Through the Bible – Day 32

Bible text(s)

Exodus 29

The LORD said:

₃₈Each day you must sacrifice two lambs a year old, ₃₉one in the morning and one in the evening. _40-41With each lamb offer one kilogramme of your finest flour mixed with a litre of pure olive oil, and also pour out a litre of wine as an offering. The smell of this sacrifice on the fires of the altar will be pleasing to me. _42-43You and your descendants must always offer this sacrifice on the altar at the entrance to the sacred tent.

People of Israel, I will meet and speak with you there, and my shining glory will make the place holy. ₄₄Because of who I am, the tent will become sacred, and Aaron and his sons will become worthy to serve as my priests. ₄₅I will live among you as your God, ₄₆and you will know that I am the LORD your God, the one who rescued you from Egypt, so that I could live among you.

Exodus 30

The altar for burning incense

(Exodus 37.25-28)

The LORD said to Moses:

₁Build an altar of acacia wood where you can burn incense. ₂Make it forty-five centimetres square and ninety centimetres high, and make each of its four corners stick up like the horn of a bull. ₃Cover it with pure gold and put a gold edging around it. ₄Then below the edging on opposite sides attach two gold rings through which you can put the poles for carrying the altar. ₅These poles are also to be made of acacia wood covered with gold.

₆Put the altar in front of the inside curtain of the sacred tent. The chest with the place of mercy is kept behind that curtain, and I will talk with you there. _7-8From now on, when Aaron tends the lamp each morning and evening, he must burn sweet-smelling incense to me on the altar. ₉Burn only the proper incense on the altar and never use it for grain sacrifices or animal sacrifices or drink offerings. ₁₀Once a year Aaron must purify the altar by smearing on its four corners the blood of an animal sacrificed for sin, and this practice must always be followed. The altar is sacred because it is dedicated to me.

The money for the sacred tent

₁₁The LORD said to Moses:

₁₂Find out how many grown men there are in Israel and require each of them to pay me to keep him safe from danger while you are counting them. _13-15Each man over nineteen, whether rich or poor, must pay me the same amount of money, weighed according to the official standards. ₁₆This money is to be used for the upkeep of the sacred tent, and because of it, I will never forget my people.

The large bronze bowl

(Exodus 38.8)

₁₇The LORD said to Moses:

_18-21Make a large bronze bowl and a bronze stand for it. Then put them between the altar for sacrifice and the sacred tent, so the priests can wash their hands and feet before entering the tent or offering a sacrifice on the altar. Each priest in every generation must wash himself in this way, or else he will die there.

The oil for dedication and ordination

(Exodus 37.29)

₂₂The LORD said to Moses:

_23-25Mix four litres of olive oil with the following costly spices: six kilogrammes of myrrh, three kilogrammes of cinnamon, three kilogrammes of cane, and six kilogrammes of cassia. Measure these according to the official standards. Then use this sacred mixture ₂₆for dedicating the tent and chest, ₂₇the table with its equipment, the lampstand with its equipment, the incense altar with all its utensils, ₂₈the altar for sacrifices, and the large bowl with its stand. ₂₉By dedicating them in this way, you will make them so holy that anyone who even touches them will become holy.

₃₀When you ordain Aaron and his sons as my priests, sprinkle them with some of this oil, ₃₁and say to the people of Israel: “This oil must always be used in the ordination service of a priest. It is holy because it is dedicated to the LORD. ₃₂So treat it as holy! Don't ever use it for everyday purposes or mix any for yourselves. ₃₃If you do, you will no longer belong to the LORD's people.”

The sweet-smelling incense

_34-35Mix equal amounts of the costly spices stacte, onycha, galbanum, and pure frankincense, then add salt to make the mixture pure and holy. ₃₆Pound some of it into powder and sprinkle it in front of the sacred chest, where I meet with you. Be sure to treat this incense as something very holy. ₃₇It is truly holy because it is dedicated to me, so don't ever make any for yourselves. ₃₈If you ever make any of it to use as perfume, you will no longer belong to my people.

