel, their names engraved like a signet, each one with its own name according to the twelve tribes. 22 Then they made on the oracle chains, plaited fringes of gold, a work of pure gold. 23 They also made two gold bosses and two gold rings. 24 Then they put the two braided chains of gold in the two rings on the ends of the oracle. 25 They also attached two golden clasps to the rings on both sides of the oracle, the two clasps to the two couplings. 26 Then they placed the two gold bosses, joining them to the shoulders of the ephod opposite one another in the front. 27 They made two gold rings and attached them to two loops on top of the oracle, near the back of it, the side toward the ephod. 28 Then they made two gold rings and attached them below the two shoulders of the ephod in front, woven into the ephod like the coupling above.
29 Then they bound the oracle by means of its rings to the rings of the ephod with a blue cord. 30 That way it would be above the intricately woven band of the ephod, and the breastplate would not rip away from the ephod, as the Lord commanded Moses. 31 He made the undergarment of the ephod of woven work, all of blue. 32 The collar of the undergarment was plaited and interwoven, having a border all around that it would not tear. 33 Beneath the border of the robe there were knobs of flowering pomegranate, constructed of blue, purple, spun scarlet, and fine twined linen.
34 Then they made bells of pure gold and put the bells on the hem of the robe all around between the pomegranates. 35 The golden bells and pomegranates, all the hem of the robe, were for the ministry, as the Lord commanded Moses. 36 They made fine linen robes, woven work, for Aaron and his sons, and belts of fine linen, and turbans of fine linen, short trousers of fine linen, 37 and their sashes of fine woven linen, blue, purple, spun scarlet, made by a weaver according as the Lord commanded Moses.
38 Then they made the plate of gold, a dedicated thing of the holy place, of pure gold, and on it he wrote an inscription like the engraving of a signet: Holiness to the Lord. 39 And they tied a blue cord to it to fasten it above on the turban, in the manner the Lord commanded Moses.
The Tabernacle of Testimony
1 Now they made ten curtains for the tabernacle. 2 The length of one curtain was twenty-eight cubits (and thus it was for all of them), and the width four cubits. 3 They made the veil of blue, purple, spun scarlet, and fine twined linen; a work woven with cherubim. 4 Then they put it on four posts of incorruptible wood overlaid with gold; and their capitals were gold, and their four bases were silver. 5 For the tabernacle of testimony, they made the veil of the door blue, purple, spun scarlet, and fine twined linen, a woven work with cherubs; 6 and they made its five posts with their rings, and they gilded their capitals and bands with gold; but their five bases were bronze.
7 Then they made the court toward the south, and its curtains were of fine twined linen, one hundred cubits symmetrically. 8 There were twenty posts for them with twenty bases. 9 On the north side they were a hundred cubits symmetrically. On the south side they were a hundred cubits symmetrically with their twenty posts and twenty bases. 10 On the west side there were curtains of fifty cubits with their ten posts and twenty bases. 11 On the east side, there were curtains of fifty cubits: 12 with one curtain on one side of the court entrance of fifteen cubits, with its three posts and bases, 13 and one on the other side of the court entrance of fifteen cubits, with its three posts and bases. 14 All the curtains of the court were of fine twined linen. 15 The bases of the posts were bronze, the hooks of the posts were silver, and their capitals were overlaid with silver; and all the posts of the court were overlaid with silver. 16 The veil of the court entrance was a woven work of blue, purple, spun scarlet, and fine twined linen. Its length was twenty cubits, and its height or width was five cubits, corresponding with the curtains of the court. 17 There were four posts and bases for the veil, made of bronze with their hooks of silver, and their capitals overlaid with silver. 18 The pegs all around the court were made of bronze and overlaid with silver.
19 So this was the construction of the tabernacle of testimony, as it was commanded to Moses, for the service of the Levites through Ithamar, the son of Aaron the priest. 20 Bezalel the son of Uri, of the tribe of Judah, did as the Lord commanded Moses.
21 There was Aholiab the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, who was a master workman of woven and needlework in the scarlet and fine linen.
Psalm 31
1 By David; concerning understanding.
Blessed are those whose transgressions are forgiven,
And whose sins are covered.
2 Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord does not take into account,
And in whose mouth there is no deceit.
3 Because I kept silent, my bones grew old
From my groaning all the day long;
4 For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me;
I became miserable when the thorn pierced me.
(Pause)
5 I made known my sin,
And I did not hide my transgression;
I said, “I will confess my transgression to the Lord,”
And You forgave the ungodliness of my sin.
(Pause)
6 For this cause, everyone who is holy will pray to Him in a well-fitted time;
Surely they will not draw near to Him in a flood of many waters.
7 You are my refuge from the oppression of those who surround me;
O my exceeding joy, redeem me from those who encircle me.
(Pause)
8 “I will give you understanding, and I will teach you in the way you should walk;
I will fix My eyes on you.
9 Do not be like the horse and the mule, which have no understanding;
You squeeze their jaws with bit and bridle,
Lest they come near you.”
10 Many are the scourges of the sinner,
But he who hopes in the Lord, mercy shall encircle him.
11 Be glad in the Lord and rejoice greatly, O righteous ones,
And boast, all you upright in heart.
Proverbs 6:17–19
17 A man who is without discernment and is lawless does not walk in good ways.
But he winks with an eye; he makes a sign with his foot,
And teaches with the wave of his hand.
18 And with a perverse heart, he constantly schemes evil things;
Such a man causes trouble in a city.
19 Therefore his destruction comes suddenly,
A deep and incurable wound.
Matthew 20:17–34
17 Now Jesus, going up to Jerusalem, took the twelve disciples aside on the road and said to them,
18 “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death,
19 “and deliver Him to the Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify. And the third day He will rise again.”
Greatness Is Serving
20 Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Him with her sons, kneeling down and asking something from Him.
21 And He said to her, “What do you wish?” She said to Him, “Grant that these two sons of mine may sit, one on Your right hand and the other on the left, in Your kingdom.”
22 But Jesus answered and said, “You do not know what you ask. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” They said to Him, “We are able.”
23 So He said to them, “You will indeed drink My cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with; but to sit on My right hand and on My left is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it is prepared by My Father.”
24 And when the ten heard it, they were greatly displeased with the two brothers.
25 But Jesus called them to Himself and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them.
26 “Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant.
27 “And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave—
28 “just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”
Two Blind Men Receive Their Sight
29 Now as they went out of Jericho, a great multitude followed Him.
30 And behold, two blind men sitting by the road, when they heard that Jesus was passing by, cried out, saying, “Have mercy on us, O Lord, Son of David!”
31 Then the multitude warned them that they should be quiet; but they cried out all the more, saying, “Have mercy on us, O Lord, Son of David!”
32 So Jesus stood still and called them, and said, “What do you want Me to do for you?”
33 They said to Him, “Lord, that our eyes may be opened.”34 So Jesus had compassion and touched their eyes. And immediately their eyes received sight, and they followed Him.