Exodus 31

The LORD chooses Bezalel and Oholiab

(Exodus 35.30—36.1)

₁The LORD said to Moses:

₂I have chosen Bezalel from the Judah tribe to make the sacred tent and its furnishings. _3-5Not only have I filled him with my Spirit, but I have given him wisdom and made him a skilled craftsman who can create objects of art with gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood. ₆I have appointed Oholiab from the tribe of Dan to work with him, and I have also given skills to those who will help them make everything exactly as I have commanded you: _7-11the sacred tent with its furnishings, the sacred chest with its place of mercy, the table with all that is on it, the lamp with its equipment, the incense altar, the altar for sacrifices with its equipment, the bronze bowl with its stand, the beautiful priestly clothes for Aaron and his sons, the oil for dedication and ordination services, and the sweet-smelling incense for the holy place.

Laws for the Sabbath

_12-13Moses told the Israelites that the LORD had said:

The Sabbath belongs to me. Now I command you and your descendants always to obey the laws of the Sabbath. By doing this, you will know that I have chosen you as my own. _14-15Keep the Sabbath holy. You have six days to do your work, but the Sabbath is mine, and it must remain a day of rest. If you work on the Sabbath, you will no longer be part of my people, and you will be put to death.

₁₆Every generation of Israelites must respect the Sabbath. ₁₇This day will always serve as a reminder, both to me and to the Israelites, that I made the heavens and the earth in six days, then on the seventh day I rested and relaxed.

₁₈When God had finished speaking to Moses on Mount Sinai, he gave him the two flat stones on which he had written all his laws with his own hand.

Exodus 32

The people make an idol to worship

₁After the people saw that Moses had been on the mountain for a long time, they went to Aaron and said, “Make us an image of a god who will lead and protect us. Moses brought us out of Egypt, but nobody knows what has happened to him.”

₂Aaron told them, “Bring me the gold earrings that your wives and sons and daughters are wearing.” ₃Everybody took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron, ₄then he melted them and made an idol in the shape of a young bull.

All the people said to one another, “This is the god who brought us out of Egypt!”

₅When Aaron saw what was happening, he built an altar in front of the idol and said, “Tomorrow we will celebrate in honour of the LORD.” ₆The people got up early the next morning and killed some animals to be used for sacrifices and others to be eaten. Then everyone ate and drank so much that they began to carry on like wild people.

₇The LORD said to Moses:

Hurry back down! Those people you led out of Egypt are acting like fools. ₈They have already stopped obeying me and have made themselves an idol in the shape of a young bull. They have bowed down to it, offered sacrifices, and said that it is the god who brought them out of Egypt. ₉Moses, I have seen how stubborn these people are, ₁₀and I'm angry enough to destroy them, so don't try to stop me. But I will make your descendants into a great nation.

₁₁Moses tried to get the LORD God to change his mind:

Our LORD, you used your mighty power to bring these people out of Egypt. Now don't become angry and destroy them. ₁₂If you do, the Egyptians will say that you brought your people out here into the mountains just to get rid of them. Please don't be angry with your people. Don't destroy them!

₁₃Remember the solemn promise you made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. You promised that some day they would have as many descendants as there are stars in the sky and that you would give them land.

₁₄So even though the LORD had threatened to destroy the people, he changed his mind and let them live.

_15-16Moses went back down the mountain with the two flat stones on which God had written all his laws with his own hand, and he had used both sides of the stones.

₁₇When Joshua heard the noisy shouts of the people, he said to Moses, “A battle must be going on down in the camp.”

₁₈But Moses replied, “It doesn't sound like they are shouting because they have won or lost a battle. They are singing wildly!”

₁₉As Moses got closer to the camp, he saw the idol, and he also saw the people dancing around. This made him so angry that he threw down the stones and broke them to pieces at the foot of the mountain. ₂₀He melted the idol the people had made, and he ground it into powder. He scattered it in their water and made them drink it. ₂₁Moses asked Aaron, “What did these people do to harm you? Why did you make them sin in this terrible way?”

₂₂Aaron answered:

Don't be angry with me. You know as well as I do that they are determined to do evil. ₂₃They even told me, “That man Moses led us out of Egypt, but now we don't know what has happened to him. Make us a god to lead us.” ₂₄Then I asked them to bring me their gold earrings. They took them off and gave them to me. I threw the gold into a fire, and out came this bull.

₂₅Moses knew that the people were out of control and that it was Aaron's fault. And now they had made fools of themselves in front of their enemies. ₂₆So Moses stood at the gate of the camp and shouted, “Everyone who is on the LORD's side come over here!”

Then the men of the Levi tribe gathered around Moses, ₂₇and he said to them, “The LORD God of Israel commands you to strap on your swords and go through the camp, killing your relatives, your friends, and your neighbours.”

₂₈The men of the Levi tribe followed his orders, and that day they killed about three thousand men. ₂₉Moses said to them, “You obeyed the LORD and did what was right, and so you will serve as his priests for the people of Israel. It was hard for you to kill your own sons and brothers, but the LORD has blessed you and made you his priests today.”

₃₀The next day Moses told the people, “This is a terrible thing you have done. But I will go back to the LORD to see if I can do something to keep this sin from being held against you.”

₃₁Moses returned to the LORD and said, “The people have committed a terrible sin. They have made a gold idol to be their god. ₃₂But I beg you to forgive them. If you don't, please wipe my name out of your book.”

₃₃The LORD replied, “I will wipe out of my book the name of everyone who has sinned against me. ₃₄Now take my people to the place I told you about, and my angel will lead you. But when the time comes, I will punish them for this sin.”

₃₅So the LORD punished the people of Israel with a terrible disease for talking Aaron into making the gold idol.

Exodus 29:38-32:35CEVOpen in Bible reader

Matthew 20

Workers in a vineyard

₁As Jesus was telling what the kingdom of heaven would be like, he said:

Early one morning a man went out to hire some workers for his vineyard. ₂After he had agreed to pay them the usual amount for a day's work, he sent them off to his vineyard.

₃About nine that morning, the man saw some other people standing in the market with nothing to do. ₄He said he would pay them what was fair, if they would work in his vineyard. ₅So they went.

At midday and again about three in the afternoon he returned to the market. And each time he made the same agreement with others who were lazing around with nothing to do.

₆Finally, about five in the afternoon the man went back and found some others standing there. He asked them, “Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?”

₇“Because no one has hired us,” they answered. Then he told them to go and work in his vineyard.

₈That evening the owner of the vineyard told the man in charge of the workers to call them in and give them their money. He also told the man to begin with the ones who were hired last. ₉When the workers arrived, the ones who had been hired at five in the afternoon were given a full day's pay.

₁₀The workers who had been hired first thought they would be given more than the others. But when they were given the same, ₁₁they began complaining to the owner of the vineyard. ₁₂They said, “The ones who were hired last worked for only one hour. But you paid them the same that you did us. And we worked in the hot sun all day long!”

₁₃The owner answered one of them, “Friend, I didn't cheat you. I paid you exactly what we agreed on. ₁₄Take your money now and go! What business is it of yours if I want to pay them the same that I paid you? ₁₅Don't I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Why should you be jealous, if I want to be generous?”

₁₆Jesus then said, “So it is. Everyone who is now first will be last, and everyone who is last will be first.”

Jesus again tells about his death

₁₇As Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem, he took his twelve disciples aside and told them in private:

₁₈We are now on our way to Jerusalem, where the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the teachers of the Law of Moses. They will sentence him to death, ₁₉and then they will hand him over to foreigners who will make fun of him. They will beat him and nail him to a cross. But on the third day he will rise from death.

Matthew 20:1-19CEVOpen in Bible reader